Wife not allowed to leave Russia for U.S.

[slimjimxpl 0]

A short history first :

My wife is from St. Petersburg, Russia... She came here on fiancee visa, we married, she recently received Green Card. In mid April, she traveled to St. Pete to visit her family, last week May 15, she went to airport to come home here in Michigan. At the airport they would not let her take her flight to come back to the U.S.... She has a valid Russian Foreigner Passport due to expire this coming November....She also has a valid Russian Internal Passport.... and a valid U.S. Perminant Resident Card also known as Green Card and our U.S. Marriage Certificate with her. Her Russian Passports do not have her new Married Name in them... and it looks like it could take many months to get her name changed in these passports......What is going on ??? Why can she not come back home to be with her husband... This is not acceptable and should not be happening..........Can anyone shed some light on this or steer me somewhere that I can get some help for this matter... We do not know where to turn for help.... Please anyone..... ???

[akdiver 3]

That really sucks. Yet another morsel of evidence on why it is incredibly unwise to change one's name simply because of getting married. It's something I'll certainly never understand. Why do people do this? Who the hell knows? It's silly if you ask me.

However, your biggest problem is her traveling with a passport that is so close to expiration. It is a phenomenally stupid thing to travel on a passport that expires in less than a year. It's common that a country will not even give you a visa on a passport that has less than six months remaining. This fact will probably blow the solution I will detail below, but you can try it anyway - but I would ACT FAST if I were you!!!

As for a solution - It sounds like the people causing you problems are the Russian authorities - who are saying she has no right to enter the U.S. (name on passport different from name on green card), and therefore can't get on a plane to come here. Marriage certificate doesn't matter, since I dount you bothered to get an apostilled or "legalized" one, so it's as good as blank paper in Russia.

This problem can be easily solved. Tell wife to get a visa for Finland. It's easy to do, esp. being in St. Petersburg. Once in Finland, she should easily be able to catch a flight to the U.S. In my experience, the Finns are way more reasonable than the Russians.

I visited my (now) wife in Russia before her K-1 visa was approved. She had no problem getting a Shengen (sp) visa to vist Finland through a bus tour company and a trip that started from St. Petersburg. All your wife has to do is arrange this, and when the bus stops in Helsinki so you can hang out for a few hours, simply go to the airport and catch the next flight to the U.S.

Don't even bother trying to argue and explain things to the Russian authorities. They don't care, and it's not their problem, they wont help you, and you will just waste your time and energy. Trust me.

FWIW, my wife is in the process of trying to renew her passport through the Russian Consulate in Seattle and is being told it may take up to a year.

Cheers!

akdiver

[akdiver 3]

An update from my wife. She says that your strategy should have worked - with the possible exception that your wife's passport is too close to expiring. Her advice is:

a). Get official translation of marriage certificate into Russian.

B). Get the original and translation "legalized".

c). Go to ZAGS. Bribe dude for quick service, get internal passport updated with new name. With right bribe, this can be completed in 3 days or less.

d). With new internal passport in hand, go to regular passport office. Bribe them for quick service too, also with right bribe, server can be completed in 3 days or less. Get new passport, with new name, and long expiration date.

e). Come back to the U.S.

She likes my "use Finland" idea too - but thinks your wife would be wise to take care of this paperwork shuffle while she is in town.

Good luck!

akdiver

[slimjimxpl 0]

AKDIVER....Thanks for your reply.... I will call my wife and offer her both of the possible sollutions to our problem... I will keep you updated on our progress... Thanks again !

[obender 0]

slimjimxpl,

bribing officials in SPb might not be the best idea right now... usually you have to know that the person take those things. it is not trivial (just believe me as a person who was born there)!

now, for many years travelling between usa and russia only airline personnel asked to see the documents allowing me to enter usa. i mean customs officers do not care anymore where you 're going and if you have a right to go there. it's all depends on the airline person you're talking to. so in Finland your wife might encounter the same problem with Finair. although they could be more lenient and it might be worth a try.

unfortunately i can not give you direct advice but I read on this forum (I think it was Satelite) that russian consulates in usa make passport inserts certifying the name change they are infinitely faster then passport change. may be you can somehow use that.

good luck! please let us know how your situation will resolve! my wife just got her GC approved today on the new name and she's from SPb too...

obender

[timelena 0]

What a terrible situation!

I hesitated a lot whether I should change my name after marriage, and finally decided not to do that.

After making some research, I found out that Russian citizens need to get the Internal Passport with the married name first, and then apply for a new Foreigner/External Passport (at least at my town in Russia). It normally takes about two weeks to get the Internal Passport, and up to two-three months to get the External one. But who knows who long it can actually take?

I also called to Russian Consulate in San Francisco, and they said they do not issue passports to those who are not here permanently, meaning not "unregistered" at their place of residence in Russia (кто не уехал на ПМЖ). I asked what they can do, and they said they can issue me the External passport with my married name if I bring them the Internal passport with my married name (???) And the Internal passport can be issued in Russia only, where my place of permanent residence is...

That's why we decided to change my name later, when I apply for citizenship. Hope we will not have any problems with that at our AOS interview!

Edited May 24, 2006 by timelena

[Satellite 1]

Everything said so far is exactly correct. My wife did get an amendment to her external passport which states that she also goes by the following married name. But this was done at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and has their official seal and signature. I don't think they do this service in Russia.

Who exactly did not let your wife out of the country? Exit border patrol or airline employees?

And to add, that those folks like wife who did register with the Russian Consulate in San Francisco, still cannot change their external passport to her married name, because her internal passport has her maiden name. Like I said many months ago, the process of changing the name in the passport is probably more complicated then getting a visa to the US. I feared something like this would happen. Because if you read the general forums you will hear how the Europeans, Canadians, and Australians have no problem boarding airplanes and leaving their home country holding just a regular marriage certificate from the US. Welcome to Russia folks. Good luck and a speedy resolution.

[timelena 0]

By the way, my External passport expires in November 2007. I am going to visit my family this fall. Does anyone know if I should apply for a new External passport while in Russia, or is it better to unregister at my place of permanent residence there, register at the Russian consulate here in US, and deal with the Consulate regarding my new passport?

[Satellite 1]

Does anyone know if I should apply for a new External passport while in Russia, or is it better to unregister at my place of permanent residence there, register at the Russian consulate here in US, and deal with the Consulate regarding my new passport?

If you want to save money, do your external passport while you are in Russia. But if they take too long you can be in trouble. If you do it at the consulate you are looking at $150 versus less 450 rubles as of 2004 prices for my wife's region. Or you can get the passport done while in Russia and then unregister and register with the consulate. Or if you are really brave you can try to change your name in your passports while in Russia if that is applicable to you.

[akdiver 3]

My wife has two problems. First, she did not follow my advice and decided to change her name upon getting married. Second, her passport expires in June. So, she needs a new passport, with a new name. We're not going to risk her losing her university job by getting stuck in Russia for god only knows how long, and if it comes to that, she just will be stuck in the U.S. until she can get a U.S. passport.

We have been trying to get advice from the consulate in Seattle, with no luck.

She did however "unregister" her internal passport before leaving Russia, and as it stands today, she has "no registration". Also, my wife already has permanent residency, and our marriage certificate is "apostilled" by the Lt. Governor of Hawaii (we do not have a translation at this time, but Natalia could do it herself I guess).

Our plan is for her to register at the consulate in Seattle, something she is allowed to do from what we have been told. Given this situation, my questions are:

a). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, can they perform the ZAGS function of registering her marriage too? If not, then which ZAGS would she have to go to, since she has no registration anywhere else?

B). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, can THEY change the name on her internal passport to her married name?

c). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, but they will NOT change her name on her internal passport, then how does this happen, since at this point, she has no registration anywhere else?

d). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, but they will NOT change her name on her internal passport, will they at least add the "insert" to her international passport indicating her new name?

e). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, will they issue her a new international passport to replace her expiring one?

f). If they do issue her a new international passport, and by some miracle they change her name on her internal passport too, then will they issue her a new international passport in her new name?

g). If they will issue her a new international passport to replace her existing one, will they do it with the new name rather than just an insert?

Well, I think you can see where I am going with this. Any comments that provide the answers needed are appreciated - and any hard evidence of related policy you can point me to would also be appreciated.

We have been trying to get advice from the consulate in Seattle, with no luck. They are non-responsive and I guess their website doesn't give my wife all of the answers she needs (but she did download plenty of forms).

Cheers!

akdiver

[timelena 0]

Satellite,

Additional 100-200 dollars is not the biggest problem... But thanks for advice!

akdiver,

it's still better if you talk to someone in the Russian consulate. Try calling again, maybe someone more responsive (and knowledgable) picks up the phone! If it does not work, you may try talking to San Francisco Consulate. But there are some differences among them, as far as I know.

From my experience, it is possible to get a new passport for someone from the former Soviet Union when the previous one expires, and when one is registered at the Consulate. My friends came here from Uzbekistan after winning a green card in the lottery, and were able to do that. (They did not change names though).

Also, I believe there should be no problems with your marriage certificate. No matter how many silly laws and regulations we have in Russia, one still does not have to re-marry in Russia when one is married somewhere else! And they most probably speak English at the Consulate, so it shouldn't be a problem either.

[Satellite 1]

You ask some very good questions, many of which I have asked in person at the Consulate in San Francisco. Here is my best understanding of the responses I got.

a). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, can they perform the ZAGS function of registering her marriage too?

Yes, if both people who married in the US were Russian citizens and were married by consulate official. Otherwise no.

If not, then which ZAGS would she have to go to, since she has no registration anywhere else?

She technically would have to register anywhere in Russia. Go to the local ZAGS there with the translated, "apostilled", and Russian consulate certified (they tie all the documents with a string and place a seal / stamp with a signature on it) marriage certificate and have them do it in Russia.

B). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, can THEY change the name on her internal passport to her married name?

No.

c). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, but they will NOT change her name on her internal passport, then how does this happen, since at this point, she has no registration anywhere else?

Refer to my answer to part (a)(2).

d). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, but they will NOT change her name on her internal passport, will they at least add the "insert" to her international passport indicating her new name?

Yes, they did it for us.

e). If she Registers at the consulate in Seattle, will they issue her a new international passport to replace her expiring one?

I don't think so. As all internal passport issues are handled in Russia.

f). If they do issue her a new international passport, and by some miracle they change her name on her internal passport too, then will they issue her a new international passport in her new name?

Once, again, they will not do anything with the internal passport. But if she does register with the consulate they will forever renew her external passport in her maiden name.

You mention not doing anything and waiting for the US passport. It’s a good idea if she no longer wants anything to do with Russia. Because even with a US passport she will not be allowed into Russia itself because she is a Russian citizen with an expired Russian passport or lacking a Russian visa, which she cannot get unless she abandons Russian citizenship. Also, if you are late in renewing your passport the Russians have the audacity to charge you more fees.

Good luck getting responses to these questions over the phone. It was hard enough in person and I still don't understand all of it. Not to mention Russian laws change often and with little notice so all this information could be obsolete pretty soon.

Finally, this processes seems daunting enough when you live 30 minutes from the Consulate, I can’t image the problem of flying in from hundreds of miles away and trying to do this. In my experience it usually takes several trips to get anything done with the Russian officials. The only good thing about working with the consulate is that they are the only official. While in Russia the document scramble could cover lots of “official” places.

And to top it all off, what are the Consulates doing about children who were born in the US who got official citizenship through their Russian parent(s). These kids don't even have internal passports, how would they get their external passport changed to a married name? Crazy system!

[Eva Malahova 0]

I had a similar situation,

but my Mom had frinds in a Passport Beaurau - I got my internal passport renewed within 24 hours ( applied on Thursday by 4pm got it back the next day)- so it is doable I guess if you know the right people. it is pretty insane. I changed my name in Russia first ( kept the old passport too), that's how I traveled back. Than I called Consulate and had external passport changed ( with the evidence of the new internal passport) , and only after that I changed my name on green card. It was a while ago though and took a few months.

Maybe the Finland route will work for you at this point. It is a difficult situation. Wow! Good luck to you guys!!!

Best Wishes,

Natalia

[slimjimxpl 0]

I see talk about "registering at consulate" can anyone explain what this is about ?? Is it something every spouse from russia should do ?? What does this accomplish... please explain.

[Satellite 1]

slimjimxpl,

Russians are big on registration. For example in Russia all Russian citizens by law must register an address where they live with the authorities. This is part of the old Soviet control which has remained. For communal living the amount of people registered per flat determines the utility bill and the like. Also the registration in Russia is used for all sorts benefits including getting a job to buying a cell phone. Otherwise the Russian citizen faces burdensome fines at every juncture that registration is required.

Now in the US the Russian registration means nothing to US authorities. A Russian citizen does not have to register at a US consulate. But in this case the Russian citizen is treated as a temporary visitor and not a permanent resident in the US to the Russian authorities. Keeping a local registration back in Russia is one option, although it can be burdensome on the family members that are left behind. Having no registration is fine too as long as you stay away from Russia or are prepared to pay fines.

Now the greatest perk of registering at a Russian consulate in the US is that the Russian citizen gets a registration that is good in every city for up to 90 days while traveling on return "temporary" trips to Russia. Otherwise by law Russian citizens like foreigners must register in every city they stay in for over 72 hours. Moscow is notorious for stopping everyone to check their documents to check these matters.

Other benefits of being registered include receiving permanent resident recognition by the consulate for services like passport renewal and other citizenship issues concerning Russians. Once again, if you have no intention of ever dealing with Russia you can do nothing.

It's okay either way, if it is too difficult don't bother, it is not the most important thing in the world.