My wife is going back to Viet Nam on the 23rd of this month for the first time since she obtained her greencard. She's going to be traveling there alone since I couldn't get as much time off of work as she could (I go a week later.) The problem we have is that her greencard is under her married name and her passport is under her maidon name. Our travel agent, who specializes in travel to Viet Nam, advised us to get her plane tickets in her married name, matching her greencard, not her passport, and to also bring our marriage certificate to prove and show the legal name change. He advised us that so she would have less problems leaving Viet Nam and entering back into America.

I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation and how they approached it. She's worried because she'll be traveling without my help and also that she might need a Visa to enter Viet Nam, as I do. How was immigration and customs, in Viet Nam, to you? What did they ask for, and such? Thanks for any information.

Hi ridejewel,

My wife just returned from a trip to Vietnam and had zero problems with immigration. Her passport is in her maiden name and her green card is in her married name. I recalled reading somewhere that the airlines require (check with her airlines) the name on the airline ticket to match the name on the passport, so we booked all of her tickets in her maiden name.

She had no trouble immigrating in to and/or out of Vietnam at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. All she had was her passport and green card. No visa needed. She even took a certified copy of our marriage certificate in case there was issue with names being different. But again, no problems at all. I would make sure your wife has a certified copy of the marriage certificate.

Upon returning to the United States -- (through LAX) -- there was no problem immigrating there with her green card not matching her passport. Of course, we came back together (traveled to Vietnam at separate times like your situation), so the CBP officer might have seen that our last names matched her green card (remember only 1 declaration card is needed per family, so I filled it out with my info and listed that I had 1 member of my family traveling with me). But, no trouble immigrating into the USA. It was a breeze and very fast. We went through the US Residents line together.

Hope this helps! Really enjoyed the new international terminal at Tan Son Nhat. Very clean and efficient. Immigration/Customs was a breeze and there is definitely a lot more room now in baggage claim than the old terminal.

STL_HCMC

She still has her Vietnamese Passport correct?

Why would she have trouble entering Vietnam with an official & up to date (not expired) VNs passport?

just curious?

I'd be more concerned about re-entering America, sounds like stl-hcmc had no problems. My wife had no problem last year, but she never changed her name to my last name.......


Good luck

Thanks for that STL_HCMC. I checked with the airline, EVA, they said as long as she had the certified copy of the marriage cert., she'd be okay. And, Patricks...I'm not too sure if this is totally true or not, but I think Viet Nam just started allowing the Viet Kieu to enter their contry without Visa's, so my wife was worried that maybe since the law's so new that they may give her a hard time about not having one. She called up one of our travel agent friends in HCMC and he said that it probably wouldn't be such a bad idea for her to get a Visa, just in case. I don't know. Thanks for your help!

Why would she need a visa to visit her own country? She's still a Vietnamese Citizen (with a VNs Passport).

Perhaps you're thinking about Viet Kieu that are no longer citizens of Vietnam because they are now citizens of the countries they are living in. They now can apply for the Visa Exemption Certificate, which allows them to visit up to 90 days w/o a visa, and the certificate is good for five years.

But if you're wife is still a Vietnamese Citizen, I can't see any reason why she would need a visa, and I'm pretty sure the Vietnamese Embassy/Consulate here in the US wouldn't issue her one when she would be sending in her Vietnamese passport to get it.

STL_HCMC

I agree. That's what I keep telling her. I was thinking that maybe they were talking about her getting a Visa to inter America, but that's her greencard. She read your responce and feels better about traveling alone now. Thanks.

Green Card in Married Name: good for returning to the US
Vietnamese Passport: good for returning to Vietnam
Airline ticket: always match the name on your Passport and not the Green Card. Not sure how valid a green card is if you plane must land in some countries who don't recognize GREEN CARD as your valid document! Passport works!

Echoing the rest of the brothers here on VJ:
Vietnamese wife: still holds a valid Vietnamese Passport = Enter Vietnam any time without "Visa" as oppose to foreigners (works the same in the US and the rest of the world, you don't need a Visa to enter your country of citizenship)

Have fun and enjoy TET

The name of her ticket MUST match her name in the passport, otherwise they will not let her board the airplane.
To proof that the GC is hers, she should take her marriage certificate along with her.
Sometimes the IO asks for that, sometimes they understand and just want to see the GC.
But make sure that the ticket is carrying the name that matches her passport!

I called EVA airlines two times now and both times they told me that as long as she brought with her the marriage cert. that it didn't matter what last name the ticket is under...I hope they knew what they were talking about, because I think it's a little late to change anything.

Ridejewel,

I am 100% sure to buy her ticket using her PASSPORT's name. The green-card is only GOOD in the US/POE, but useless anywhere else in the world! Passport will always take the driver seat while traveling half-way around the world.

I was in Vietnam last Augt 07. I have Vietnam’s passport (just renew, save 30 bucks for Visa) and US’s passport. When I booked the ticket, it was on my US’s passport. The agent told me, the ticket was always matched to my US’s passport for check-in.

And I used my US’s passport for check-in through HongKong. And then I have to show them (HongKong guy) my Vietnam’s passport for entered to Vietnam. He looked at my ticket, my face and Vietnam’s passport. It was different name on it (I changed my name since I became a US citizenship). He then let me go, because there was no reason to hold me there.

When I came back to US, I have to show Vietnam’s custom my both passports. It took about 2 minutes, and it done.
So, I don’t know what to tell you. This is my experience.

ridejewel: I used to work at the airport as check-in agent in Germany. And the policy should be the same everywhere.
I hope the EVA airline staff knows what he/she is talking about.
Good luck on your trip!

Well. My wife left for Saigon this morning through EVA air. She had no troubles at all with the tickets not matching her passport's name. She just had to show our marriage cert. Easy enough.

Has anyone done this more recently? I'm under the impression the visa laws in Vietnam may have changed this year.

My wife is in the same situation, her Passport and Green Card have maiden name and married name, respectively.

We are planning a trip early next year, but she is getting conflicting information about what name the ticket should be in and etc.

She really wants to go back to see her parents, but she is a little freaked out if she will have problems getting in and/or returning back to the US, especially since she will be returning to the US alone.

I showed her the responses on this thread, but since the last one is dated Jan '08, she doesn't trust it and wants more recent examples and information.

This should be a simple thing, but dealing with the Vietnamese government scares her.

Thanks in advance.

-Z