Last Name Change

[Corey-Mariya 14]

Hey everyone! Hope everything is well.

Ok, Corey and I got married almost 3 years ago. I took his last name, but never changed my maiden name to my married name in my russian documents. I am in the process of renewing my russian passport (zagran passport) through the russian consulate in Washington DC. I know that they cannot change the last name in my zagran passport unless it is changed in the russian inside passport; however, some of my girlfriends here got a stamp that says that a person has another last (american married name). So, I asked the consulate person to put one of those stamps in my new passport. She refused and said that as long as I have registration in Russia (propiska), I have to go through 9 circles of hell and change my last name in my russian inside passport first, which is done only in Russia. Now, I read on the consulate's website that I can cancel my propiska through the russian consulate here in the States, but it takes about a year.

Here is the problem: Corey and I are planning on traveling to Russia to visit my family for Christmas, and I have different last names in my Russian and American papers. How do I buy tickets? They have to be on one last name and match the last on the papers that I'll be using to enter/leave the countries.

Have anyone has any experience in dealing with this kind of problem?

Thank you,

Mariya

[Brad and Vika 129]

I have never been to Russia (so I will defer to those with experience), but my wife has the same situation with her Ukrainian credentials. She leaves the US with her Ukrainian passport (internal matches external). When she returns, she shows her Ukrainian passport (matching the name on her ticket), and her green card and marraige certificate (showing her new last name, and how she got from point A to B). Six trips to Europe so far - no problems.

Edited April 17, 2011 by Brad and Vika

[Corey-Mariya 14]

Thanks for the response!

Did you guys translate the marriage certificate into ukrainian?

I have never been to Russia (so I will defer to those with experience), but my wife has the same situation with her Ukrainian credentials. She leaves the US with her Ukrainian passport (internal matches external). When she returns, she shows her Ukrainian passport (matching the name on her ticket), and her green card and marraige certificate (showing her new last name, and how she got from point A to B). Six trips to Europe so far - no problems.

[slim 1,514]

Mariya, glad to hear everything is going well for you guys! Please say hello to Corey for me.

My wife changed her name to mine and hasn't changed anything at all on her Russian passports. About a year ago she got a new zagran through Washington and didn't change her name.

For all intents and purposes, Russian documents are Russian documents and they could care less what your American documents say.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks for the response!

Did you guys translate the marriage certificate into ukrainian?

We got married here, so that wasn't an issue. I would say yes, get the translation done - see below.

Mariya, glad to hear everything is going well for you guys! Please say hello to Corey for me.

My wife changed her name to mine and hasn't changed anything at all on her Russian passports. About a year ago she got a new zagran through Washington and didn't change her name.

For all intents and purposes, Russian documents are Russian documents and they could care less what your American documents say.

Right, but the problem isn't getting into Russia with them. The thing to be careful about is getting back into America if the last names don't match. Usually not a problem at US point-of-entry (once you show the GC you are fine there), but we did have an issue in London last year. BA was checking documents, and noticed that Vika's GC and passport had different names in them. Fortunately we had a copy of our marraige certificate to show the connection. The ticket agent actually copied the certificate for CYA before giving her a boarding pass. We haven't had that problem anywhere else.

[Oksana81 0]

Мария, когда поедешь в Россию, возьми с собой сви-во о браке, переводить на русский ничего не надо. Желательно поставь на сви-во апостиль (Apostile) у секретаря штата.

Билет можно покупать на любую фамилию. Я в свое время покупала на русскую, чтобы совпадало с рос. паспортом.

Удачи!

[Brad and Vika 129]

Мария, когда поедешь в Россию, возьми с собой сви-во о браке, переводить на русский ничего не надо. Желательно поставь на сви-во апостиль (Apostile) у секретаря штата.

Билет можно покупать на любую фамилию. Я в свое время покупала на русскую, чтобы совпадало с рос. паспортом.

Удачи!

As I said above - the problem may be getting back into America through an EU POE. Based on our experience it makes things easier if you take a marriage certificate when the ticket and passport do not match - just so the POE officers can connect the dots easier.

Edited to say that a translation of a Russian marraige certificate would just make it a faster process if there are questions. No requirement at all, but if they have to go find an employee who can translate it seems to me you could miss a flight.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Brad and Vika

[Oksana81 0]

As I said above - the problem may be getting back into America through an EU POE. Based on our experience it makes things easier if you take a marriage certificate when the ticket and passport do not match - just so the POE officers can connect the dots easier.

Edited to say that a translation of a Russian marraige certificate would just make it a faster process if there are questions. No requirement at all, but if they have to go find an employee who can translate it seems to me you could miss a flight.

Brad, how can she have a Russian marriage certificate if she got married in the US?

Speaking from the personal experience, if the Russian Embassy in DC refused to put a stamp in her passport "the matrimonial name of the holder of the passport is...", then all she needs is her US marriage cert to cross the border (in addition to the Rus passport, ticket and GC). I also recommend to put an Apostile to make it internationally recognizable.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Oksana81

[Brad and Vika 129]

Brad, how can she have a Russian marriage certificate if she got married in the US?

Speaking from the personal experience, if the Russian Embassy in DC refused to put a stamp in her passport "the matrimonial name of the holder of the passport is...", then all she needs is her US marriage cert to cross the border (in addition to the Rus passport, ticket and GC). I also recommend to put an Apostile to make it internationally recognizable.

It was a general comment about any document in Russian, or any other language. Again, I am relating our experience only with different last names in Heathrow. Vika had no trouble with a ticket in maiden name and Ukrainian passport getting into Ukraine (or out of the US), but she did have a problem with the ticket agents and passport control in London. Problem solved by providing a copy of our marriage certificate showing why her Green Card did not match passport, etc. It seems like no trouble to take along one more piece of paper.

[visaveteran1 33]

Мария, когда поедешь в Россию, возьми с собой сви-во о браке, переводить на русский ничего не надо. Желательно поставь на сви-во апостиль (Apostile) у секретаря штата.

Билет можно покупать на любую фамилию. Я в свое время покупала на русскую, чтобы совпадало с рос. паспортом.

Удачи!

Hey, something's wrong with your keyboard. It's printing gibberish.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hey, something's wrong with your keyboard. It's printing gibberish.