Way to Russia Talk Lounge

Mr Purves · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:39 am Post subject: A question about passports....

My Russian wife, living here with me in Scotland, has a UK passport in her married name, ie in my surname.
Her internal, and international Russian passports are both still in her maiden name, and her international passport has now expired.
As a result, when we travel back to St Petersburg, she now needs a visa to get there, travelling as a UK citizen.
The question (apologies if it has been asked before) is this: How easy is it for her to get her Russian passports made into her married surname?
Note that when we go back to see her parents, we never stay longer than a couple of weeks due to commitments here.
Any help to solve this would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Michael

MrSpice · Lounge Wizard Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 3436

Mr Purves: I would imagine you can only get the correct answer to this question at the Russian embassy. Without going into many details, your wife can ask this question: my name has changed and my passport has expired: how can I get a new one with my new name? I would assume they will require her to fill out one or many applications, require her to show a bunch of documents, pay many application fees, wait a few months and she will get her passport. It may be easier than that. But I think the embassy is the only place where you will get an answer to this question.

tripchik · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:41 pm Post subject:

In my experience, very difficult.

But it has to be said that my Russian was applying at the notoriously unhelpful Russian Consulate in the Hague.

The solution may surprise you. It turned out to be easier to go back to the Zags in Russia where we got married and bribe the registrar there to produce a new marriage certificate indicating her preference to use her former surname. (If you marry in Russia, you have a choice of which surname to adopt.) Otherwise it meant changing a lifetime's collection of supporting documentation, along with notarisations, apostilles and blah.

Even then, renewing her passport kept her busy in Russia for a few weeks.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

Mr Purves · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:52 pm Post subject:

Thanks Mr Spice and Tripchik.
Yes, both answers were what we expected. Actually, my wife does recall hearing a conversation one time at the Russian consulate in Edinburgh when someone else was being advised about the same thing. They were told something along the lines of that if they signed out of their accommodation in Russia and surrendered their propiska, it could be done relatively simply and at a not too exhorbitant cost. The second option involved Zags but she can't exactly recall what was advised.

Food for thought anyway. Thanks again

mediashark · Moderator Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 1601

Tripchick, it was the same for me to. ZAGS crammed my full name into the 'first name' section of the form and leave 'last name' blank, and they advised that if the cert. showed my name that way there would be less confusion if I decide to change my surname or keep my former surname, taking into account all other docs may have to be changed as well. I don't even want to think about all the fighting with the fortress of papers and forms in order just to put a new name on my passport and other documents, unless, of course, it would be a possibility if I eventually got a Russia passport several years later from now.

DITTRICH · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:30 pm Post subject:

Dear Mr Purves
Given your previous questions, I assume you will be in StP for only a short while - shorter than it takes to get the names changed. I know it is possible to renew an expired international passport through a russian consulate but it is very expensive - my stepson had to do this. Also getting documents changed is a pain in the neck. My advice would be to take the time and effort to effect the name change, at least for the international passport and also the russian passport. If your wife can at least start the internal passport process off when she is on holiday, maybe she can give a relative a doverenost to finish the process off for her. I'll try and get my wife to explin how she did hers and post later this week.
Rgds
Les

Mr Purves · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 12:07 am Post subject:

Hi Les,

Yes, as you know, this year we will only be in St Petersburg for less than the required 10 business days due to the import certificate business with the car. However, any info you can glean from your wife on the process involved would be very much appreciated and welcomed.

Cheers,
Michael

camarks · Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject:

I only know about this because I have a daughter adopted from Russia with dual Russian/US citizenship, so it may not be entirely relevant. We were told that we should keep our daughter's Russian passport current and that she would be recognized as a Russian citizen until (and only if) she, at age of 18 or older, explicitly renounces her Russian citizenship (my guess is that this is unlikely, but we have at least twelve years and multiple renewals of the Russian passport before we found out). This means she would be unable to get a Russian visa (to travel there on her US passport) until she did so. Are you sure your wife can get a Russian visa? Both of my daughter's passports are in her adopted name, so we don't have any issues with that.

Mr Purves · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:54 am Post subject:

dcat · Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 11

Has anyone figured out how to change name on an exspired russian passport? also would like to know how to add birth of child to passport. All this from USA?

dcat · Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 11

I found this on the Russian embassy website about changing name in passport can someone help me with the translation....

Изменение фамилии

Для внесения в действительный загранпаспорт записи об изменении имени/фамилии (в случае брака с американским гражданином/гражданкой или разночтений в написании в американских документах) в консульский отдел необходимо представить следующие документы.

1.

Заявление в произвольной форме на имя заведующего консульским отделом Посольства России в США В.В. Савельева.
2.

Действительный загранпаспорт заявителя.
3.

Копию свидетельства о браке.
4.

Копию любого американского документа (паспорта, грин-карты, водительского удостоверения, карточки социального страхования и т.д.), оформленного на новую фамилию.
5.

"Money-order" на сумму 20 долл., выписанный на Russian Embassy. От уплаты всех видов сборов за консульские действия при предъявлении копии удостоверений освобождаются: Герои Советского Союза, Герои Российской Федерации, полные кавалеры ордена Славы, участники и инвалиды Великой Отечественной войны ( в соответствии с Федеральным законом «О ветеранах» № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 года), а также лица, являющиеся бывшими несовершеннолетними узниками концлагерей (Федеральный Закон №127-ФЗ от 02 ноября 2004 года). Инвалиды I и II групп оплачивают 50% сбора по всем видам нотариальных действий (Федеральный Закон № 127-ФЗ от 02 ноября 2004 года).
6.

Оплаченный конверт с обратным адресом.

nikir · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

Well you would get the (wifes) Russian passport renewed as step 1. You would need to provide documentation that proves that the marriage is legal and recognised.
This would be done through the Russian Embassy or Consulate in the US.

Is the child a Russian citizen? That is the only way he/she could be listed on a Russian passport or have his/her own Russian Passport.

Bear in mind that I am not an expert on immigration law in any country but what I'm giving you is basic universal advice.

Can't help with the cat though.

nikir · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:37 pm Post subject:

Your above post came in while I was writing mine.
It says basically the same but to send the information with a money order to the Russian Embassy. The rest goes on about heroes of the Soviet Union and war veterans. Dont worry about it.

smellyhamster · Just Starting Joined: 14 Sep 2008 Posts: 3