Any of you travel before Green Card received?

[roykirk]

Last night I just booked my wife's trip home for the holidays. It's non-refundable and non-changeable, but that didn't concern me when I booked it because everything about how I did it made sense at the time. Now that I've had overnight to think about it, I'm worried I could have made a huge mistake.

My wife holds a Russian passport. I purchased her airline tickets in her married name, which made sense to me since it's now her legal name. Where I'm starting to get worried is that she has very little in the way of identification that shows this as her name. Here's what she has:

Russian passport with her maiden name
State driver's license in her maiden name (we can't get it changed to her married name until she gets GC or EAD)
Certified copy of our marriage license
Advanced Parole documents in her married name (with her photo of course)

Do you think she'll be okay, or is she going to have problems?

[groovlstk]

I believe the name on your wife's ticket needs to match what's on her Russian passport. We made the same mistake prior to my wife's first trip home a few years ago and Lufthansa swapped out her married name for the name on her Russian passport when we arrived at check in. If I were you I'd have the name change done now, before the day she's planning to travel, since you never know how airline clerks will react. Although there's a pass-the-buck element in all industries, I find airline clerks are the worst when they're confused and rather than ask for help they'll instead try to blow you off.

[Chicagoguy]

Somebody on here last year wrote that his wife went over without green card or advance parole. It was timed so that she would soon receive green card in the mail in the U.S and he would send over it to her. As I recall he did get it but I don't remember if he was able to get it over to Russia for her.

My wife received her green card 1 week ago and will be returning to home on Dec.29. She has many family there plus wants to save $$ and go to Russian doctors.

Let us know how your wife does and best wishes !

[roykirk]

Well, just got off the phone with an airline agent.  They basically declined to make a change to her reservation, saying it wasn't necessary.  They said as long as she had a certified copy of our marriage license, she'd be okay.  I hope they're right.     I'm more worried about her getting flack from TSA at security than I am about the airline ticket agent.  The ticket agent can change the name on the ticket at the stroke of a key if they want, but a TSA agent with a God complex can be an entirely different matter.

[Dave13]

Have your requested for advance parole, this is required for her to return to the US without the GC.

Dave

[roykirk]

Yes, as I noted above we have her advanced parole (in her married name)

[Dave13]

Then you should be OK, its just the current changes with TSA, that the name on the ticket must match your ID.

[roykirk]

Then you should be OK, its just the current changes with TSA, that the name on the ticket must match your ID.

And see, that's what still concerns me a bit.  The airline may indeed have no problem accepting the marriage license as evidence her name has changed and subsequently giving her a boarding pass.  But I'm most worried about some TSA agent on a power trip noticing that her name on her boarding pass isn't EXACTLY what is on her passport and holding her up.  Maybe the airline will just change her name at ticketing to avoid that problem, or maybe TSA will just look at her advanced parole and give her the "okay."

[Turboguy]

We just arrived in Aruba this afternoon. I bought her ticket using her married name. They would not allow her to board. Even though the fine print says the name on the ticket can't be changed they did change it to match her Russian passport we did get a bit of a scare.

[SANDRO43]

We just arrived in Aruba this afternoon.

Is it still so windy? When I was there 30 years ago in August, I remember beach attendants used to hose the sand several times a day to keep it from being blown away into the sea , and palms were bent some 40° from the vertical on the south coast .

[roykirk]

We just arrived in Aruba this afternoon. I bought her ticket using her married name. They would not allow her to board. Even though the fine print says the name on the ticket can't be changed they did change it to match her Russian passport we did get a bit of a scare.

Did you have a copy of your marriage license?  I just called the airline again, just so I could talk to a second person to see if I got the same answer.  This person also told me not to worry, that she would be fine so long as she had a certified copy of our marriage license.  I've written his name down in case they give me any flack at the counter.

[Vaughn]

This person also told me not to worry, that she would be fine so long as she had a certified copy of our marriage license. 

Not to split hairs - but the marriage certificate is the document that rules. The license is usually
surrendered to the minister or official performing the ceremony.

Roykirk, I think she'll be fine - but just to hedge all bets - if possible - have your marriage certificate
translated into Russian, professionally. Anastassia Ash comes to mind. The reason I say this is because
a young woman we know was returning to the USA from SVOII a year ago. She happened to be at the
point in time where her 2 year GC had expired, but documentation from Homeland Security showed she
was "good to go" as she awaited issuance of her 10 year card, post-interview. The SVOII Delta people
could not read the directive - and summarily dismissed her. She ended up having to spend 2 extra days
in Moscow until the Embassy provided her with a certfied translation into Russian.

To add insult to injury, Delta then charged her for the date change on her ticket. Fair warning.

Vaughn

[Turboguy]

Yes, we had a certified copy of our marriage certificate with us. The US Air lady said it didn't mean anything. If the name on the ticket doesn't match the passport she can't board.

Sandro,, still windy but not real bad so far.

[Dave13]

When my wife renewed her Russian Passport, they included information in the passport which stated she also went by her married name.

[roykirk]

Well, it’s been an interesting day of phone calls between airlines, Orbitz, and bouncing around to various forums to get opinions from others who have been in our position.  Here’s the tally so far:

1.  3 calls to Northwest Airlines, in which all advised that there won’t be a problem as long as she has a certified copy of our marriage certificate.  But, they noted, if I’m worried about it I can simply have the booking agency change the name without any problem.

2.  E-mail to Orbitz customer service (i.e. the booking agency).  They said a name change under these circumstances was easy enough, but I had to call customer service.  Called customer service who advised it was impossible to change the name because it’s an international flight and Northwest Airlines won’t allow it.  When I told them Northwest Airlines had told me differently, they just basically ignored me.  The agent informed me that the easiest thing to do is to cancel my previous ticket (with no refund of course), and to buy a new ticket in her maiden name. 

3.  Numerous opinions by people who have been in our position.  So far I’m running about 90% saying they had no problems, and 10% saying they had major problems or were refused.  I’ve even had a TSA agent tell me on a travel forum “no problem,” while another person cited a new TSA rule saying marriage certificates cannot be used to confirm name change anymore. 

Here’s our laundry list of what she’ll be arriving at the airport with unless something changes:

a.  Airline ticket in married name
b.  Russian passport in maiden name
c.  Advanced parole document in married name
d.  U.S. driver’s license in married name (managed to get that changed today)

I’m hoping her Green Card arrives before she leaves because that would probably solve everything nicely.  As you can see, I’ve had a busy day and my head is pretty much spinning.   

I'll also be using Anastassia Ash to get a Russian translation of our marriage certificate to be safe. 

[Chicagoguy]

Good Luck.

And because of this post I have added an official, original marriage certificate to my wife's papers for her flight on Dec. 29. Had not been thinking about that.

[groovlstk]

How will Roykirk's wife return to the US if she has to get through passport control at SVO? If the name on her boarding pass doesn't match her passport, is an American marriage certificate written entirely in English enough to get her through to her gate? I would be very anxious about this particular point.

[roykirk]

How will Roykirk's wife return to the US if she has to get through passport control at SVO? If the name on her boarding pass doesn't match her passport, is an American marriage certificate written entirely in English enough to get her through to her gate? I would be very anxious about this particular point.

That worries me too, but what I'm going to do is send her with a certified copy of our marriage certificate as well as a certified Russian translation of it.  I'm also going to have the department of state put their apostillic seal on the marriage certificate to give it some additional validity.  Hopefully that will be enough because there's not much more I can do.  She's contacted our local Russian Consulate and they say there's not enough time to put a notation about her married name in her Russian passport.   

[Chicagoguy]

I am thinking now it might help if we used her maiden name as a middle name on the ticket. Too late now ?

[roykirk]

Wouldn't hurt if you haven't bought it yet.  If I had it to do over again, I'd buy the ticket in her maiden name.

[jaygeo67]

My wife and I travelled many times between US and Georgia via Amsterdam and Munich before she had her green card.  My experience has been that the ticket name must match the passport name.  We once had an issue with more than one connection in Shenzen treaty countries - can't do it. I've always carried all of our documentation including marriage certificates, translations, birth certificates, divorce certificates, etc... but never had to use them.  Good luck.   jay

[roykirk]

We just managed to get to the Russian Consulate and get a notation put in her passport about her married name.  That should solve it. 

[Chicagoguy]

My wife left on Tuesday and it was the marriage certificate that did the trick. At least here in U.S. Still, on returning her married name is on Green Card for the U.S. immigration and I am assuming that Russia doesn't care as much about ticket name if you are leaving vs. arriving and she still has this marriage certificate.