Travel with expired NOA1, stamp in passport...

[tweety 1]

Hi all,

hope someone can help me with this.

My situation is this: My NOA1 for I751 will soon expire and I will have to get my passport stamped.

My passport however is still in my maiden name (my greencard, expired NOA1 etc is all in married name).

Will I potentially run into any problems-

A) to get the stamp in passport?

B ) to do international travel with this?

Would be great if there was actually ppl with experience with this issue.

Edited March 11, 2008 by tweety

[YuAndDan 153]

A )

You will receive a notice of receipt for the form stating that "Your alien card is extended one year - employment and travel authorized". Keep the receipt with your green card. If by some chance you are not approved within a year you will want to make an InfoPass appointment to go to your Local Office to request an I-551 stamp in your passport. This does happen as it sometimes it takes over a year to be approved. After your NOA extension expires, this is your only evidence of legal status which you are required to have, by law. This happens occasionally, that a case takes over a year, but it's rare. Local Offices will not give an I-551 stamp is you have another type of evidence of status (ie, expired Green Card + extension letter).

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;page=751guide

B ) It is reported all the time on VJ, this is not a problem, you just show the officer at POE upon re-entry the expored card, and extension letter, and they will let you pass.

[tweety 1]

A )

You will receive a notice of receipt for the form stating that "Your alien card is extended one year - employment and travel authorized". Keep the receipt with your green card. If by some chance you are not approved within a year you will want to make an InfoPass appointment to go to your Local Office to request an I-551 stamp in your passport. This does happen as it sometimes it takes over a year to be approved. After your NOA extension expires, this is your only evidence of legal status which you are required to have, by law. This happens occasionally, that a case takes over a year, but it's rare. Local Offices will not give an I-551 stamp is you have another type of evidence of status (ie, expired Green Card + extension letter).

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;page=751guide

B ) It is reported all the time on VJ, this is not a problem, you just show the officer at POE upon re-entry the expored card, and extension letter, and they will let you pass.

Dude, do you even bother reading the full content of my message.....

[YuAndDan 153]

Dude, do you even bother reading the full content of my message.....

A ) Schedule an info pass and get the stamp, this is just the same as a K-1 getting a stamp upon approval after AOS, their passport still has maiden name in it.

B ) This too comes up often with K-1s with a newly minted green-card, and passport with maiden name, and the answer is the same, carry a copy of marriage cert to show name change from passport name to green-card name, if the question comes up.

[Peter T 0]

Yu and Dan, you misunderstood the question. tweety was asking about the time after the one-year extension has expired or is about to expire.

tweety, I guess the easiest thing is carrying an official document of your name change with you on flights, e.g. an official copy of your marriage license (in English). My wife had the reverse problem and carried her old, expired passport with her - her name was changed, but some frequent flier mile system still carried her under her old name and tickets got printed wrongly.

[tweety 1]

Yu and Dan, you misunderstood the question. tweety was asking about the time after the one-year extension has expired or is about to expire.

tweety, I guess the easiest thing is carrying an official document of your name change with you on flights, e.g. an official copy of your marriage license (in English). My wife had the reverse problem and carried her old, expired passport with her - her name was changed, but some frequent flier mile system still carried her under her old name and tickets got printed wrongly.

thanks. I'm just really nervous about the issue. I've heard that the stamp is not commonly used anymore, because of the high fraud risk associated with it. I wonder then if I will run into problems, especially when my passport is in maiden name still.

Last time I traveled I didn't have to show my passport when reentering the US, as I just showed them my greencard. Now things will be different, as I will have to show my passport to show the stamp.... I just hope it won't cause any delays... we always have connect flights...

May-be we should postpone till after the greencard issue is solved... but heaven knows when that will be the case....

Anyway, still looking for ppl to report their experience as well!

[James 2]

Yu and Dan, you misunderstood the question. tweety was asking about the time after the one-year extension has expired or is about to expire.

tweety, I guess the easiest thing is carrying an official document of your name change with you on flights, e.g. an official copy of your marriage license (in English). My wife had the reverse problem and carried her old, expired passport with her - her name was changed, but some frequent flier mile system still carried her under her old name and tickets got printed wrongly.

thanks. I'm just really nervous about the issue. I've heard that the stamp is not commonly used anymore, because of the high fraud risk associated with it. I wonder then if I will run into problems, especially when my passport is in maiden name still.

Last time I traveled I didn't have to show my passport when reentering the US, as I just showed them my greencard. Now things will be different, as I will have to show my passport to show the stamp.... I just hope it won't cause any delays... we always have connect flights...

May-be we should postpone till after the greencard issue is solved... but heaven knows when that will be the case....

Anyway, still looking for ppl to report their experience as well!

I think as long as you have the stamped passport, you shouldn't have any problem. The connection between you the I-751 petitioner in your married name and you the passport holder in your maiden name was already made by CIS when you got the I-551 stamp. I don't think the POE officer is going to look beyond your passport.

That said, I would definitely carry a copy of your marriage certificate in any event, at the very least because the problem you may run into is with the airline or TSA, assuming tickets are in your married name.

My wife's passport is in her maiden name and she didn't have any problem with having her ticket in a different name. However, this was in Miami, where it is common knowledge that women in Spanish-speaking countries usually keep their maiden names. I'm curious about when she next travels this summer, though, because we might not have the 10 year card and she'll have to rely on the passport -- which she renewed in her maiden name last year.