Needs Matrimonial Stamp in Passport

[Ben-Zhanna 1]

My wife is traveling to St. Petersburg tomorrow on her Green Card which features her married name. The plane tickets are also in her married name. I don't anticipate any problems traveling to Russia, but traveling back to Chicago could be another story. Her international and internal passports feature her Maiden name. The Marriage Certificate also features her Maiden Name. Unfortunately we are finding out about the Matrimonial Stamp really late in the process (day before the flight). Where will she be able to get this stamp in St. Petersburg? Is there any document I should now prepare to mail to St. Pete for her assistance?

Any assistance is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

[SMR 368]

My wife is traveling to St. Petersburg tomorrow on her Green Card which features her married name. The plane tickets are also in her married name. I don't anticipate any problems traveling to Russia, but traveling back to Chicago could be another story. Her international and internal passports feature her Maiden name. The Marriage Certificate also features her Maiden Name. Unfortunately we are finding out about the Matrimonial Stamp really late in the process (day before the flight). Where will she be able to get this stamp in St. Petersburg? Is there any document I should now prepare to mail to St. Pete for her assistance?

Any assistance is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

You could get a notarized translation of the marriage certificate into Russian and then try to get a Russian marriage certificate issued at the ZAGS (although I am not sure your wife could do this without you). With that your wife could get a whole new passport provided she will be in Russia long enough to wait for it. If there isn't a reason not to do this (such as property in her name, etc.) and she has time to do it, this may be a good thing to do now in any event, particularly if she wants to return to Russia regularly (remember that she will have to change both passports in series, however). Having different names in different countries will be frowned upon by some organizations, so if she wants to go back and forth, she should clear it up. However, I'm not sure she can get the stamp in Russia. I have only heard of it being given at the consulate.

On the bright side, I don't think she should have any problems even doing nothing, particularly if she brings a copy of the marriage certificate. With the tickets in the married name, they will match the green card and that is the important thing. The Russian officials will not deny her entry because she has a passport. The American officials will let her back in because she has a Green Card. The hardest part is typically working with the airline officials. But since her Green Card and tickets match, they should be okay, too. Most problems occur when the tickets and Green Card don't match. Naturally, there are not absolutes in international document issues and anything can happen, but that's true no matter what documents you have.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My wife is traveling to St. Petersburg tomorrow on her Green Card which features her married name. The plane tickets are also in her married name. I don't anticipate any problems traveling to Russia, but traveling back to Chicago could be another story. Her international and internal passports feature her Maiden name. The Marriage Certificate also features her Maiden Name. Unfortunately we are finding out about the Matrimonial Stamp really late in the process (day before the flight). Where will she be able to get this stamp in St. Petersburg? Is there any document I should now prepare to mail to St. Pete for her assistance?

Any assistance is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

we have never had a problem this, Alla does not have this stamp (Ukraine has the same "rule")

I have not heard of anyone here getting that for Russia either, someone will correct me if I am wrong

[SMR 368]

we have never had a problem this, Alla does not have this stamp (Ukraine has the same "rule")

I have not heard of anyone here getting that for Russia either, someone will correct me if I am wrong

We got the stamp. Marina was getting her passport renewed and it wasn't any additional trouble or cost. There was someone on a while ago that had trouble with this but, like I said, it had to do with tickets not matching the Green Card. The airline may freak out and not let her on if that is the case because if they bring someone to the US who doesn't have valid entry documents and that person gets denied the airline has some liability for providing return passage.

I have never heard of someone having trouble getting into or out of the US or Russia/Ukraine provided passport and Green Card were in order.

[Neonred 3,562]

we have never had a problem this, Alla does not have this stamp (Ukraine has the same "rule")

I have not heard of anyone here getting that for Russia either, someone will correct me if I am wrong

We got the stamp, but it was a few years back. I understand they are not doing it now.

[SMR 368]

We got the stamp, but it was a few years back. I understand they are not doing it now.

We got it in May. I didn't hear that anything had changed.

[Neonred 3,562]

We got it in May. I didn't hear that anything had changed.

That's good to hear. It may depend on where you get the passport renewed. Ours was done in DC.

[Ben-Zhanna 1]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Very much appreciated.

I was able to have an Apostille placed on our marriage certificate the morning of her flight. We had no time to translate it but she is having that completed and certified in St. Petersburg. She had a consultation with the passport issuing office within a day or two of arriving abroad and surprise, surprise they had no idea what stamp she was talking about or even what the issue was. The only issue we really have, which was brought to our attention the night before the flight, was a friend (States-side) travelled to St. Pete under the same conditions (listed in initial post) as my wife and she was given quite a bit of problems for some reason. The friend's only choice was to prolong the trip and renew both passports with married name. Unfortunately, my wife doesn't have the time to renew her passports this trip, so we were looking for any answers to why problems might occur. On the plus side, my wife found out she has a friend that now works at Pulkova Airport. The friend is going to consult with the customs agents to get the skinny. I'll let you all know what truths are unveiled.

Best

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Iv'e seen similar threads like this in the RUB and other regional forums. My wife got her passport changed in Belarus to her married name before she came over, but if she hadn't I would still make sure she had her passport changed asap just to save on any avoidable hassle in the future.

[Neonred 3,562]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Very much appreciated.

I was able to have an Apostille placed on our marriage certificate the morning of her flight. We had no time to translate it but she is having that completed and certified in St. Petersburg. She had a consultation with the passport issuing office within a day or two of arriving abroad and surprise, surprise they had no idea what stamp she was talking about or even what the issue was. The only issue we really have, which was brought to our attention the night before the flight, was a friend (States-side) travelled to St. Pete under the same conditions (listed in initial post) as my wife and she was given quite a bit of problems for some reason. The friend's only choice was to prolong the trip and renew both passports with married name. Unfortunately, my wife doesn't have the time to renew her passports this trip, so we were looking for any answers to why problems might occur. On the plus side, my wife found out she has a friend that now works at Pulkova Airport. The friend is going to consult with the customs agents to get the skinny. I'll let you all know what truths are unveiled.

Best

I don't believe the stamp is something that was ever done in Russia since one could just change the name on the internal and international passport there. Stateside it is not usually possible to change the name in the passport because the name must be changed in the internal passport first, and that can only be done in Russia, thus the reason for the stamp in the international passport placed by a consulate or at the embassy.