Oath ceremony, foreign travel and passport name mismatches

[bob zerg 1]

We made the mistake of booking travel to a foreign country before submitting the N-400 (yes, I know we should not do that). Now my wife has a ticket booked in maiden name with her native country's passport (they don't allow name changes), but her legal US name is her married name will be on any US government issued documents including US passport. Her green card has her married name and the name discrepancy has never been a problem on overseas travel and we always traveled with a marriage certificate, but no one ever even asked for that. The issue is if she gets her citizenship before travel in which case she also has to get US passport, probably expedited, and then she will have two passports with two different names with the ticket issued in the maiden (old) name.

 

It is possible that the oath ceremony could happen after the trip anyway in which case she will be using her foreign passport and US green card to get back in. However, if she gets the citizenship and the US passport before travel, what is the procedure for dual citizens to travel in this scenario? It seems like she should have no trouble leaving the country, but there may be issues getting back in.

 

Getting there:

1) Check in at airport with foreign passport and use it to get through TSA

2) Use US passport for US CBP (it's not their job to care about name discrepancy since she would be a US citizen)

3) Immigrate into the foreign country using the foreign passport

 

Getting back to USA:

1) Check in with foreign passport, but this may be a problem since they send immigration manifest to US authorities and it would be her foreign passport info

2) Can't check in with US passport since name does not match ticket

 

Before, step #1 worked and we just showed the green card too since it's basically a supplemental document, but I don't think we could use the US passport as a supplemental green card replacement since it's a primary travel document. You use one passport or the other. This is where I see a problem with the airline but I don't know what they will do. And CBP may not like it if the airline sends the foreign name and passport information to them on flight manifest, and then she presents US passport at customs. It's too bad the names don't match.

 

Any tips? Or would we have to delay the oath ceremony to happen after return? I have seen plenty of reports of sending the letter back and rescheduling happening a month or 2 later. Not a big deal, but I know it's not recommended especially with what's been going on in the news lately. Cancelling the trip is not a real possibility without losing thousands of dollars.

 

Thanks,

Bob

 

[EV11 18]

Hi @bob zerg

 

I know this thread is a little old but I would love to know how you got on?

 

I'm in exactly the same position. I have my naturalization interview on July 19th and I'm going to England on August 25th. By which time I may be a US citizen. My British passport and green card is in my old name and my new US passport (if I get citizenship in time) will be in my new name. The tickets are booked in the old name. So not sure what to do!

 

Thanks so much!

 

[sd2017 18]

I would simply bring both passports.

[EV11 18]

52 minutes ago, sd2017 said:

I would simply bring both passports.

Thanks so much! Either that or perhaps reschedule oath? Would much prefer to do the former. 

[sd2017 18]

5 hours ago, EV11 said:

Thanks so much! Either that or perhaps reschedule oath? Would much prefer to do the former. 

If it's something as simple as a different last name due to marriage, I doubt that they would give you any issues if you had both passports and a marriage certificate.