This is actually a question from a friend of mine. Filing for AOS, wants to use her married last name. She can't change her name in her passport (same internal/internation passport issue we all know about.) She has no other photo ID (driver's license, etc).

She wants to know if she can file for AOS in her married name. I cautioned that this is a bad idea, since it will likely complicate travel to Russia/Ukraine in the future. Other than the Green card, she will have no ID in her married name. (My advice is to get a state ID in her married name, all she needs is a marriage certificate for that. Then use her married name for everything, until she gets a US passport in a few years. Then change her name on that. She can still travel with the green card/passport in her maiden name. )

What do you folks recommend?

She should definitely apply for her AOS (and any others) in her married name if that is the name she will be using legally now that she is married.

All she needs to do when she travels outside the US is to get her airline tickets in the same name as her passport and take a certified copy of her marriage certificate to show her married name for re-entry into the US.

I would not recommend changing name now.
It would be really complicated to travel home if she does.

By the way, we had our AOS interview two days ago, and no one asked us why I did not change my name!

Also, when applying for citizenship, she will be able to change both her first name and last name. I know Russian people who now have absolutely American names And my sister-in-law changed her name from Yelena to Alena, since everyone calls her Alena anyway.

There are complications in Russia though. For instance, if you need to renew or change a passport, you often need to travel back there. There is a special internal passport to deal with as well. Of course, a US Marriage certifcate means absolutely nothing there (even apostilled). There is a ZAGS/Ministry of Marriages/Propiska nightmare that is more common there (which I admittedly know nothing about). There is another thread here detailing the problem.

Issue number one is that you may have great trouble leaving Russia if your passport name doesn't match your visa/green card name. (Changing passport name is generally not feasible) Issue two is that her passport is her only ID, so she would need to take her marriage certificate every time she got on an airplane, cashed a check, used a credit card, etc, until receiving her green card.

Check the Russian embassy website. They can change the name in her passport or even issue a new passport. All information is written in Russian, however.

We were just looking over this yesterday ourselves deciding what to do. At this point my wife does want to change her name. We will be calling the Russian embassy next week to clarify this issue before proceeding. They list information and phone numbers, but for our region they do not list an e-mail address for contact.

Do you have a link to this?

http://www.russianembassy.org/

To the right of the picture of the embassy are links. Second heading in Russian language is link about passports. Unfortunately I don't read Russian very well. I just understand the basics.

Russ,

Thanks for starting this topic.
How did you and Galina solve this problem?

Here's some info from a phone call I made not too long ago asking the question of getting the name changed here in the US through the Russian Embassy or some agency thereof.

I spoke with a lady who seemed to be Russian from her accent. She told me the name change had to be done first on the internal passport and that couldn’t be done from the US. From what I remember, the internal passport has to be done in Russia before the international passport can be changed.

I believe this is the site I called that deals with Russian Passports.
http://www.russianpassportservice.com/en/r...anpassport.html
This link has contact info: http://www.russianpassportservice.com/en/contact.html

Has anyone just had their wife keep her last name?

Slim,

Read Post # 6 of this thread http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...opic=14934&st=0 by timelena. It tells of keeping the last name.

Has anyone heard the outcome of this?

It'd sure be good to get advice on this!

I guess I'll just leave it up to Elena to decide. If she wants to change it, OK. If not.... OK.

I guess I'll just leave it up to Elena to decide. If she wants to change it, OK. If not.... OK.

http://www.russianpassportservice.com/en/r...anpassport.html

"The Russian citizens permanently residing in the USA and registered in the Consular Department of the Russian Embassy in the USA (Washington DC) may apply for Russian passport renewals if:

The Russian passport has expired;
All pages of the Russian passport have been used;
The Russian passport was lost or spoiled."


It says nothing about name change

That's what we have done. Avoids complications.

As long as you have the all important "Government issued photo ID," you are fine travelling in the US, cashing checks, etc. No one in the US really cares what that name is ( "Oh - that's my maiden name" - not a big deal at the airport here). When was the last time someone actually looked at your signature at a bank? At one time, the FAA, US Air Force and I all had different ideas about what my SSN was... I still had no trouble travelling/flying.

If you change your middle name too, no one will care. Jane Smith Jones is as good as Jane Smith. In Russia, it is a much bigger deal.

Our strategy is to keep her maiden name on Green Card and Russian Passport, until she has a US Passport. (Good news, it looks like that will be two years sooner than we thought.) US Passport name changes are easy.

Otherwise, she can still use her married name for everything else here. Mail still gets delivered, banks don't care...

Thanks for the advice all.

Sounds like a plan russ.

And please, do share about the FAA/USAF/You SSN mix-up. Sounds like an interesting tale!