passport and greencard question

[ako_si_momo 1]

So my wife is planing to go home for vacation but on her passport its still her name before we got married but on her green card its her name after we were married.

 

so my question is, has anybody experience or done something like it before? Did you have any trouble with immigration going back to the us, since your name on your passport is different from your green card?

[Mike E 11,742]

Path of least resistance is that the air ticket should be in the name of the passport and the marriage certificate should be presented when checking in for the flight back to the USA.  
 

CBP only needs to see the green card.  If they demand the passport, and the name doesn’t match, provide the marriage certificate,  let CBP bark, smile, and then you will be admitted.  
 

LPRs with unexpired green cards cannot be denied entry into the USA.  LPRs with expired 10 year green cards cannot be denied entry into the USA. 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Mike E

[ako_si_momo 1]

1 minute ago, Mike E said:

Path of least resistance is that the air ticket should be in the name of the passport and the marriage certificate should be presented when checking in for the flight back to the USA.  

What about when she lands in the us, she only needs to provide her passport/greencard plus marriage certificate right? So wont have any problems with immigration even though her passport and greencard have different name?

[Mike E 11,742]

Just now, ako_si_momo said:

What about when she lands in the us, she only needs to provide her passport/greencard plus marriage certificate right? So wont have any problems with immigration even though her passport and greencard have different name?

She should present just her green card.  See my edited comment. 

[ako_si_momo 1]

I see, 

3 minutes ago, Mike E said:

She should present just her green card.  See my edited comment. 

I see, but if they ever ask for identification, can she also use her state id? Since it matches her green card name.

 

sorry too many question

 

just wanted to make sure she wont have any problem leaving and coming back to the us when she goes for vacation

[Mike E 11,742]

12 minutes ago, ako_si_momo said:

I see, 

I see, but if they ever ask for identification, can she also use her state id?

Sometimes CBP asks to see other identification beyond passport and green card.   Since she is at a port of entry, whatever ID she has in her possession can be examined by CBP. CBP has unlimited power to search at the port of entry. 
 

 

Quote

Since it matches her green card name.

 

sorry too many question

 

just wanted to make sure she wont have any problem leaving and coming back to the us when she goes for vacation

 No one can make you that promise, and that is true even if her passport matches her other ID.   Airlines are free to deny  boarding to any one they think doesn’t have proper documents and passengers are free to pursue denied boarding compensation.  
 

The only guarantee is that when she lands in the USA she will be admitted. There is no guarantee CBP won’t give her a hard time.  
 

I’ve traveled to the USA over a 100 times  of times with a green card and 75 percent the time when I presented just my green card it was accepted without my passport.  There were even times when I didn’t  have a passport to present (expired or unavailable due to visa processing).  Sometimes CBP was happy, and sometimes CBP was unhappy.  But I was always admitted.  

Edited November 3, 2021 by Mike E

[Timona 4,208]

I was not asked for anything when I boarded the plane back to US other than if I had Visa, GC or US PP.

Book ticket with PP name. 

Present your GC on your way back. 

You do not need to present MC, in my opinion. 

[ako_si_momo 1]

13 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Sometimes CBP asks to see other identification beyond passport and green card.   Since she is at a port of entry, whatever ID she has in her possession can be examined by CBP. CBP has unlimited power to search at the port of entry. 
 

 

 No one can make you that promise, and that is true even if her passport matches her other ID.   Airlines are free to deny  boarding to any one they think doesn’t have proper documents and passengers are free to pursue denied boarding compensation.  
 

The only guarantee is that when she lands in the USA she will be admitted. There is no guarantee CBP won’t give her a hard time.  
 

I’ve traveled to the USA over a 100 times  of times with a green card and 75 percent the time when I presented just my green card it was accepted without my passport.  There were even times when I didn’t  have a passport to present (expired or unavailable due to visa processing).  Sometimes CBP was happy, and sometimes CBP was unhappy.  But I was always admitted.  

Thank you very much for your info

 

The reason i was asking is because 

 

we forgot to file report of marriage and her passport is expiring on aug of 22

 

we plan on visiting the philippines by june and wasnt sure if we should apply to renew her passport since they said it might take awhile to fo the report of marriage and might delay processing her renewal. So i just thought may be she doesnt need to renew her passport yet, if she wont have any problem with her documents

5 minutes ago, Timona said:

I was not asked for anything when I boarded the plane back to US other than if I had Visa, GC or US PP.

Book ticket with PP name. 

Present your GC on your way back. 

You do not need to present MC, in my opinion. 

Ok thank you

[LKMK 85]

5 hours ago, ako_si_momo said:

Thank you very much for your info

 

The reason i was asking is because 

 

we forgot to file report of marriage and her passport is expiring on aug of 22

 

we plan on visiting the philippines by june and wasnt sure if we should apply to renew her passport since they said it might take awhile to fo the report of marriage and might delay processing her renewal. So i just thought may be she doesnt need to renew her passport yet, if she wont have any problem with her documents

Ok thank you

My wife and I experienced the same scenario you are asking about a few years ago. As stated above your plane ticket needs to be in the same name as your passport. Ironically, it was the airline that gave us the hardest time "leaving the country" vs coming back into the country going through Customs and Boarder Patrol. I had to argue with the airline ticket personnel to just give us the ticket by finally letting them know that I would take the responsibility of entering back into the country because the via the mismatch of last name of passport and green card. I also packed our marriage certificate just in case. After some hard discussions and several phone calls the airline staff they finally relented and issued my  wife her boarding pass. On the way back, the only issue we experienced was that had was my wife had to go through the "foreigner" line in the Bahamas prior to boarding the plane where as I was able to go through the the US citizen line. Had her passport matched her green card she could have used the US citizen line. Instead, she had to use the Foreigner line because the last name on her green card did not match her passport, which of course took like 3 hours longer vs my 15 minutes to go through CBP. The long line and wait nearly caused us to miss our flight.

 

Given the choice, if you can get a new passport with the married name matching the green card would of course be the best option and save time. But I also know how much of a pain in the butt it is to do the ROM with PSA.

 

Good luck!

[ako_si_momo 1]

1 hour ago, LKMK said:

My wife and I experienced the same scenario you are asking about a few years ago. As stated above your plane ticket needs to be in the same name as your passport. Ironically, it was the airline that gave us the hardest time "leaving the country" vs coming back into the country going through Customs and Boarder Patrol. I had to argue with the airline ticket personnel to just give us the ticket by finally letting them know that I would take the responsibility of entering back into the country because the via the mismatch of last name of passport and green card. I also packed our marriage certificate just in case. After some hard discussions and several phone calls the airline staff they finally relented and issued my  wife her boarding pass. On the way back, the only issue we experienced was that had was my wife had to go through the "foreigner" line in the Bahamas prior to boarding the plane where as I was able to go through the the US citizen line. Had her passport matched her green card she could have used the US citizen line. Instead, she had to use the Foreigner line because the last name on her green card did not match her passport, which of course took like 3 hours longer vs my 15 minutes to go through CBP. The long line and wait nearly caused us to miss our flight.

 

Given the choice, if you can get a new passport with the married name matching the green card would of course be the best option and save time. But I also know how much of a pain in the butt it is to do the ROM with PSA.

 

Good luck!

Yea we were planing on renewing her passport before we go on vacation, but i just thought it might take awhile before they can do her ROM and renewal of passport, so yea we probably have to deal with it later and hopefully we wont go through thr same problem you guys had. We'll just make sure to not forget to bring our marriage license and all the necessary documents that would prove her immigration status here. Thank you very much and stay safe