The name on your passport and green card

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Hello guys! I have a question. When my husband and I applied for AOS in December 2007, I changed my first name in my green card from "Ma." to "Marie". And now, my passport has expired. I am going to apply for a passport renewal with amendment of last name in San Francisco on Friday because I am going back to Manila in January 2010. I know that the DFA will go by the name in my birth certificate. There lies the problem. I have different first names in my passport and green card. Anybody here who has the same case like mine? I would appreciate your replies. Gracias.

[David-and-Mae 15]

I have the same dilemma so I'm hitch-hiking on this topic. On my greencard and all my IDs, I have been using my mother's maiden name as my middle name instead of the Philippine way where you drop the mother's maiden name and use your own maiden name as your middle name upon marriage. I'm wondering if the passport will be formatted as in the Phil. way or if I can make them follow what my greencard and IDs say.

e.g. of how my name goes then and now:

Michelle Reyes Santos - when I was still single

Michelle Santos Smith - my married name now, instead of

Michelle Reyes Smith - the Phil. way

[eros_EX_Plumber 0]

I have the same dilemma so I'm hitch-hiking on this topic. On my greencard and all my IDs, I have been using my mother's maiden name as my middle name instead of the Philippine way where you drop the mother's maiden name and use your own maiden name as your middle name upon marriage. I'm wondering if the passport will be formatted as in the Phil. way or if I can make them follow what my greencard and IDs say.

e.g. of how my name goes then and now:

Michelle Reyes Santos - when I was still single

Michelle Santos Smith - my married name now, instead of

Michelle Reyes Smith - the Phil. way

I never understood the stupidity about the country about taking the husband name after mariage...most countries in the world, she keep the maiden name. The family status changes from single to married..end of story.

But unfortunately, in this country.. we are progressive on certain things and backwards on many others.. ( i could start another topic, just on that..LOL)

I could be wrong and someone correct me please,

as long you "airline ticket" matches your passport names that is what most countries in the world care about...

the Green card is only used by USA Immigration officer and sometime they check it in other countries before departure to USA.

So if you want to play safe, maybe purchase the airline tickets as "Michelle Reyes Santos Smith" that matches your passport and green card variation ... because the airlines have to sent to the government the list of passengers 24 hrs ahead and then again just on departure.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I have the same dilemma so I'm hitch-hiking on this topic. On my greencard and all my IDs, I have been using my mother's maiden name as my middle name instead of the Philippine way where you drop the mother's maiden name and use your own maiden name as your middle name upon marriage. I'm wondering if the passport will be formatted as in the Phil. way or if I can make them follow what my greencard and IDs say.

e.g. of how my name goes then and now:

Michelle Reyes Santos - when I was still single

Michelle Santos Smith - my married name now, instead of

Michelle Reyes Smith - the Phil. way

We are doing the passport renewal and report of marriage thing. They don't give you any choice on the passport. The First name is the given name as it is shown on the B.C. The last name is the surname of the husband, and the middle name is applicant's maiden surname. For you, it looks like Michelle Santos Smith might be okay, since you were using Santos as your surname before you were married.

All the information on your marriage certificate is transferred exactly as shown to the report of marriage form.

As far as Marie's case, she is worried that if they see the difference in the way her given name is spelled, they may not let her board the plane for the return flight. We all know how difficult Filipino officials can be at times. If anyone has a similar experience, that would help to alleviate her concerns.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Mister_Bill

[bluemist 0]

As I know,once you got married,your middle name will be your last name (Father's lastname/surname) .

Mine is:

Dawn D. Asuncion - single

Dawn A.Smith - now,this is what I'm using on all of the paperworks,ID's,EAD and GC.Bcoz that's how I thought the Philippine way is.

[David-and-Mae 15]

It seems like I confused myself while I was posting. What I really meant to say is this:

Michelle Reyes Santos - when I was still single

Michelle Reyes Smith - my married name now, instead of

Michelle Santos Smith - the Phil. way

I want my ammended passport to be "Michelle Reyes Smith" so it will match my greencard and other IDs. I'm afraid they will follow the Phil. way. Oh well...

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

It seems like I confused myself while I was posting. What I really meant to say is this:

Michelle Reyes Santos - when I was still single

Michelle Reyes Smith - my married name now, instead of

Michelle Santos Smith - the Phil. way

I want my ammended passport to be "Michelle Reyes Smith" so it will match my greencard and other IDs. I'm afraid they will follow the Phil. way. Oh well...

They provide another document if you want, "One and the same", for when the passport surname and the green card surname do not match. But that is another $25.00 on top of everything else.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Mister_Bill

[David-and-Mae 15]

It seems like I confused myself while I was posting. What I really meant to say is this:

Michelle Reyes Santos - when I was still single

Michelle Reyes Smith - my married name now, instead of

Michelle Santos Smith - the Phil. way

I want my ammended passport to be "Michelle Reyes Smith" so it will match my greencard and other IDs. I'm afraid they will follow the Phil. way. Oh well...

They provide another document if you want, "One and the same", for when the passport surname and the green card surname do not match. But that is another $25.00 on top of everything else.

Of course... the Philippine way... more money, pretty pleaseeeeeeeee! I guess I'll take a good look at this. Thanks, Mr. Bill!

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Hi guys! Mr Bill and I went to San Francisco to the Philippine Consulate today to get my passport renewed and report our marriage. We got all the forms online from the Consulate website and filled those out. One copy of the application for renewal with 2 pictures we had done locally and copy of my ID. We also filled out 3 copies of the Report of Marriage document with three copies each of the marriage certficate, of my NSO birth certificate, and of both our passports data page. We also brought with us a USPS Express Mail stamp ($17.50). We got there by 10:30 am.

The first place we stopped was to see the Information Officer. He checked our stuff and he didn't think that the passport pictures we took were good enough. The quality was okay, but we took a blue bed sheet with us for the background and you could see creases and wrinkles on the sheet. So that didn't work.

So we went downstairs at the embassy and got the pictures redone for 12 bucks (2 copies). We went back upstairs and within 5 minutes it was our turn to go to the passport desk. They check all our stuff again and everything was okay. And then she made me sign the forms and took my fingers prints. She also looked at my original documents: Passports, NSO Birth Certificate and Marriage License (Certificate). The last thing she did was to give Mr. Bill a USPS Express Mail envelope to put the stamp we brought with us on the envelope and address it to ourselves because we opted for my passport to be mailed to us instead of driving back to San Francisco in 6 weeks to pick it up.

It was only about 11:30 and we could have left then, but I was still worried about the thing with my name and they suggested we get a One and the same document. So back to the information guy. We photocopied 2 copies of my green card and passport on the same sheet of paper and we got a new number to wait our turn again. About 20 minutes later, we went to the Legal/Visa counter and talked to the guy. He tells us we were bad and I should have put my given name as shown on my birth certificate on my green card. Oh well, so we requested a One And The Same document and head over to cashier and paid an additional $25 on top of the $50 we paid for the passport and $25 for the Report of Marriage.

Then came the long agonizing wait. Two and a half hours laters and both our butts were sore. I guess there's only one guy in the whole consulate that could sign all those documents and he finally showed up. We got out there about 3pm.

We're done. Now we just have to wait. But what's new?

[bluemist 0]

Hi guys! Mr Bill and I went to San Francisco to the Philippine Consulate today to get my passport renewed and report our marriage. We got all the forms online from the Consulate website and filled those out. One copy of the application for renewal with 2 pictures we had done locally and copy of my ID. We also filled out 3 copies of the Report of Marriage document with three copies each of the marriage certficate, of my NSO birth certificate, and of both our passports data page. We also brought with us a USPS Express Mail stamp ($17.50). We got there by 10:30 am.

The first place we stopped was to see the Information Officer. He checked our stuff and he didn't think that the passport pictures we took were good enough. The quality was okay, but we took a blue bed sheet with us for the background and you could see creases and wrinkles on the sheet. So that didn't work.

So we went downstairs at the embassy and got the pictures redone for 12 bucks (2 copies). We went back upstairs and within 5 minutes it was our turn to go to the passport desk. They check all our stuff again and everything was okay. And then she made me sign the forms and took my fingers prints. She also looked at my original documents: Passports, NSO Birth Certificate and Marriage License (Certificate). The last thing she did was to give Mr. Bill a USPS Express Mail envelope to put the stamp we brought with us on the envelope and address it to ourselves because we opted for my passport to be mailed to us instead of driving back to San Francisco in 6 weeks to pick it up.

It was only about 11:30 and we could have left then, but I was still worried about the thing with my name and they suggested we get a One and the same document. So back to the information guy. We photocopied 2 copies of my green card and passport on the same sheet of paper and we got a new number to wait our turn again. About 20 minutes later, we went to the Legal/Visa counter and talked to the guy. He tells us we were bad and I should have put my given name as shown on my birth certificate on my green card. Oh well, so we requested a One And The Same document and head over to cashier and paid an additional $25 on top of the $50 we paid for the passport and $25 for the Report of Marriage.

Then came the long agonizing wait. Two and a half hours laters and both our butts were sore. I guess there's only one guy in the whole consulate that could sign all those documents and he finally showed up. We got out there about 3pm.

We're done. Now we just have to wait. But what's new?

Did you filled out the application form for renewal of passport in your married name or maiden name?Is your passport about to expire or not?Coz my passport (maroon) will expire in 2013 but I want to change it to my married name so when we go to PI for vacation,my passport will be on my married name already.Also I want to report my marriage and do it both at the same time,coz we live far from Phil.Consulate in Fort Lauderdale,FL.We are in Florida too but its 7hours drive to go there.

[David-and-Mae 15]

Good for you, Rocky! At least now you're done with the hard part of it. I was looking for the "one and the same" thing at the consulate's website but didn't see any. Is that something that they only have in their office?

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Hi guys! Mr Bill and I went to San Francisco to the Philippine Consulate today to get my passport renewed and report our marriage. We got all the forms online from the Consulate website and filled those out. One copy of the application for renewal with 2 pictures we had done locally and copy of my ID. We also filled out 3 copies of the Report of Marriage document with three copies each of the marriage certficate, of my NSO birth certificate, and of both our passports data page. We also brought with us a USPS Express Mail stamp ($17.50). We got there by 10:30 am.

The first place we stopped was to see the Information Officer. He checked our stuff and he didn't think that the passport pictures we took were good enough. The quality was okay, but we took a blue bed sheet with us for the background and you could see creases and wrinkles on the sheet. So that didn't work.

So we went downstairs at the embassy and got the pictures redone for 12 bucks (2 copies). We went back upstairs and within 5 minutes it was our turn to go to the passport desk. They check all our stuff again and everything was okay. And then she made me sign the forms and took my fingers prints. She also looked at my original documents: Passports, NSO Birth Certificate and Marriage License (Certificate). The last thing she did was to give Mr. Bill a USPS Express Mail envelope to put the stamp we brought with us on the envelope and address it to ourselves because we opted for my passport to be mailed to us instead of driving back to San Francisco in 6 weeks to pick it up.

It was only about 11:30 and we could have left then, but I was still worried about the thing with my name and they suggested we get a One and the same document. So back to the information guy. We photocopied 2 copies of my green card and passport on the same sheet of paper and we got a new number to wait our turn again. About 20 minutes later, we went to the Legal/Visa counter and talked to the guy. He tells us we were bad and I should have put my given name as shown on my birth certificate on my green card. Oh well, so we requested a One And The Same document and head over to cashier and paid an additional $25 on top of the $50 we paid for the passport and $25 for the Report of Marriage.

Then came the long agonizing wait. Two and a half hours laters and both our butts were sore. I guess there's only one guy in the whole consulate that could sign all those documents and he finally showed up. We got out there about 3pm.

We're done. Now we just have to wait. But what's new?

Did you filled out the application form for renewal of passport in your married name or maiden name?Is your passport about to expire or not?Coz my passport (maroon) will expire in 2013 but I want to change it to my married name so when we go to PI for vacation,my passport will be on my married name already.Also I want to report my marriage and do it both at the same time,coz we live far from Phil.Consulate in Fort Lauderdale,FL.We are in Florida too but its 7hours drive to go there.

Yes, my passport has expired and I filled out all the forms in my married name. In your case, you can always get an amendment because your passport is good until 2013. But if you want to use your married name in your passport na, $25 for amendment and $50 for a new passport. Either one, but you still need to do a report of marriage and that's $25 too. Do the report of marriage, and the amendment or a new passport at the same time if I were you.

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Good for you, Rocky! At least now you're done with the hard part of it. I was looking for the "one and the same" thing at the consulate's website but didn't see any. Is that something that they only have in their office?

Yes, it's something that they make for you there. No forms to be filled out. Just 2 photocopies of your IDs showing your current name or green card and passport. I made photocopies of my old passport and green card on the same page. Pay $25 and they will make the document for you.

[rheanick 42]

Good for you, Rocky! At least now you're done with the hard part of it. I was looking for the "one and the same" thing at the consulate's website but didn't see any. Is that something that they only have in their office?

Yes, it's something that they make for you there. No forms to be filled out. Just 2 photocopies of your IDs showing your current name or green card and passport. I made photocopies of my old passport and green card on the same page. Pay $25 and they will make the document for you.

Rocky,

Trivial question. What is the paper they use for photocopy. Is it 8 X 11, the normal bond paper. Is the photocopy colored or black in white. I extra photocopies of my passport, ID's and marriage certificate from my AOS application. Would prefer to use them for my passport application.

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Good for you, Rocky! At least now you're done with the hard part of it. I was looking for the "one and the same" thing at the consulate's website but didn't see any. Is that something that they only have in their office?

Yes, it's something that they make for you there. No forms to be filled out. Just 2 photocopies of your IDs showing your current name or green card and passport. I made photocopies of my old passport and green card on the same page. Pay $25 and they will make the document for you.

Rocky,

Trivial question. What is the paper they use for photocopy. Is it 8 X 11, the normal bond paper. Is the photocopy colored or black in white. I extra photocopies of my passport, ID's and marriage certificate from my AOS application. Would prefer to use them for my passport application.

We used regular 8.5 x 11 copy paper. Bill had to reduce to 90% for the NSO Birth Certificate to make it fit. For the "One and the Same Person", the copy machine at the consulate prints in legal size, 8.5 x 14 I think. It was all black on white. You need copies of your husband's photo ID for the report of marriage too.