Going back to Russia to renew a passport

[IrinaNMike 0]

Irina returns to Russia in three weeks to visit her family and wants to renew her passport. We planned this for over a year, but now we're hearing about some potential probems. For one thing, she had intended changing the passport to her married name, but now she has been told, on various Russian bulletin boards, that it will take half a year through the courts to do a legal name change, and that her marriage certificate won't be accepted as proof because it was issued in the US. For another, she has been told that the 'also known as (married name)' stamp that is in her passport now, which allows her to travel under her married name, can only be placed there by Consulates in the US, not when the new passport is issued in Russia. So, it sounds like the only way she can get a new passport in Russia is to have it issued only in her maiden name

Not knowing any of this until tonight, I had already purchased the whole roundtrip ticket in her married name. The travel agent says her married name must stay on the ticket, but he can add an 'also known as (maiden name)' to her ticket, so both married and maiden names will be there. I am still worried that the dual names might not be accepted in Russia when she tries to return using her new passport. I really would prefer that she return on her old passport in December and renew it through the Consulate in San Francisco, but she wants to do it in Russia.

Has anyone had any experience with a) traveling on a ticket that has two names on it, B) renewing a passport in Russia under a married name acquired in the US or c) having an 'also known as (married name)' added to a new passport issued in Russia?

P.S. Irina has just thought of another problem. The last leg of her trip is an e-ticket on an internal flight, and she thinks that only her internal passport (maiden name of course), not her international passport, will be accepted as identification. Now she's wondering if she will get back to her hometown at all. The travel agent has already told her not to worry, because her maiden name will also be on the ticket, but he's never been to Russia, so what does he know. Right now I am in big trouble for having put that ticket in her married name.

[akdiver 3]

Irina returns to Russia in three weeks to visit her family and wants to renew her passport. We planned this for over a year, but now we're hearing about some potential probems. For one thing, she had intended changing the passport to her married name, but now she has been told, on various Russian bulletin boards, that it will take half a year through the courts to do a legal name change, and that her marriage certificate won't be accepted as proof because it was issued in the US. For another, she has been told that the 'also known as (married name)' stamp that is in her passport now, which allows her to travel under her married name, can only be placed there by Consulates in the US, not when the new passport is issued in Russia. So, it sounds like the only way she can get a new passport in Russia is to have it issued only in her maiden name

For what it's worth, it is possible to renew a passport in the U.S. AND upgrade it to a married name, using your U.S. issued marriage certificate. Read my thread here for detailed details:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24549

Not knowing any of this until tonight, I had already purchased the whole roundtrip ticket in her married name. The travel agent says her married name must stay on the ticket, but he can add an 'also known as (maiden name)' to her ticket, so both married and maiden names will be there. I am still worried that the dual names might not be accepted in Russia when she tries to return using her new passport. I really would prefer that she return on her old passport in December and renew it through the Consulate in San Francisco, but she wants to do it in Russia.

If it will still be valid for the return trip, it's just out and out foolish to do it in Russia when you can do it here. JMO. However, you CAN use your U.S. marriage certificate, with the appropriate apostille translation and other things. Again, see my above-reference thread above for details.

P.S. Irina has just thought of another problem. The last leg of her trip is an e-ticket on an internal flight, and she thinks that only her internal passport (maiden name of course), not her international passport, will be accepted as identification.

Not true. My wife used her international passport for two different internal flights (Moscow to Kazan, Ufa to Moscow) when we were there in April.

Cheers!

AKDiver

Edited September 19, 2008 by akdiver

[IrinaNMike 0]

Thanks very much for that thread about apostile translation. I read it a long time ago but I had forgotten about it.

I would really like her to use the facilities of the San Francisco Consulate to renew her passport. It doeen't expire until March, 2009 so she has plenty of time. Her issue is that she doesn't want to be forced into changing her domestic registration. She has an apartment in Russia that she wants to keep, and that's where she wants her registration. I think she is partly paranoid because of the anti-American rhetoric she's hearing from Russia right now. Her father was deported from Poland in 1939 and his brothers were shot; and her grandmother was a fugitive from the NKVD/KGB until the end of her life. She is afraid it could happen again; and so she doesn't want the Russian government to know that ahe has emigrated.

....used her international passport for two different internal flights (Moscow to Kazan, Ufa to Moscow) when we were there in April.

Irina says that both these cities are international destinations for passport purposes, even though the flights are routed through the domestic terminal in Moscow. I put this question to Aeroflot this morning, however, and they said that her international passport will be acceptabe as id on domestic flights, "no problem".

Aeroflot was less sanguine about the changes that the travel agent made to her ticket. They said that it's just a comment that will show up in the computer but not on the boarding pass where it really needs to be.

[Kotenochek 0]

My pasport expires in summer 2009and i will change it in san francisco after my trip to russia..I wuold not risk to do it in russian-dont want to be stuck there for another year

[Satellite 1]

I have spoke to the people here in San Francisco regarding this issue the solution is as follows:

1. Have your original marriage certificate appostiled at the secretary of state.

2. Translate appostile and marriage certificate into Russian.

3. Pay consulate to have them certify it and put into one document good in Russia.

4. Remove consulate registration.

5. Now go to Russia to the place where they make internal passports.

6. Get registered / propiska in the local Russian area.

7. Change the internal passport name using the Russian consulate approved marriage certificate.

8. With the new Russian internal passport go and make the external passport in new married name.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Satellite

[IrinaNMike 0]

I'm gong to do the apostille process on Monday. In my state, Oregon, it's so easy ... about 20 minutes in one office, 10 minutes in another (about 1 hour total) and fees totaling about $20.

Irina has discovered a nice loophole, by the way. If a Russian passport has an unexpired visa and is surrendered with an application for a new one, the passport authorities can return the old one to her when the new one is issued. She checked with the local passport office in her hometown (friend of a friend, of course), and given her situation, they are willing to return the old one to her, with its "maiden name -- also known as (married name)" stamp. That, added to the comment entry in her e-ticket and her apostilled marriage certificate, should be enough to satisfy Aeroflot, in the event that she gets the passport in her maiden name, which I think is what she has decided to do.

Thanks, everyone, for your help, once again!

[slim 1,514]

I am now cross-eyed.

[mox 298]

I am now cross-eyed.

[akdiver 3]

Irina has discovered a nice loophole, by the way. If a Russian passport has an unexpired visa and is surrendered with an application for a new one, the passport authorities can return the old one to her when the new one is issued.

Um.....you don't need an unexpired visa to do this. My wife has every passport she has ever been issued - they give them back when you get the new one. She currently has three international passports in my safe - two old, cancelled ones, and one new current one.

FWIW, that's how it works with American passports too - they give the old one back to you (cancelled).

Edited September 20, 2008 by akdiver

[slim 1,514]

FWIW, that's how it works with American passports too - they give the old one back to you (cancelled).

While I was in the Air Force, I was working the main gate in Korea and someone approached my post attempting to gain entry with a U.S. passport. It had a nice big hole in the middle of it. I looked at it kind of funny and the lady grabbed it back and said, "oops. Wrong one."

She went on to tell me if they do return the passport, (at your request) they'll put a hole in it so everyone knows it's invalid. I hadn't previously known that, but I wasn't going to let her on the base with a passport that had a big hole in it.

[akdiver 3]

She went on to tell me if they do return the passport, (at your request) they'll put a hole in it so everyone knows it's invalid. I hadn't previously known that, but I wasn't going to let her on the base with a passport that had a big hole in it.

An expired passport is still valid ID. Sometmes, various forms that ask for ID will specifically list an expired passport. After all, you identity has not expired, just the passport (:

FWIW, my wife's old Russian passports are NOT punched with a hole (:

Edited September 20, 2008 by akdiver

[Brad and Vika 129]

FWIW, that's how it works with American passports too - they give the old one back to you (cancelled).

While I was in the Air Force, I was working the main gate in Korea and someone approached my post attempting to gain entry with a U.S. passport. It had a nice big hole in the middle of it. I looked at it kind of funny and the lady grabbed it back and said, "oops. Wrong one."

She went on to tell me if they do return the passport, (at your request) they'll put a hole in it so everyone knows it's invalid. I hadn't previously known that, but I wasn't going to let her on the base with a passport that had a big hole in it.

Two questions:

1) Can you in fact get onto a US military base anywhere with a passport? I was unaware of that, but if so it is good info.

2) Why would you need (not want, need) two valid international passports?

[akdiver 3]

Two questions:

1) Can you in fact get onto a US military base anywhere with a passport? I was unaware of that, but if so it is good info.

Potentially. Many (most?) bases you can get onto as a visitor if you have a sponsor - you need to show ID, you can use a passport. Many (most?) bases you can get onto as a visitor without a sponsor, to use some publically available facility - you need to show ID, you can use a passport.

Why would you need (not want, need) two valid international passports?

Lots of reasons. First - maybe they're different purposes. At one point, I had a blue and a brown U.S. passport. Blue was civilian, brown was For Official Use Only. You might also want multiple passports if you have multiple citizenships. For example, if your naturalized wife wants to go to Russia - the Russian consulate isn't going to give her a visa for her U.S. passport if it says she was born in Russia, unless she has formally renounced her Russian citizenship. Also, for other countries, maybe passport A requires you to have a visa to visit country B, and maybe passport C does not. Finally, if you maintain multiple identities, multiple passports can be useful.

[slim 1,514]

An expired passport is still valid ID. Sometmes, various forms that ask for ID will specifically list an expired passport. After all, you identity has not expired, just the passport (:

Validity of an ID is established by the entity checking the ID. An expired anything is invalid at some places, and will be confiscated at places such as the Ohio BMV. At the Air Force base where I was checking the passports in my post above, an expired ID would not have been valid for identity because anything expired wasn't "official" anymore and therefore, invalid. However, I couldn't have confiscated it because passports weren't authorized to be confiscated, valid or not.

Hey, I didn't make the rules......

FWIW, my wife's old Russian passports are NOT punched with a hole (:

That's because they are Russian passports. Wait until her U.S. passport expires, it will most likely get a hole in it.

Two questions:

1) Can you in fact get onto a US military base anywhere with a passport? I was unaware of that, but if so it is good info.

2) Why would you need (not want, need) two valid international passports?

Two questions:

1) Can you in fact get onto a US military base anywhere with a passport? I was unaware of that, but if so it is good info.

Potentially. Many (most?) bases you can get onto as a visitor if you have a sponsor - you need to show ID, you can use a passport. Many (most?) bases you can get onto as a visitor without a sponsor, to use some publically available facility - you need to show ID, you can use a passport.

Why would you need (not want, need) two valid international passports?

Lots of reasons. First - maybe they're different purposes. At one point, I had a blue and a brown U.S. passport. Blue was civilian, brown was For Official Use Only. You might also want multiple passports if you have multiple citizenships. For example, if your naturalized wife wants to go to Russia - the Russian consulate isn't going to give her a visa for her U.S. passport if it says she was born in Russia, unless she has formally renounced her Russian citizenship. Also, for other countries, maybe passport A requires you to have a visa to visit country B, and maybe passport C does not. Finally, if you maintain multiple identities, multiple passports can be useful.

AKDiver is correct. I'll add each military installation has it's own rules on who can and cannot access the installation and which forms of ID are required to gain entry. In my personal experience (and I've checked probably over 1,000,000 forms of ID in my life at installation entry control points, restricted area entry control points, traffic stops, .... working the check out lane at the grocery store, selling beer at the baseball game, etc.) and I've never worked for an agency where an expired form of ID can be used alone to ID an individual.

The exception to that rule is when military personnel or family members stationed overseas use a stateside driver's license that is expired but waivered by the state to still be valid while on official orders overseas and the person does not have the opportunity to renew until after returning stateside. Their ID card would appear to be expired, but was in fact, still valid because the expiration date on the card does not render the card expired. Their return to the state of issue (and applicable time period, if any) would then render the card expired.

That said, the DL is not what verifies identity, it is only used to verify driving priveleges. Another form of ID has to be used to verify identity. A state DL is only used at overseas installations as an alternate form of ID to support a passport or military, dependent, or contractor Geneva Conventions ID card.

[IrinaNMike 0]

She went on to tell me if they do return the passport, (at your request) they'll put a hole in it so everyone knows it's invalid. I hadn't previously known that, but I wasn't going to let her on the base with a passport that had a big hole in it.

An expired passport is still valid ID. Sometmes, various forms that ask for ID will specifically list an expired passport. After all, you identity has not expired, just the passport (:

FWIW, my wife's old Russian passports are NOT punched with a hole (:

Sorry I confused everyone. I misunderstood Irina. She was talking about some bad experiences people in her hometown had had when they applied for the new biometric passports and did not get their old ones back. Apparently biometric passport applications are sent to Moscow and the old passports were being lost in the shuffle, but that 'loophole' allowed the local office to retain the old one.

Why did she want a biometric passport? Because the lines are shorter. Why are the lines shorter? (See above)

She had already decided to get the old-style non-biometric passport instead, but I hadn't realized that when I made my post.