Name Change on Unexpired Passport

[The Humanists 10]

Does anybody know if I can change my name on my yet-to-expire Philippine passport? It's relatively new. I had it renewed in August 2010, before I married my husband, so I used my maiden name. The reason I'm asking is that I know I need to send a photocopy of it to the NVC. But I'm using my married name for this whole process, and I'm sure the NVC and the Philippine consulate will require my passport to be in my married name. Or will they? And if I could "renew" it under my married name even though it's not yet up for renewal, would the NVC allow me to send my present passport to them (the one with my maiden name), while I'm waiting for the delivery of the one that would be under my married name? I'll bring the latter to the medical and the interview and continue using my married name for the rest of the process. Will that work?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Scott and Mhay 57]

You can do a name change, but it would be better & cheaper to do it while you are still in the PI. My wife renewed hers too right after we got the NOA2.(Still had about 2.5 yrs left on it) I believe your green card will be in the same name as what is in your passport. Once you get in the US you may have to travel to the nearest philippine consulate to renew your passport if you won't be back in the PI for awhile to do it.

[marybraun 1]

Does anybody know if I can change my name on my yet-to-expire Philippine passport? It's relatively new. I had it renewed in August 2010, before I married my husband, so I used my maiden name. The reason I'm asking is that I know I need to send a photocopy of it to the NVC. But I'm using my married name for this whole process, and I'm sure the NVC and the Philippine consulate will require my passport to be in my married name. Or will they? And if I could "renew" it under my married name even though it's not yet up for renewal, would the NVC allow me to send my present passport to them (the one with my maiden name), while I'm waiting for the delivery of the one that would be under my married name? I'll bring the latter to the medical and the interview and continue using my married name for the rest of the process. Will that work?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Great that i have the same story, which is also my passport will near to expired im waiting my marriage contract also so i can renew my passport and send to my husband . i read a days ago that its ok not to renew as long as it still valid and you have the Marriage contarct . one member replies to me that u can explain it to the USEM or USCIS but for safe i will do the safetest way i renew and change my status so no more hazzle in case.

Good luck! opsss

one more thing are you in the philippines now?or outside? coz like me im working outside and we are planning to file and processs outside philippines .so im gathering info searh and ask here in vj wht to do.so when we start to apply CR-1 we know already some procedure.now that you are on process of your visa i would like to ask more info to u..

Thanks !

[The Humanists 10]

You can do a name change, but it would be better & cheaper to do it while you are still in the PI. My wife renewed hers too right after we got the NOA2.(Still had about 2.5 yrs left on it) I believe your green card will be in the same name as what is in your passport. Once you get in the US you may have to travel to the nearest philippine consulate to renew your passport if you won't be back in the PI for awhile to do it.

Thanks for the response! What I'm thinking of doing is this: To speed up the process at NVC, what I'll send with the DS-230 package is a photocopy of the passport in my maiden name. In the meantime, while waiting for the case to be completed and the interview to be scheduled, I'll go to the DFA to have the name on my passport changed to my married name, and that new passport will be the one I'll bring to the medical and the interview. FYI, it is my married name I'm using for the CR1 process. It's the name on the petition and the one NVC has on file. Will NVC accept a passport that's in my maiden name? I can explain to them that I'm just waiting for my new passport. Does that make sense? Will that work? Again, thanks!

[The Humanists 10]

Great that i have the same story, which is also my passport will near to expired im waiting my marriage contract also so i can renew my passport and send to my husband . i read a days ago that its ok not to renew as long as it still valid and you have the Marriage contarct . one member replies to me that u can explain it to the USEM or USCIS but for safe i will do the safetest way i renew and change my status so no more hazzle in case.

Good luck! opsss

one more thing are you in the philippines now?or outside? coz like me im working outside and we are planning to file and processs outside philippines .so im gathering info searh and ask here in vj wht to do.so when we start to apply CR-1 we know already some procedure.now that you are on process of your visa i would like to ask more info to u..

Thanks !

Hi and thanks! Yes, I'm in the Philippines. I think it's a great idea to take care of your passport renewal and other paperworks after filing your petition, even before you get your NOA2. Take it from my husband and me. We procrastinated, and now we're scrambling to get everything in order so we can be together before the end of the year.

Ask away. I have a lot of questions about the process myself, but I'll be happy to give you any answers I may have.

[Scott and Mhay 57]

it shouldn't be a problem with your maiden name on your passport. The passport you will be giving the embassy will be in the married name. My wife already had everything in her married name before we sent the packages in. That is why I told her to get a new passport right when we got the NOA2. I got the notice by text. I was visiting the PI shortly after...it took about 3 weeks for standard processing for her to get her passport.

[Chrism 4]

We filed the 130 with her maiden name.And her passport is still in her maiden name.Will that make a difference if we wait until shes in the US to change?Or will it cause problems?

She already has all her paperwork and NBI clearance using her maiden name so I thought it would be a hassle to change everything when were so close to getting our NOA2.

[jon&cess 0]

Does anybody know if I can change my name on my yet-to-expire Philippine passport? It's relatively new. I had it renewed in August 2010, before I married my husband, so I used my maiden name. The reason I'm asking is that I know I need to send a photocopy of it to the NVC. But I'm using my married name for this whole process, and I'm sure the NVC and the Philippine consulate will require my passport to be in my married name. Or will they? And if I could "renew" it under my married name even though it's not yet up for renewal, would the NVC allow me to send my present passport to them (the one with my maiden name), while I'm waiting for the delivery of the one that would be under my married name? I'll bring the latter to the medical and the interview and continue using my married name for the rest of the process. Will that work?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Yes, you can change your maiden name passport (to your married name) even if it is not yet expired. That's what I did (even my old passport will expire 2014). Regarding sending a photocopy of your maiden name passport to NVC, I would advice that it would be better if you'll be consistent with the name that you're using during the whole process so as not to create confusion.

As far as I know, NVC wants the name of all of the paper works you're gonna submit to them to be exactly the same as the name written in the biographic page of your passport.

And oh, one more thing, who's petitioning you? If you're hubby is the petitioner, and of course he's a foreigner (US citizen), before you'll be able to use his surname in your to-be-renewed-to-married-name passport, you have to attend a CFO seminar. It is a DFA requirement for spouses who are married to a foreigner and will be using the foreigner's surname in their passports

Edited October 14, 2011 by jon&cess

[KT and Xyrena 4]

Not a problem at all. Name change can be done when she's here in the US. Only that, Dept of Homeland Security will charge extra for it ($300+). ALl the other change of name expenses would be the same - passport, DL, etc.

We filed the 130 with her maiden name.And her passport is still in her maiden name.Will that make a difference if we wait until shes in the US to change?Or will it cause problems?

She already has all her paperwork and NBI clearance using her maiden name so I thought it would be a hassle to change everything when were so close to getting our NOA2.

[M n J 7]

We are in the same situation. Although for me, I used my maiden name in the whole process, thinking that we can always do name change after I get there. But it looks like it would cost more, so we decided to try changing it before I get there. What I'm planning to do now is have my passport renewed under my married name so that before the interview, the passport that I'll be submitting will be under my married name, the visa and green card will follow the name on the passport. When I went to the medical, I used my passport under my maiden name, so the sticker and stamp is in it. But I called the US Embassy and they said, I can just bring my old and new passport to the interview.

My interview is on Nov 2.