Required ID documents

[love2rvcamp]

I am taking my 79 year old mother on a cruise and trying to figure out what she might need for identification to board.  She doesn't have a passport and since this is a quick booking for May 2022 not sure if we can even get one in time.  So, she has a valid drivers license (RealID) and is looking for her birth certificate.  But I was reading that she might need her marriage license as well to prove her married name on her license to her maiden name.  Her middle name on her license is her maiden name so it will match her birth certificate.  Before I call Carnival and get put on hold for hours I thought I would ask here, if she will indeed need her marriage license.  She's already nervous about not having the right documentation so trying to figure this all out.

[Ferry_Watcher]

As you stated, your mom will need to find her gov't issued birth certificate - not hospital issued.  As long as her first, middle or maiden last name (now used as her current middle name) all aligns with her current gov't issued photo ID and the date of birth are the same on both the birth certificate & current ID, she will be good to go.

 

Example:

Birth Certificate Helen Ann Jones 4/12/1948

Current Driver's License Helen Jones McGuire 4/12/1948

This would be acceptable to the check-in agent for your closed loop cruise.  If the check-in agent had any questions, it would go to a supervisor.  Everyone checking in passengers understands that most women change their name after marriage and that's why it is uncommon for a check-in agent to ask to see a marriage certificate unless there is some irregularity.  The supervisors (almost all who are women) understand this.

 

 

[ray98]

3 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Everyone checking in passengers understands that most women change their name after marriage and that's why it is uncommon for a check-in agent to ask to see a marriage certificate unless there is some irregularity.  The supervisors (almost all who are women) understand this.

 

 

We always carried our marriage license in a document binder I carried and were not asked for it at check-in but at Customs on reentry.  Of the 12 or so times we cruised with BC's we were asked for it twice.  Not sure what would have happened if we said we didn't have it but I was glad we had it.  The vast majority of the time it was not requested though.

[sparks1093]

5 hours ago, ray98 said:

We always carried our marriage license in a document binder I carried and were not asked for it at check-in but at Customs on reentry.  Of the 12 or so times we cruised with BC's we were asked for it twice.  Not sure what would have happened if we said we didn't have it but I was glad we had it.  The vast majority of the time it was not requested though.

I doubt anything serious would have happened had you not presented it, at worst you would have had to go to secondary inspection for a little bit while things were sorted out. On our last two cruises (November and February, both out of Baltimore) Customs clearance was very quick, in November the officer glanced briefly at our passports and in February they just stood next to their security nook and smiled at us. (This is so because all passengers are completely vetted during the cruise through a multitude of government databases, so any problem passengers are flagged for disembarkation). 

[RMLincoln]

If she can find her birth certificate there is still time to send for one.  She should have a government issued birth certificate with a raised seal on it, not a hospital issued document.   Request it from the state capital of the state she was born in.  Call the Records office to get the process, address and fee.    She would need one for a passport application anyway.   m--

[Ferry_Watcher]

9 hours ago, ray98 said:

We always carried our marriage license in a document binder I carried and were not asked for it at check-in but at Customs on reentry.  Of the 12 or so times we cruised with BC's we were asked for it twice.  Not sure what would have happened if we said we didn't have it but I was glad we had it.  The vast majority of the time it was not requested though.

I think sometimes they (CBP) just ask to see your reaction.  As my friend, @sparks1093observed, what could/would they do, except maybe send the woman off to a secondary screening.   Could you imagine the outcry if CBP actually started to demand/require that married US women traveling with their birth certificate had to show proof of marriage?  It would be a public relations nightmare.

 

Years ago we drove (returning) across the US/Canada border.  The CBP officer out of the blue asks "who is in the back seat?"  My husband stunned by the unexpected question blurts out the he doesn't know, then starts laughing saying that it is his parents - which it was.  There was no secondary screening for us.  The CBP officers know that you are nervous, and I believe that they continue their psychological profiling  training by testing people's reaction to different situations.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

As my friend, @sparks1093observed, what could/would they do, except maybe send the woman off to a secondary screening.

That is what would happen, and it could lead to a missed flight home.

 

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Could you imagine the outcry if CBP actually started to demand/require that married US women traveling with their birth certificate had to show proof of marriage?  It would be a public relations nightmare.

Do you seriously believe that CBP gives a hoot about public relations?  I've been dealing with them since the 70's, and one thing remains the same, their sense of humor, and their attitude towards the public are removed during their first training seminar.

[Homosassa]

And there was the young CBP officer that looked at my passport and my husband's passport as we when through as a family and stated "Your last names don't match. How can you be a family?

 

I suggested that he come into the twentieth first century where a woman is no longer property and does not need to take her owner's name.  If he had a problem, call  over a more experienced supervisor to explain it to him. 

 

He let us go with no further questions.

[Ferry_Watcher]

2 hours ago, Homosassa said:

And there was the young CBP officer that looked at my passport and my husband's passport as we when through as a family and stated "Your last names don't match. How can you be a family?

Wow.  Hope he learned something from that.  

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Wow.  Hope he learned something from that.  

Yes, that I am a B!@#h. ☺️

 

 

By the way, if anyone ever sees the Custom's Form that we used to fill out, the last one I saw has been updated to include the statement that a family can be any combination of people who identify as a family and may not have the same surname.

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 minute ago, Homosassa said:

By the way, if anyone ever sees the Custom's Form that we used to fill out, the last one I saw has been updated to include the statement that a family can be any combination of people who identify as a family and may not have the same surname.

Great news.  Very reflective of the real world.  :  )

[ray98]

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

That is what would happen, and it could lead to a missed flight home.

Exactly.....We have had some tight flight schedules before and I certainly will avoid any delay if possible.  

 

It was rarely needed but I'm glad I had it.  It stayed with copies of our BC's in our travel document binder that never left our carryon bag which was ready to go at all times.  It was just a piece of paper so there was no additional effort in having it available. 

[love2rvcamp]

Thank you everyone, she is looking for her birth certificate, but if she can't find it we are going to expediate a copy of it.  We are not flying to no worries there.  She might just order a copy of her marriage license while we are at it.

[sparks1093]

14 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Wow.  Hope he learned something from that.  

It's somewhat doubtful, many of them won't pass up an opportunity to flex their official muscles. (We had a CBP officer comment about how young DW looked in her naturalization certificate, which stood to reason since it was issued when she was 18 and was in her mid-40's at the time. We took it as an unthinking comment rather than as an intentional insult.)

[love2rvcamp]

Well she found her birth certificate, and it's a certified copy.  She can't find her marriage license, so I am going to call  Carnival tomorrow to make sure she will be ok with her BC and DL.  Her maiden name is her middle name now so the names are on both BC and DL and of course the birthdate will match.  I hope they don't require her marriage license because she's been married and divorced twice so her marriage license has a completely different last name than her birth certificate.  If I tell her she has to have her birth certificate, her drivers license, her marriage licenses and divorce papers, I might just get disowned.  🙂