Hi everyone, I know this is posted before and I have tried to research the answer as best I could, I just hope we are not screwed. Natasha has my name now and her passport is in her maiden name, she is in Russia with sick father, supposed to come back before Christmas. She was going to try and get the stamp in Russia but they will not accept the official copy of marriage certificate to change it. Also it will take like 3 months even with the apostled copy which I dont even know how to do. Anyway.....

1. I know she could be denied boarding if she gets some unhappy attendant

2. I will get tickets from expedia, so etickets or mailed to her for $36.00?

3. Do I get the tickets in her passport maiden name or greencard married name?

Read the threads but any other information will be helpful.

Looks like the answers are

1.true

2.either way

3.passport maiden name

She has greencard, marriage certificate, state ID and her internal and international passports.

Hi - I'm afraid I don't know about 1 (but I don't see any reason if she has all the documents you state?) but either form of ticket would be okay and you are definitely right that the name on the ticket must match the name on the passport.

Best wishes

It does cost $36 to ship her the tickets. I just did this for Elena about two months ago. Worked out nicely. She had them in less than a week.

The tickets have to match her name on the passport, I think that's an FAA thing or something like that. Airlines match the name on the tickets to the name on the passports.

The government may or may not stop her from leaving Russia. That's where your problem lies. If she has a green card already (which I'm assuming she does) then she obviously has a valid entry to the U.S. However, someone there may stop her from departing because her passport and the green card don't match up. As with other things in Russia, I would have her proceed like she does it every day, then if the border guards get kind of froggy, have her pay them a "fee" to acknowledge that her passport/green card are actually issued to the same person.

Good luck with this Nick. I hope you guys can spend Christmas together! Keep us posted.

Hi NIck,
You might consider updating your timeline; it doesn't show AOS approved or maybe she's lifted conditions.
I think the timeframe you're looking for research on is around May this year when the wife was denied boarding. I don't have the link. It seems there was a problem with her international passport being within six months of expiring. Six months, though I don't know this as fact, must be some kind of agreement between the US and Russia. I know the USC applying for a Russian visa must have a passport valid greater than six months. So, check with Natasha and see when her passport expires. That will at least tell you how great the risk is that she'd be denied boarding. Since she's there, have you two discussed her doing something to change the passport somehow, stamp or new one, to avoid this? I know Maria and I have discussed this now for six months and need to do something, too.
All the best for her safe and speedy return.

An option if she gets hassled -- somewhat expensive -- get a visa to Finland. Go to Helsinki, jump on a FinnAir flight to JFK.

This seems to come up so often - I will never understand why people change their names, or why they continue to go to Russia in these circumstances. Nevertheless, you do have some options.

1). When it comes to airline or customs people, your odds are always 50/50 of running into someone who doesn't give a ###### what you do as long as you get away from them as soon as possible, people who feel like being an ####### that day, and people who simply don't know their job. So, if you fail one day, try the next and you may be successful.

2). Try getting a flight on a company like BA and uses non-Russians for their agents. They are less likely to hassle you, I think.

3). Try getting a flight out of someplace other than Moscow. For example, Kazan has direct flights to Germany. Wife tells me they are less likely to speak English in such places, so it doesn't matter what your paper says, they can't read it, and will let you do what you want if you seem like you know what you are doing.

4). Go to St. Petersburg. Get one of those 3-day bus/ferry tours to Finland and Sweden. Hop off the bus in Helsinki during one of your 2-3 hour stops and make for the airport. Catch the next flight out. Finish authorities will be much more accomodating.

Good luck!
AKDiver

I don't know about international travel, but we just returned from Thanksgiving in NYC and had made airline reservations in her maiden name, but she has FL state ID in her new married name. I was interested in how the airlines and TSA would handle this. I brought her passport but decided to try just using her state ID that showed a different last name. I brought marriage certificate also. The only person that questioned the ID was the person at Jet Blue that checked our bag when we left FL. I started to show him the marriage certificate but he said he didn't need to see it, but TSA would probably want to see it. Everyone else going and returning only looked at her state ID and was satisfied. Guess they weren't checking too closely, perhaps because of the volume of traffic.

I am sure international travel is much different as you are dealing with visas or AP or green cards.

Well yeah, that's the whole point. Domestic travel experience is largely irrelevant here. Doubly so since we're talking about Russia - land of the never-ending line of BS.

Cheers!
AKDiver

p.s: although America is quickly becoming the same way

Amen to that.

Irina and I just came back from Russia, flying Aeroflot. The woman who checked her passport was Russian (Aeroflot), young, friendly, and going-by-the-book. She held up the passport (maiden name), pointed to the green card (married name), and asked Irina if she had the special page with the Consulate endorsement authorizing her to use her married name. Irina had the endorsement, so no problem. I think these airline employees take their work very seriously, every day, not just every other day.

Possibly if we had been going to someplace other than the US they would not have been so zealous. I think flights to the US get additional scrutiny.

The good news is that when Irina got to Passport Control, they simply asked if she had a green card. but didn't ask to see it.

A friend of mine stumbled on a way of bypassing the whole procedure. He was detained by the airport police and basically held for ransom. They wanted him to use the ATM machines, but he doesn't carry credit cards, so they settled for taking all his cash. In the meantime a bystander had informed Aeroflot of what was going on. Aeroflot pulled him out of there and got the police to take him directly to the plane, which was held until his arrival.

I only recommend this idea as a last resort however, and if anyone does try it, it is absolutely essential that you have a cooperative bystander available who knows where you are.