travelling to from Ukraine

[m&k 0]

hi Wife got her greencard last week (yay) with her married name. Ukrainian passport of course has her old last name. We want to fly to Kiev and back. What do we need to take? I guess passport, greencard, copy of marriage license (should this be translated? Apostile?) How did all of you do this (whose wives changes their last name)? Biggest concern is leaving Kiev, as they do some sort of passport check when you leave.

Thanks!

[SMR 368]

I don't know about Ukraine, but I know for Russia that the best idea is to get the tickets in the maiden name. Then travel with the passport. You need to have tickets that match the name on the passport.

There shouldn't be any problem for her entering or leaving Ukraine since she has a Ukrainian passport. At the US border, when re-entering, she can use the Green card, her passport, and the marriage certificate and should be able to get back in. An Apostille shouldn't be necessary, since the marriage certificate will only matter to the US POE. Does your marriage certificate explicitly say that she is changing her name? In some states it does and in some states it doesn't.

One other thing to consider is transferring through countries in Europe, if that become necessary. This is where things might get dicey, in my opinion. Most EU countries allow green card holders to transfer without problems. However, she may have a problem since her green card and passport don't match. At this point, an Apostille on the marriage certificate may be necessary. Another thing you can try to do, at least in Russia, is get a notation in the passport that she also uses a different name.

In short, I don't think you'll have any problem in Ukraine as long as the tickets match the passport. You should be fine at POE coming back. If you want to transfer through a third country, you may have to look at the requirements for that country. If she would need a green card as a basis for being granted passage, you may have trouble.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

hi Wife got her greencard last week (yay) with her married name. Ukrainian passport of course has her old last name. We want to fly to Kiev and back. What do we need to take? I guess passport, greencard, copy of marriage license (should this be translated? Apostile?) How did all of you do this (whose wives changes their last name)? Biggest concern is leaving Kiev, as they do some sort of passport check when you leave.

Thanks!

You need to get the tickets in maiden name (as in [passport) Enter and leave Ukraine with Ukraine passport, you will also show green card when you leave and copy of marriage certificate, sho wgrren card and marriage certficat ewhen you enter US. She can change her name in her passport while in Ukraine if she wants.

[nyhazmat 2]

Not to disagree with Gary, but when we went her ticket was in her married name and we simply showed them her passport (old name), her green card (new name), and a photo copy of the marriage license. We never had any questions, by the airline, passport control (going or coming), or immigration. They looked at the documents and never said a word. We are going to do it this way again next month, delaying citizenship application until we return. We have flown in and out of JFK and Toronto this way. My guess is that either way would work as long as you present the supporting documents, just a guess. I know what has worked for us.

As far as changing the name on the passport, good luck. We were going to start that and found out that she has to first change her internal passport and get her name taken off of her paerents apartment and then begin changing her international(external) passport. They won't even consider changing the external one until the other steps have been taken. I asked her dad to offer some cash to make it work and either got one of the few that will not accept the uh "extra income" or it is just that complicated. As well her dad told me that they are changing the look of their passports this year.

Have fun on the trip

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Not to disagree with Gary, but when we went her ticket was in her married name and we simply showed them her passport (old name), her green card (new name), and a photo copy of the marriage license. We never had any questions, by the airline, passport control (going or coming), or immigration. They looked at the documents and never said a word. We are going to do it this way again next month, delaying citizenship application until we return. We have flown in and out of JFK and Toronto this way. My guess is that either way would work as long as you present the supporting documents, just a guess. I know what has worked for us.

As far as changing the name on the passport, good luck. We were going to start that and found out that she has to first change her internal passport and get her name taken off of her paerents apartment and then begin changing her international(external) passport. They won't even consider changing the external one until the other steps have been taken. I asked her dad to offer some cash to make it work and either got one of the few that will not accept the uh "extra income" or it is just that complicated. As well her dad told me that they are changing the look of their passports this year.

Have fun on the trip

Agreed the changing names in passports can be a problem, especially if you own property in Ukraine, you do NOT even want to know what they charge "non-residents" for property tax. This is one of the big reasons Alla never changed her name, to be completely honest, and she really didn't want to as she never did so with her previous marriage.

As NYHaz says, it really shouldn't make a difference with tickets and such, or with entry and leaving Ukraine and US as long as you have documentation of the names. I know airlines prefer the tickets match passports, but I suppose with proper ID there is no problem either way. She also still has the K-1 visa in her passport which shows she came here to get married. Her circumstance isn't going to be anything new or surprise anyone.

[1HappyGuy 45]

My wife has never had a problem re-entering Ukraine or returning to America. She carries a copy of our marriage certificate but her green card has always been accepted on return. We buy her ticket in the same name as in her passport as it is so much easier when traveling. So, Ukrainian passport, green card and copy of marriage certificate will handle all problems. Bring those and a good attitude since traveling is so much more of a problem these days. Remember to pack all items that have any liquid of any sort in your checked baggage. I left six cans of caviar in Amsterdam because as we know all terrorists carry explosives in caviar.

Have a fun time.

[Tanya and Barry 59]

My wife has never had a problem re-entering Ukraine or returning to America. She carries a copy of our marriage certificate but her green card has always been accepted on return. We buy her ticket in the same name as in her passport as it is so much easier when traveling. So, Ukrainian passport, green card and copy of marriage certificate will handle all problems. Bring those and a good attitude since traveling is so much more of a problem these days. Remember to pack all items that have any liquid of any sort in your checked baggage. I left six cans of caviar in Amsterdam because as we know all terrorists carry explosives in caviar.

Have a fun time.

You should have put the caviar in your underwear. Apparently they don't inspect your drawers in Amsterdam. :-)

[LvivLovers 39]

hi Wife got her greencard last week (yay) with her married name. Ukrainian passport of course has her old last name. We want to fly to Kiev and back. What do we need to take? I guess passport, greencard, copy of marriage license (should this be translated? Apostile?) How did all of you do this (whose wives changes their last name)? Biggest concern is leaving Kiev, as they do some sort of passport check when you leave.

Thanks!

When we were going through the visa process, I had her get a new internal and international passport in her new married name, just so we'd avoid any confusion on that front. I'm still not sure how this whole process works though in terms of when to show GC, when to show Ukrainian passport, etc. during the travels. Also, I remember when she immigrated there was confusion over whether or not she needed an "exit" visa...we didn't do anything like that and I'm always paranoid it will bite us some day when she returns to Ukraine....which for us is in May.

[LvivLovers 39]

Not to disagree with Gary, but when we went her ticket was in her married name and we simply showed them her passport (old name), her green card (new name), and a photo copy of the marriage license. We never had any questions, by the airline, passport control (going or coming), or immigration. They looked at the documents and never said a word. We are going to do it this way again next month, delaying citizenship application until we return. We have flown in and out of JFK and Toronto this way. My guess is that either way would work as long as you present the supporting documents, just a guess. I know what has worked for us.

As far as changing the name on the passport, good luck. We were going to start that and found out that she has to first change her internal passport and get her name taken off of her paerents apartment and then begin changing her international(external) passport. They won't even consider changing the external one until the other steps have been taken. I asked her dad to offer some cash to make it work and either got one of the few that will not accept the uh "extra income" or it is just that complicated. As well her dad told me that they are changing the look of their passports this year.

Have fun on the trip

We didn't have too many problems getting her internal and international passports changed, but it should be noted that we got married in Ukraine and she had more time to work on it while waiting for the visa process. She did have to get the internal passport changed before her international one. On one of the passports, she waited a couple weeks and had heard nothing so she went back to find out what was going on and found they had done no work on it! Turns out they thought it was a joke or something due to the strange (i.e. American sounding) last name...they said they figured if it was real the person would come back and ask about it. Good thing she did. I can't remember if she paid anything unofficially or not to speed things up but we had to do this a few times along our visa journey.

[Turboguy 6]

Not to disagree with Gary, but when we went her ticket was in her married name and we simply showed them her passport (old name), her green card (new name), and a photo copy of the marriage license. We never had any questions,

When we went to Aruba for a vacation over Chrismas we got the tickets in her married name, took her passport,greencard and a copy of our marriage liscence and they would not allow my wife to board the plane.

Names on tickets and passports must match according to what they told us.

Using a name that doesn't match the passport does have some risk and the safest thing is to get the tickets in whatever name is in the passport.

Well the best part was that since my wife couldn't get on the plane and I had to go to Aruba alone, chasing all the college co-eds, hanging out in all the topless bars and falling over drunk every night was probably more fun than had my wife been there. (Just joking, we had to reticket my wife with her maiden name)

[Neonred 3,576]

When we went to Aruba for a vacation over Chrismas we got the tickets in her married name, took her passport,greencard and a copy of our marriage liscence and they would not allow my wife to board the plane.

Names on tickets and passports must match according to what they told us.

Using a name that doesn't match the passport does have some risk and the safest thing is to get the tickets in whatever name is in the passport.

Well the best part was that since my wife couldn't get on the plane and I had to go to Aruba alone, chasing all the college co-eds, hanging out in all the topless bars and falling over drunk every night was probably more fun than had my wife been there. (Just joking, we had to reticket my wife with her maiden name)

Should have gotten the name change notation in the passport.