Hello everybody!

I have a question concerning name change. When I do get married and change my last name, do i have to change my Russian international passport (zagran passport) too?
I never thought about it but then, say, I get my AP on my married name but i will travel with my Russian passport which is on my maiden name but with my K-1 visa in it.....

Did anyone deal with it??

thanks a lot
Sasha

We called the Russian Consulate, asked them the procedure.

Sent the passport, copy of marriage license, some small fee ($20?).
They returned the passport in a week or two with a official note inside that my wife also goes by her married name.

http://www.russianembassy.org/
Click on the consular button for a list of regional offices.


Hope that helps!

Jim

Wow, Thank you very much, Jim! Your answer helped a lot!!

at least this part is easy....)

You don't have to if you don't want to. Since Russia doesn't officially recognize your marriage (and subsequent name change) you don't have to worry about it when you travel back. If/when you go somewhere else, you travel on your green card and passport and they understand it's going to be a different name. Different destinations hvae different rules so make sure you check where you're going. For instance, most places have a rule for Russian citizens but are more lenient when it comes to Russian citizens with American green cards.

If you want to change your Russian passport you can. If not, then don't.

We did the same with my wife's passport as Jim and Tanja. The stamp did come in handy when my wife traveled back to Russia last year with an airline ticket in her new married name. There was initially some question why the name on the ticket did not match the official name in the passport. My wife showed them the official notation in her passport about her married name, and was going to show them our marriage certificate but they were satisfied with just the passport notation.

Slim is correct however, adding the notation isn't absolutely necessary but can come in handy. And about Russian's with green cards getting a break, when we applied for my wife's Shengen visa, there was a reduced fee for Russians, Ukrainians, and a few others.

We just bought tickets in my wife's maiden name that matched her Russian passport. She brought an official copy of our marriage certificate if there were any problems stateside, but there was no problems.

Getting an amendment in your Russian passport is easy.
Getting the actual named changed is a different story.
AK had success convincing the Russian Consulate in Seattle to change his wife's passport.
I have had not the same success. I was instead told to get our Marriage certificate translated, apostiled, and then certified by the Russian consulate. Have my wife go to Russia with that document. Then change her Internal Passport to show recognition of her American Marriage. Then with a new Internal Passport she could then apply for a new International passport. Quite the troublesome path when you consider it also takes about a month to change the internal passport and then another for the international passport. Not to mention the unnecessary trip to Russia.

And most likely when the Russian passport changes to a new English name they'll screw up the translation and then you have a new problem. Happens often.

Oh wow....so what did you finally do? did you finally change the passport or not?

I'm considering not doing it, if, as many people here say, it is not 100% necessary....

besides, buying tickets on my maiden name is a good idea!

Thank you guys!

We just stuck with the Amendment. AK I think got the best of both worlds, by getting them to change it here, they probably spelled it correctly based of the green card.
You are right, if you went the long route, by showing them your "Russia Acceptable" marriage certificate, they would make up some Russian spelling of the English name in the internal passport because it is all in Russian. Then taking that name and making an international passport would most likely result in a misspelling unless you have some clout in that office.
Likewise, the amendment is very handy in Russia when flying on Maiden Name tickets and using a Marriend Name Green Card to justify boarding.

So there is no problem at the U.S. POE if the passport last name does not match the name in the AP/Green card?

I have the same problem (slightly different spelling).

No problem at all because at the U.S. POE you're using your U.S. green card to get back into the country. As long as the green card is valid, your passport is only a secondary form of ID.

Yep, that is exactly how it went. This is not something I am making up, or guessing at, this is what she actually did.

She brought the marriage certificate as a backup, just in case, and as expected, it was not brought up or asked for.