Another passport question

[20165]

we are having a major issue getting my wife's passport renewed and dont think it will be here in time for the cruise. Maiden name vs. married name, vs a hyphen. Anyway, we have her birth cert and of course it doesnt match the name on her dirvers license.  Have others had issues with that when checking in?  We have always had passports and have never had to use a birth cert to cruise.

thanks

 

[cruiseguyinorl]

If you are doing a cruise from a US port that leaves and comes back to the same port, you can use the birth certificate and DL. But you will need a marriage certificate or other court papers that link the maiden name and name on the DL. Won't be a problem if you have that.

 

Bret

[Brighton Line]

Bridging document like a marriage license if names do not match the ID.

[20165]

Is it normal for the marriage cert to no show her new name?  It only says her full maiden name married my full name.  Its the official document, but i would think it would say somewhere on it that her new name is her first, my last?

The cruise is from and arrive back in Miami so the birth cert should work, however, its risky if something happens in one of the islands and we need to fly back to to the US.  We have never traveled outside the country without a passport, but we just cant figure out how to get hers back.  Her birth cert obviously doesnt match her last name and the marriage license doesnt have her new name on it either.  I have no idea how we originally got her passport and renewed it 3 times over the years. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

Did you use the new online renewal program?  I did, was given an estimated timeline of 5-9 weeks, and finally submitted an “assistance with passport” form to my congressman after 11 weeks.  I had the passport seven days later. The congressman’s assistant told me that they had helped “dozens and dozens” of people with online passport renewals that had been submitted in December and January (this was the first week in April).

[Homosassa]

55 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Is it normal for the marriage cert to no show her new name?  It only says her full maiden name married my full name.  Its the official document, but i would think it would say somewhere on it that her new name is her first, my last?

The cruise is from and arrive back in Miami so the birth cert should work, 

There is no reason for a marriage license to state a very outdated idea that all women change their name upon marriage. Many don't and would be upset to be assigned a new name.  It is a marriage license, not a title certificate to show ownership.

 

Be careful of blanket statements that only a birth certificate and government issued photo ID is all that is necessary to sail on a closed loop cruise from a US port.

 

While that may meet the US laws to enter the US after the cruise, you need to be sure that any ports of call  do not require a passport or that the cruise line itself doesn't require all passengers or those sailing in certain circumstances to have a passport (some lines require any one sailing with minor children require all in the party to have a passport).

[kelleherdl]

For closed loop (embark and disembark from the same US port) US sailings you may sail with your US birth certificate (which includes US Consular Certificate of Birth Abroad) and government issued ID card. This has been stated correctly many, many times. The goal is to prove US citizenship by birth. A US Naturalization Certificate is used the same way, but they already have a photo so they are good to go. If the names do not match due to marriage it is covered very nicely with the marriage certificate, just in case. But even that can be worked around. The port agents know how to do this. They work with it every sailing. Now different last names for children can get tricky until final adoption papers (I.e. newly issued birth certificate) show the current last name of the adopted child. But I have even seen that worked through even on a weekend. Always make sure you have some sort of court document that connects parent and child for adoptions if the last names don’t match.

 

but please get a passport.  Your cruising life will be so less complicated. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by kelleherdl

[Brighton Line]

5 hours ago, Homosassa said:

There is no reason for a marriage license to state a very outdated idea that all women change their name upon marriage. Many don't and would be upset to be assigned a new name.  It is a marriage license, not a title certificate to show ownership.

 

Be careful of blanket statements that only a birth certificate and government issued photo ID is all that is necessary to sail on a closed loop cruise from a US port.

A marriage license may be used to prove a name change if in fact a name was changed due to the marriage. Nowhere was gender specified and I know other genders than natural born female have changed their name upon marriage.  A good friend of mine changed his surname name when he married his husband to a hyphened surname of both their names. He then required his marriage license as the bridging document between his birth certificate and his Drivers license for the cruise line to accept the documents at check-in.

I don't think was such an outdated idea...

 

 

[skittl1321]

I think whether a marriage license has a space for a changed name depends on the state.

 

I got married in a state where changed name was not on the license. When I went to change my name in a different state they kept telling me I needed a judges order (I did not) because how would they know what name to change it to, since the marriage license didn't have my new name on it. 

I pointed out that I wanted to change my last name to the last name of the person I married, but the bureaucrat kept saying "but how do we know?" until finally a third supervisor said to just do it. 

 

I would be nervous, but think it is likely, that a cruise port employee could put together 2 and 2, if you have a maiden name on a birth certificate and marriage license, and the other name on the marriage license matched your drivers license.

 

But if you are the kind of couple who creates a new last name, then I would be pretty worried about it.

[20165]

16 hours ago, skittl1321 said:

I think whether a marriage license has a space for a changed name depends on the state.

 

I got married in a state where changed name was not on the license. When I went to change my name in a different state they kept telling me I needed a judges order (I did not) because how would they know what name to change it to, since the marriage license didn't have my new name on it. 

I pointed out that I wanted to change my last name to the last name of the person I married, but the bureaucrat kept saying "but how do we know?" until finally a third supervisor said to just do it. 

 

I would be nervous, but think it is likely, that a cruise port employee could put together 2 and 2, if you have a maiden name on a birth certificate and marriage license, and the other name on the marriage license matched your drivers license.

 

But if you are the kind of couple who creates a new last name, then I would be pretty worried about it.

Thank you, thats exactly what we are going through.  Its not like we dont want to renew and travel with a passport for my wife, the passport agency keeps saying we need some proof that her last name changed so around in circles we go.  Also, this was almost 30 years ago and we have never had an issue renewing her passport until now. 

We are almost to the point of just having them change the name to the name on her birth cert, but then it wont match any of her other documents.  Drivers license, SS card, etc. 

[SirWolf]

21 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Thank you, thats exactly what we are going through.  Its not like we dont want to renew and travel with a passport for my wife, the passport agency keeps saying we need some proof that her last name changed so around in circles we go.  Also, this was almost 30 years ago and we have never had an issue renewing her passport until now. 

We are almost to the point of just having them change the name to the name on her birth cert, but then it wont match any of her other documents.  Drivers license, SS card, etc. 

 

What kind of passport agency are you using ?

Local post office, library ?

 

The U.S. Department of State has passport centers in Washington and Atlanta, GA, closest to where you live in NC.

On the website of the U.S. Department of State you’ll find information how to make an appointment.

Link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies.html

 

You can call to explain the situation and find out your options.

[Cruiser933]

My understanding is that if you have her current passport and her name has not changed since that passport was issued, she does not need to show proof of name change. If her name last changed 30 years ago, the process should be very simple to fill out the form checking no name change and send in the form, old passport, and new photo. What am I missing?

[20165]

10 minutes ago, Cruiser933 said:

My understanding is that if you have her current passport and her name has not changed since that passport was issued, she does not need to show proof of name change. If her name last changed 30 years ago, the process should be very simple to fill out the form checking no name change and send in the form, old passport, and new photo. What am I missing?

Absolutely nothing, thats whats so frustrating. 

[Homosassa]

18 hours ago, Brighton Line said:

A marriage license may be used to prove a name change if in fact a name was changed due to the marriage. Nowhere was gender specified and I know other genders than natural born female have changed their name upon marriage.  A good friend of mine changed his surname name when he married his husband to a hyphened surname of both their names. He then required his marriage license as the bridging document between his birth certificate and his Drivers license for the cruise line to accept the documents at check-in.

I don't think was such an outdated idea...

 

 

What you say is somewhat true. It is a very outdated practice for many of us.. As a woman, I was reacting to the assumption that a marriage license  means a woman's name is automatically changed when she was married (I made sure people knew at my wedding reception in 1976 that my name was not changed and I have never responded to anyone who calls me Mrs X or Mrs First name-surname of my husband).

 

However, I was referring to the OP's statement that the marriage license should state the woman's (or any other gender's name) is now legally changed to a new surname.

 

The name is optional for anyone. The marriage license just provides a document to show a legally acceptable reason for changing a surname.

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, Cruiser933 said:

My understanding is that if you have her current passport and her name has not changed since that passport was issued, she does not need to show proof of name change. If her name last changed 30 years ago, the process should be very simple to fill out the form checking no name change and send in the form, old passport, and new photo. What am I missing?

What you are missing is the fact that proof of identity from birth to current day is now required for renewal of many forms of government issued ID.

 

This included the "Real ID" of driver's licenses and passport renewal. 

 

This has caused problems for those who have changed their names several times where the supporting legal documents must be provided.  For example for a married , divorced, remarried woman the document trail of birth certificate, marriage  license, divorce document (including the restoration of her birth name if applicable, new marriage license is required.

 

Luckily I have retained the name I was born with and have missed out of the proof of identity game that so many need to do.

 

I just renewed my passport and had no problems.

[Cruiser933]

I also just renewed my passport with no problems. I did change names when I married but my old passport was in my married name. I was able to do online renewal which was very simple. I know that option is currently not available. I only had to go through the whole process of sending birth certificate and marriage license for my original passport application 10+ years ago. The renewal only requires the form, old passport, and new photo if your current name is the same as the name on your old passport. I can’t help but wonder if someone checked the wrong box on OP’s wife’s form or gave them bad advice to send in the birth certificate, etc.