Passport renewal in US

[Neonred 3,517]

My wife is currently in Russia. One of the things she wants to do while there is change her internal passport. She seemed confident that she had everything she would need and didn't ask me to even go over with her what she might need. Well, she has a certified copy of our marriage certificate. But, the passport office tells her that they must have a certified copy with an apostille. They also told her they would accept a green card in lieu of the marriage certificate with apostille. Unfortunately, she doesn't have her GC with her (arrived in the mail yesterday), and she just has the I-551 stamp in her passport. I can get another certified copy of the marriage certificate with an apostille on Tuesday morning and get it sent right out. But, unless I were to use a delivery service like UPS, DHL, or FedEx (damn expensive for a letter), I'm not sure that she'll get it with enough time to get the new passport. Has anyone else had any experience with this? I suggested that she keep trying to get them to accept the certified marriage certificate (without apostille). Can anyone see other possibilities that I'm not seeing? Thanks in advance.

My wife tried to change her internal passport two years ago. We had the marriage certificate with translation and apostille but that wasn't good enough for them. Our Florida marriage certificate shows her name and my name and where and when we were married. No where on it does it say that her new married name is XXX. This wasn't good enough for them. My wife had her green card and the official stamp in her passport from the Russian embassy in DC indicating her new matrimonial name, but that wasn't good enough either. We gave up. We decided there was really no point trying to change it anyway. Her international passport has the official name change noted and has worked fine for travel using tickets in her married name, and next year she will be applying for US citizenship anyway.

[navillus 0]

Wife's Russian international passport is expiring in Dec and we need to travel overseas in Dec. So sent in the renewal application to Russian consulate in San Francisco, couple of days back.

Called Consulate today morning and they state:

1. There is no way to get the new passport sooner then 3 months

(which mean we only get new passport end of Nov) - this going to screw us as need to buy tickets earlier for Dec travel.

2. Need to visit the consulate in person to pick up the new passport. This is ridiculous. We are in San Diego and have to travel to San Francisco just to pick up the passport. (By the way in the application package they ask for the $20 postage fee for returning the documents, which we had sent).

The above sounds absurd and consulate is saying there some new law into effect since Apr 09 which is causing the above.

Anyone else had any similar experience?

Any way to get around the above problems?

My wife needs to renew her International Russian passport and I think we may have found the answer w/o having to travel in person to the local consulate. Check out this website: www.russianpassportservice.com. As I understand it, they are authorized agents and can process your renewals through the mail using the Washngton DC embassey. We are planning on using their service.

[gogal2020 0]

Just renewed my passport in Washington DC embassy, went in person and it took 2 months to get approved. But you better not let your current passport expire, because then they would make you prove that you are a citizen, which involves more money.

Mike.

[Happy_life 0]

Just renewed my passport in Washington DC embassy, went in person and it took 2 months to get approved. But you better not let your current passport expire, because then they would make you prove that you are a citizen, which involves more money.

Mike.

Do I have to make an appointment ro renew my foreign passport or just go as early as possible to the Consulate with all my papers?

Edited September 10, 2009 by Happy_life

[Don E 0]

Look forward to hearing how it plays out, Don.

I got two certified copies of our marriage certificate (both with apostilles) and mailed one to her Tuesday morning. She was assured that the marriage certificate w/apostille , along with a notarized Russian translation, would be sufficient to get the new internal passport.