Name Change; 2 different passports?

[Lunnah 0]

Hi!

I'm back after a few years... this time is because I'm considering applying for US citizenship and I have some questions that I hope someone can help me with.

Maybe they had been answered before but...I couldn't really find a response to my question so... here I am.

I have a Spain passport and I plan on keeping my Spanish citizenship, so my name looks like this Lidia ???? !!!

My greencard has my married name and it looks like Lidia $$$

I'm confused about the options I have, as I would like to have the same name in both passports so that it does not look like a have multiple personalities.... hahaha

What should I do? For my US passport I would like to change it to Lidia ??? !!! $$$ but then... my Spanish passport would be missing the $$$ (married one).

Should I also change my name in the Spanish one?

Does it matter that it will be different?

Has anyone done this before?

I hope to have explained it right.... sorry for the ??? !!! $$$ signs....

Thank you so much!!!!!!!

Lidia

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Lidia,

I wouldn't even know how to pronounce any of your family names, so that's a tricky one.

But seriously, and I've followed some rather interesting threads in this regard, there's nothing illegal in having two passports and two legal names IF Spain allows dual citizenship. If you were Russian, you'd be encountering problems of a different kind, but as a citizen of Spain, you could travel exclusively with your US passport.

But let's say you want to leave the US with your Spanish passport. You arrive with your Spanish passport. You would probably have to leave with your US passport when the Spanish want to see your authorization to enter the US. When you arrive you have to enter with your US passport. Since your family name is almost identical, I don't seen any problems and if there were any, you could easily clear that up.

Edited October 13, 2009 by Just Bob

[Lunnah 0]

Thank you for the information...

I´m thinking on simply changing the US one and maybe leave the Spanish one the way it is... they would be similar enough... I guess...

I was hoping to get more answers though :-)

Thanks again!!

Edited October 14, 2009 by Lunnah

[lucyrich 20]

The area where it might be a problem is if you use both passports for the same international trip. US law requires that you show your US passport to US officials when entering the US. I'm not sure exactly whether it's force of law or common airline policy, but the name on the passport has to match the name on the ticket. The airlines transmit electronic passenger manifests to customs officials so that they've got your name on the list before you go through customs.

If, for example, you had to use your Spanish passport to enter Spain, and your US passport to enter the US, then exactly what form of your name would you give the airlines as you purchased the ticket between the two countries?

There's probably a way to manage this, and if you only encounter reasonable and understanding people at airline counters and immigration ports, you may not have any problem in the first place. Especially if the names are closely related in an obvious way. But I suspect if you travel frequently using both passports, it'll be much simpler if both passports have exactly the same name.

You can probably change your name in your Spanish passport by going to a consulate of Spain located in the US, if you want to do that.

[Italian_in_NYC 259]

The area where it might be a problem is if you use both passports for the same international trip. US law requires that you show your US passport to US officials when entering the US. I'm not sure exactly whether it's force of law or common airline policy, but the name on the passport has to match the name on the ticket. The airlines transmit electronic passenger manifests to customs officials so that they've got your name on the list before you go through customs.

If, for example, you had to use your Spanish passport to enter Spain, and your US passport to enter the US, then exactly what form of your name would you give the airlines as you purchased the ticket between the two countries?

There's probably a way to manage this, and if you only encounter reasonable and understanding people at airline counters and immigration ports, you may not have any problem in the first place. Especially if the names are closely related in an obvious way. But I suspect if you travel frequently using both passports, it'll be much simpler if both passports have exactly the same name.

You can probably change your name in your Spanish passport by going to a consulate of Spain located in the US, if you want to do that.

My wife, who is the US citizen, will have the same problem.

She applied for Italian citizenship through marriage and she will get it sometimes next year.

Italy does not allow name change through marriage, so her Italian passport will be in her maiden name (they go by the name on the birth certificate).

However they have a nice feature on page 4 which gives the option to put a note "married XXXXXXXX", where XXXXX is her married last name.

That way there shouldn't be any problem. Also, if you carry both passports with you, it is self-explanatory.

[abyss 0]

...

But seriously, and I've followed some rather interesting threads in this regard, there's nothing illegal in having two passports and two legal names IF Spain allows dual citizenship. If you were Russian, you'd be encountering problems of a different kind, but as a citizen of Spain, you could travel exclusively with your US passport.

Just Bob, what kind of problems a Russian with two legal names could encounter? Thank you.

[visacheck 3]

Hi!

I'm back after a few years... this time is because I'm considering applying for US citizenship and I have some questions that I hope someone can help me with.

Maybe they had been answered before but...I couldn't really find a response to my question so... here I am.

I have a Spain passport and I plan on keeping my Spanish citizenship, so my name looks like this Lidia ???? !!!

My greencard has my married name and it looks like Lidia $$$

I'm confused about the options I have, as I would like to have the same name in both passports so that it does not look like a have multiple personalities.... hahaha

What should I do? For my US passport I would like to change it to Lidia ??? !!! $$$ but then... my Spanish passport would be missing the $$$ (married one).

Should I also change my name in the Spanish one?

Does it matter that it will be different?

Has anyone done this before?

I hope to have explained it right.... sorry for the ??? !!! $$$ signs....

Thank you so much!!!!!!!

Lidia

I think the safest way is for you to have your married name on both passports.

[NickD 203]

Such a country dependent question, check with your consulate. In our case, the Venezuelan Consulate in Chicago renewed my wife's passport in her maiden name as that is the name on her Venezuelan ID. And they wanted us to register our US marriage with an aposttile from the secretary of our state on our marriage certificate with Venezuela, then they put a stamp on the very first blank page of her new passport showing her married name. With that stamp, had no problem with her maiden name passport and the stamp when we used her married name to buy our airline tickets. I had no problems flying into either Colombia or Venezuela with a US passport, not like my wife to be was coming here with all those checks and that I-94 stamp with limits on her stay. They just looked at my passport and said welcome to either country. Could have stayed down there forever.

Wasn't strip searched either the many times I went down to either country like they strip searched my wife when she came here. Yeah, we get plenty of drugs in this country, but the kind that make our leaders rich, they don't want individuals cutting in on their market. Only problem I have entering those countries is getting past the mass of cab drivers trying to grab my luggage from my hands, but fortunately the English word, "NO" is the same in Spanish. Our luggage isn't inspected either like it is coming back here, even with a US passport. Thought about bringing in empty suitcases to make their job easier, are you trying to smugger something into this country? Yeah, suitcases.