Vietnamese passport question

[jac_chappin 24]

VJ friends! Going to the well again.

Any insight would really be appreciated.

So my wife did her AOS and has her 2 year green card in her new married name.

Naturally we wanted to get a new passport in her new married name so went to the Consulate in San Francisco.

The rationale is that we want the passport to match her green card to avoid any issues when we fly abroad.

We were told that she couldn't change her name on passport but it could be amended to note (on different page on passport) that she has a new name ( her new name in the US). We provided copy of marriage certificate showing new name.

Has anyone else ran into this before? Does this sound right? Another question is, when we buy international flight tickets, should name used be under her former name or new name?

The amendment was $50 and it took 20 minutes to get it done. It has the verbiage in Vietnames and English with the Consular's stamp and signature.

Any information based on your past expire would be really appreciated.

Thanks again!

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

**** Moving from AOS from Family to Vietnam regional forum as not AOS process related ****

[ScottThuy 140]

Last summer Thuy flew under married name and just had to show marriage cert to match the married name on the ticket.. this month was a different story..likely due to the different airline.. AA gave us a bunch of #######.. in the end, when it came to getting through the international departure airport, she just did the same as last year no issues... They told us to save the hassle and just get the ticket in her maiden name... we said, but that isn't her name now... they just don't care..much like the VN consulate told you when you tried to get a new passport... IMO its worth the $50 to get the ammendment.. I have to wonder how they will treat things when renewal time comes up... hopefully she will have her US Passport by then...

[jac_chappin 24]

Hey Scott! Thanks much for your post. So I called and e-mailed the Embassy in D.C. as well and was told the same thing about not being able to change name on passport but it could be amended.

They also said if I needed to renew passport I would pay for new passport ( under same maiden name of course) and would need to pay the $50 for the ammendment as well for total $210. The benefit of having the amendment is that it has her new name. The amendment has the verbiage that the bearer of passport is alson known as the new name as well. My logic is that I could buy ticket under her new name and reference the amendment. Just my thinking here!

[ScottThuy 140]

Kewl, I can have Thuy take care of that while she is VN so the trip back may be smoother...

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

This is one of many reasons my wife kept her maiden name. All of her documents have the same name, including her passport, green card, drivers license, Social Security card, bank cards, etc. It's also not customary for women in Vietnam to take their husband's surname. I also thought it would be good if her kids had at least one parent with the same last name (my wife's maiden name is Nguyen, as was her ex-husband, and her kids, and half the damn country).

I also didn't think that "Phuong" sounded good followed by my Scottish surname.

[jac_chappin 24]

Hey Jim!

I hear what you are saying for sure. The biggest driver for us was that my wife has 2 middle names thus causing havoc on paperwork due to order of name. The easy solution was have her take my surname, convert her middle name to her maiden name and of course keep her first name.

BTW - Since my last name has Italian influence (although I'm from Latin America) it throws folks a curve ball because they see a Vietnamese name with an Italian last name. Funny!

[quann 26]

my wife's keeping her last name. the hassle of changing all the ids and paperworks far outweighs the importance of her taking my name.

my sister (viet) married a caucasian and gave birth to a mix daughter (looks more white tbh). she said it would be alot easier on trips and vacations if she takes after her husband's name for guardianship purposes at checkpoints and poe's but so far she's resisted because of all the hassles involved.