Please Help!!!! Wife needs to do Name Change on Philippine Passport

[Mike&Cherry 45]

Hello Everyone. How are you doing? My Wife and I need your help. We've been married for almost 2 years. And she needs to have her name changed in her Philippine Passport and to renew it at the same time since it will expire in about a year or so. My wife is a Greencard holder and we live in the US. But right now we are in the Philippines for several months. So since we are here now we think it's best to get her Philippine Passport updated and renewed. Basically she needs to update her maiden name to her new married last name. That's it. Sounds simple, but when we looked into it, it's not as simple as we thought. We went to NSO to report our marriage, but they said they do not handle it at that specific office. They said to go to Manila to report it there, but they didn't really give any specifics on what we need to bring or do there. And in reference to the name change on my Wife's Philippine Passport, they had no clue what needed to be done for that. The good thing is that we are about one hour away from Manila. But even knowing we are close to Manila, going there can end up being an all day event because of the horrible traffic and then waiting in multiple lines at various government departments. Before we go to Manila, we want to check with everyone on Visajourney first on what you did to get your named changed on your Philippine Passport. Also how long did it take for you to have a new Passort in your hand? So if you have personally completed this process of the name change, we would really appreciate your help and guidance. Thanks in advance.

Mike & Cherry

[essysita 24]

Hi! First of all where did you get married? If you got married in the Philippines your file or the copy of your marriage certificate should be in NSO and just got to the main office to find your file.

If you got married in the US, did you file a Report of Marriage in the Philippine Embassy in the US? After filing for that your certificate will then be forwarded to The Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines which will then be forwarded to NSO.

If you have not done so, please see link to report your marriage if you're already in the Philippines. They said the processing time is approximately 2-4 months.

https://www.dfa.gov.ph/index.php/requirements-for-delayed-registration-of-report-of-marriage

Best regards and I hope I helped you with your question.

[Mike&Cherry 45]

Hello essysita. Thanks for your quick response. We got married in the US in Massachusetts. No we did not report our marriage to the Philippine Embassy in the US. And Oh my God, all of those requirements that they want; way too much. Why do they make things so difficult for Filipinos? We are about to go out right now so I just briefly reviewed the link you sent me of the requirements. Some of them I don't understand. So when I have a chance later on I will try to figure out exactly what they mean. At that point If I have any further questions, can you please help me out? Thanks.

[Mike&Cherry 45]

NEGATIVE CERTIFICATION OF MARRIAGE RECORD from the National Statistics Office (CRS Form No. 1) Note: Required only for applicants who are married for more than one (1) year

On the requirements it says this. I don't understand what this means, Negative Certification of marriage record. We have been married almost 2 years so it looks like we have to report our marriage to NSO first to get this document. Do you know what we need to bring or submitt to NSO? Thanks.

[biaobiao 40]

You will have negative record because you dont have a record here in the Philippines that you are married.

As far as the paperworks.. I hope those with experience can help

[pete_falcone 7]

When you get back to the US, you might have a better shot of applying for her Phil passport if you go to the Philippine Consulate in New York City. My wife needs to renew her Phil passport within a year-and-a-half, but since we don't have time to do that in the Philippines, we will do that in New York.

[Caryh 5,206]

This will be much easier to handle in your consulate back in the USA. You can do the report of marriage through the mail, and generally they only ask for a signed explanation on why you're delayed in reporting it. The statement, "We didn't realize we needed to until just now", seems to work just fine. Once you've reported the marriage and gotten your copy back from them, you can make a trip down and renew her passport in her married name. You can also report the marriage and renew her passport at the same time.

http://www.newyorkpcg.org/our-services/legal-and-notarial/report-of-marriage

All the consulates also do outreach programs to different cities in their areas. Odds are good sometime this year they'll be close to you and you won't even need to make the trip to New York City.

Edited February 7, 2014 by Caryh

[Hank_ 9,174]

Hello Everyone. How are you doing? My Wife and I need your help. We've been married for almost 2 years. And she needs to have her name changed in her Philippine Passport and to renew it at the same time since it will expire in about a year or so. My wife is a Greencard holder and we live in the US. But right now we are in the Philippines for several months. So since we are here now we think it's best to get her Philippine Passport updated and renewed. Basically she needs to update her maiden name to her new married last name. That's it. Sounds simple, but when we looked into it, it's not as simple as we thought. We went to NSO to report our marriage, but they said they do not handle it at that specific office. They said to go to Manila to report it there, but they didn't really give any specifics on what we need to bring or do there. And in reference to the name change on my Wife's Philippine Passport, they had no clue what needed to be done for that. The good thing is that we are about one hour away from Manila. But even knowing we are close to Manila, going there can end up being an all day event because of the horrible traffic and then waiting in multiple lines at various government departments. Before we go to Manila, we want to check with everyone on Visajourney first on what you did to get your named changed on your Philippine Passport. Also how long did it take for you to have a new Passort in your hand? So if you have personally completed this process of the name change, we would really appreciate your help and guidance. Thanks in advance.

Mike & Cherry

Being you are K-1 and were married in the USA you will have to do the Report Of Marriage to the consulate that serves the area where you live in the USA. This can all be done by mail, information, forms and requirements are listed on the consulate website. You may be able to get it all handled in adequate time to still renew the passport before you leave... maybe

[sweet cakes 326]

Agreeing with everybody here to have your ROM and renewal of your wife's passport back in US. Do note that aside from the 2-4 months lead time at DFA for processing of your ROM, consider another month for processing the requirements, and then possibly another month for the actual passport processing (maybe 2-3 weeks). All of these may take up to 6 months, do you have that much time in PI? That will surely ruin your vacation, even if you do.

Besides, there's no need to hurry, since your wife has a valid passport & a green card. Good luck!

Edited February 7, 2014 by sweet cakes

[Mike&Cherry 45]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Based upon your advice, we will probably just wait until we are back in the US to handle it. Have a good day.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Ya.... relax and enjoy your vacation! Don't sweat the small stuff until later