Passport under maiden name

[repeater]

Our daughter recently married, and has not yet changed her US passport to her married name. Is there any reason why it would not still be vaild at the US/Canada border crossing? How do they know she married? Or changed her name?

 

Is it worth chancing it?

[Ephraim]

If she changed her name, she should have a passport in that name.

 

In Quebec that would be an even more severe problem, since women retain their names, forever under the laws of equality of sexes under the law. All name changes are legal process in Quebec, so all previous documentation loses it's validity.

[patseacruiser]

She should book in the name that she has documentation for. Makes it much easier

[6rugrats]

Our daughter recently married, and has not yet changed her US passport to her married name. Is there any reason why it would not still be vaild at the US/Canada border crossing? How do they know she married? Or changed her name?

 

How is she traveling? If she's just driving over the border, it doesn't matter, because of course, they'd have no idea if she was married.

 

If she's flying, she needs to have her airline ticket match the name on her passport; they don't care either if she's married. The names just need to match. Same as cruise documents, if you are asking about that.

 

She should just change her passport to avoid the hassle.

[Rickey 88]

I am amazed to see how many people seem to think they can circumvent the system just to save a little money.

 

A passport is a document that permits travel between countries - and needs to be kept up to date and correct in all details. A change of name is a material change and needs to be shown on her passport. What if she were to produce another document, say a drivers license, where the names were not the same. That's a federal offense in the U.S. and to Canada as well.

 

For pity's sakes, pay the money and get her passport changed!!

[celle]

I am amazed to see how many people seem to think they can circumvent the system just to save a little money.

 

A passport is a document that permits travel between countries - and needs to be kept up to date and correct in all details. A change of name is a material change and needs to be shown on her passport. What if she were to produce another document, say a drivers license, where the names were not the same. That's a federal offense in the U.S. and to Canada as well.

 

For pity's sakes, pay the money and get her passport changed!!

 

Is there a legal requirement in the US for a woman to change her name when she marries? There isn't in either New Zealand of the UK.

 

Both my daughter and my daughter-in-law have retained their original names after marriage. The main reason for their doing so is that all their professional qualification paperwork is in their maiden names and they are known in their workplaces by their maiden names.

 

Their passports are still in their maiden names. This means that they have to book all travel in their original names. So, when booking a cruise or flight with their husbands, they book as Mr X and Mrs Y. No problem.

 

It isn't a matter of circumventing the system "to save a little money". To change all their professional documents, as well as passports and driving licenses, would be a lengthy and costly business. They'll probably change their passports when they expire but, until then, they will continue to travel using their original names - and that is perfectly legal.

[Can'tstopcruising]

In Canada, it is more of a hassle to have your passport in your married name than in your maiden name.

Since we were married many years by the time they changed the law, I was used to having my papers in my married name. We had to furnish affadavits, marriage certificates, I can't remember what. Had I opted for my maiden name, it would have been simpler.

 

The young married Canadian women keep their maiden name today. As someone mentioned, if they began their career before marriage, then that is how they really are known. Changing would confuse people.

[6rugrats]

What if she were to produce another document, say a drivers license, where the names were not the same. That's a federal offense in the U.S. and to Canada as well.

 

You may call yourself whatever you like in the US, as long as there is no fraudulent intent involved. OP's daughter never has to change the name in her passport, if she doesn't want to. It is not a federal offense!

[Ephraim]

Honestly, I still don't understand that name changing thing and why women who believe in equality don't seem to want to be equal and keep their name.

 

As I said, in Quebec, you keep your birth name forever. Mr. X and Mrs. Y is normal and the Children are either X Y or X-Y as the parents choose. And yes, our banks, corporations and government can manage to keep track of your marriage without your last name being the same. Even our forms for visitors have a space for everyone's last name on the form. We don't assume you have to have the same last name.

 

And yes, when I meet two people together who have the same last name, my first assumption is that they are siblings, not married.

 

Frankly, why aren't the ladies asking their men to change their last name?

[celle]

Honestly, I still don't understand that name changing thing and why women who believe in equality don't seem to want to be equal and keep their name.

 

As I said, in Quebec, you keep your birth name forever. Mr. X and Mrs. Y is normal and the Children are either X Y or X-Y as the parents choose. And yes, our banks, corporations and government can manage to keep track of your marriage without your last name being the same. Even our forms for visitors have a space for everyone's last name on the form. We don't assume you have to have the same last name.

 

And yes, when I meet two people together who have the same last name, my first assumption is that they are siblings, not married.

 

Frankly, why aren't the ladies asking their men to change their last name?

 

I'm a woman who believes in equality - and my daughter has not changed her name - but I was glad to change and lose my maiden name.

 

Why? I was a nurse and my maiden name was Blood. Can you imagine me being called "Nurse Blood"? ;) :D

 

I was very glad to get a new name!

[Ephraim]

I'm a woman who believes in equality - and my daughter has not changed her name - but I was glad to change and lose my maiden name.

 

Why? I was a nurse and my maiden name was Blood. Can you imagine me being called "Nurse Blood"? ;) :D

 

I was very glad to get a new name!

 

Around here... you would have still had to do the legal name change. But then again, only some of the population would have chuckled at your family name.

[celle]

Around here... you would have still had to do the legal name change. But then again, only some of the population would have chuckled at your family name.

 

Interesting!

 

Where I come from, showing the marriage certificate was sufficient proof of a legal name change. "Name changed by marriage" was, and still is, sufficient proof.

 

Are you telling me that, in Quebec, a woman has to go through a further legal process? How long has that been the case?

 

As for being teased about my maiden name - it was the cause of many jokes by my colleagues, particularly as, at that time, Nurse Blood was working in a clinic with Doctor Pain.

 

Anyway, to get back to the original topic of this thread: The OP's daughter does not need to get a new passport in her married name, or even to change her name if she prefers not to. What she must do, however, is be sure to make all travel bookings in the name that exactly matches the name on her passport.

[Urban trekker]

Quebec uses as the basis for its civil law - the French code unlike the rest of Canada and the US which have adopted the British system.

 

Ephraim can probably explain it in a lot better detail than I can as she lives in the Province of Quebec.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Ephraim]

Interesting!

 

Are you telling me that, in Quebec, a woman has to go through a further legal process? How long has that been the case?

 

 

Since 1981. The law is equal in Quebec for men and for women, therefore everyone keeps their name. If you want to change it, you must go through the same process as anyone who has to change their name must go through, equal under the law. You can use it informally, if you so please, but all your documentation stays in your maiden name. Just as it would for a man.

 

Quebec uses as the basis for its civil law - the French code unlike the rest of Canada and the US which have adopted the British system.

 

Civil law with the common law requirement of innocent until proven guilty. But this is a matter of the law on gender equality. Everyone keeps their name, from birth until death, unless you request through the court systems for a name change. Like the silly man who runs in every election in my neighbourhood called "François Yo Gourd" (Frank Yo Gourt in English).

 

Remember that in Canada Prime Minister Joe Clark's wife, Maureen McTeer kept her maiden name. Back in 1979 and no one really cared.