Passport Name Change info

[akdiver 3]

All:

Well, my wife got her passport back, exactly one month after sending things to the Consulate in Seattle, exactly as estimated by the consulate!! Not only on that, but they actually did everything exactly right and with no errors. I could not be more amazed.

• propiska (internal passport)
  
• international passport
  
• various forms we filled out
  
• original marriage certificate with apostille
  
• translation into Russian of marriage certificate
  
• notarized statement (in Russian) requesting passport name change
  
• money order for $150 (passport renewal)
  
• money order for $50 (registration)
  
• money order for $65 (legalization + name change in passport)
  
• prepaid return envelope (priority mail)
  

So, what they did was issue her a new passport with her new, married name, as the name in the passport (as opposed to an amendment that says she is also known by a different name). In this passport they put some stamp to the effect of "she is now registered here at the consulate in Seattle". They did NOT make any stamps in her propiska - they have no authority to do so. The new passport is good for 5 years (this is the standard period of validity).

They also sent us back a "legalized" copy of the the marriage certificate we sent in. It's very nice, all ribboned together with stamps and seals and such. The entire package includes the original marriage certificate, the notarization, the apostille, and the legalization from the consulate. It's all permanently bound together, sealed and ribboned and so forth.

In short, the consulate did exactly what they were supposed to do, perfectly on time, and in a very reasonable period of time. The cost was a little high, but not enough to complain about. I highly recommend taking all of your "consulate needs" to the Seattle consulate, even if you have to be, ahem, "creative", about jurisdiction issues.

Cheers!

AKDiver

p.s.: this is a rehash of a previous message buried in its own thread, given here for your convenience or in case you missed it (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24549).