a 2nd question: maiden vs married names

[JohnG]

My wife's Russian passport and American Visa are in her maiden name. Now that we are married, I wonder how she can travel out of the country back to Russia with her INS Travel authorization in her married name when everything else is in her maiden name.

Does anyone know what to do about this?

Grazi!

[DJD]

... in response to a 2nd question: maiden vs married names, posted by JohnG on Jun 2, 2002

John,

Last Summer Marina and Yegor travelled back to Ukraine for a visit.  Her Ukrainian passport stated her maiden name in Ukrainian, as did her airline tickets.  Her "advanced parole" was in her married name.  She carried an original copy of her marriage certificate reflecting the name change.  However, she was never questioned about this while entering Ukraine (Borispol), or returning to the US (JFK).  Of course, this was Ukraine, and not Russia.

By the way, I hope my recollection is correct, but I really enjoyed your postings last year about your travels to Russia, and how you met your wife.  Your experiences were very, very similar to mine.   Here's to your continued happiness!

Dan

[SteveM]

... in response to a 2nd question: maiden vs married names, posted by JohnG on Jun 2, 2002

Hi John,

If your wife is still pending adjustment of status, one thing that will help is to have both the airline tickets and the advanced parole papers show both her maiden name and married name.  My wife had hers as
Natasha maiden married,
and it did help with the airlines and passport control in Russia.  The certified copy of the marriage certificate was also necessary, and was examined more than once.

She did change her Russian and international passports when she was back last summer, but two weeks is not enough time to get both of them done.  Because of the breakup of the Soviet Union, passport offices are now flooded with intra-CIS applications, and delays of a month or two are to be expected.

We were fortunate to have help from a friend, but it still took her about six weeks to get both of the passports changed.

Steve

[ChrisB]

... in response to a 2nd question: maiden vs married names, posted by JohnG on Jun 2, 2002

For awhile, you can use a copy of your marriage certificate to show proof of a name change.

To change her Russian passport, you have two options. One is cheap and somewhat complicated. The other is possibly a couple of hundred dollars (not all that sure exactly).

The cheap way is for her to have it changed in Russia when she returns there for a visit. That visit may need to for more than two weeks. It would depend on the co-operation from the local passport office in her Russian "home" town.

The other would be through the Russian Embassy here in the US.

I don't know the details, but I know a lady that looked into doing this and she chose to do this while she was on a trip back in Russia.

There should really be no paticular reason for her to have to change this anytime soon. You can get a Drivers License with the marriage certificate and passport as ID.

Chris