Name change addendum required on PRC passport to exit China?

[Lee VD]

My wife is worried that she needs to get a name change addendum added to her passport since she became aware of such a process through the consulate. She is worried that on exit from Chinese immigration that since her green card is in her married name and does not match her passport (first name and last name changed) it will cause trouble. (They will check her green card to ensure she has entry clearance to U.S.). She has a legal name change court order and marriage certificate but she is worried that if she does not go through the name change process through the Chinese consulate she may have trouble. What have others done? Was this needed? We had been thinking to not bother until her passport comes up for renewal in 2017.

Lee

[dnoblett]

Yes your's is a little unique, she changed first "Given" name too if I remember correctly.

 

In my wife's case she took my family name, however her passport still shows maiden name even after renewing it last summer while visiting. never had any problems with GC and Passport not matching, we simply booked international flights in maiden "Passport Name" Exit control in China, and the US POE has no problems with this.

 

I tend to doubt having passport and GC not match will cause you problems, all exit control is concerned with is if the USA will allow entry to the USA at the POE, which they will because she has a valid GC.

Edited August 2, 2011 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[Randy W]

The catch is that the airline won't let her board if they are not convinced that she WILL be allowed into the US. You're at the mercy of the Chinese ticket clerk and exit Immigrations Officer there - they don't clear this with the US. However, others, including Dan, have reported having no problems with this.

 

If you can easily get the addendum, you may wish to do this.

 

When she leaves the country, they will check her passport and her airplane tickets. Maiden name would do just fine here.

 

When she arrives in the US (on the return trip), she only needs her green card. No problem here.

 

But when she boards the plane in China to the US, they will check her passport, green card, and ticket to make sure she will be allowed in. This is where the discrepancy arises, since the passport and green card MAY have different names. If she also has her marriage certificate, that SHOULD resolve the whole thing, depending on how closely they are willing to look.

 

An AKA endorsement, however, eliminates all discrepancies.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Lee VD]

What makes me feel uncomfortable is her having to send in the mail her passport and original GC, fear of it getting "lost" somehow... We are looking for an opportunity to stop by and do it in person (in SF or DC) but it takes 4 business days to process so likely will have to be mailed back as well.

 

Our designated consulate would be SF but I hear from others it really doesn't matter which consulate you go to? We do pass through SF, DC, and Houston on occasion...

[dnoblett]

What makes me feel uncomfortable is her having to send in the mail her passport and original GC, fear of it getting "lost" somehow... We are looking for an opportunity to stop by and do it in person (in SF or DC) but it takes 4 business days to process so likely will have to be mailed back as well.

 

Our designated consulate would be SF but I hear from others it really doesn't matter which consulate you go to? We do pass through SF, DC, and Houston on occasion...

 

I can understand sending passport, however I would think they would accept a photocopy of GC and/or DL, perhaps a notarized copy of the CG?

 

How about calling the service and asking about this? Visa-Rite: Toll Free: (800) 361-7708

 

http://www.visarite.com/Chinese_Passport_Name_Amendment.htm

[Lee VD]

We have decided to go ahead and get this done. My wife said that the SF consulate hints that they do process this through mail (even mail-in) but they don't give complete instructions so she has been trying to call them during the one hour per day telephone call window yet she just gets voice mail, so left a message. I suggested we just use a visa service but she seems convinced we don't need to and can send in directly, so we are checking into that. We can't send it in though until after next weekend because we are going to Canada again and she needs her GC.

 

The main complication we are having is that by using her old name on the plane ticket it causes other complications with the airline, so we want to get the name change addendum in the passport so we can use her current name on the ticket.

 

Lee

[Lee VD]

Ok, this is getting crazy. We are trying to get in contact with the SF consulate visa/passport office:

 

- No response to two different email addresses they give on their web site, one just bounces.

- No answer on the phone line during the hour they give when you can call, after no answer it rolls over to a full mailbox.

- Tried to fax but fax number is disconnected, found another fax number by googling and that was also disconnected.

 

She is trying the main line and calling other random offices to get in touch with a human...

She just did get someone but he just sent her to the visa line and email address (he was new...)

 

We just want to confirm if mail IN service is OK for the name change addendum. The FAQ says mail in is NOT allowed for visa or passport renewals but is allowed for authentication, and gives instructions.... no mention of addendum. If we don't hear back by end of the week we will just try and send and see what happens.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Lee VD (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Authentication is not name addendum service. Authentication is for things like authenticating a State Issued single cert used when planning on getting married in China.

 

If it were me I would be using visa rite service, or as in my wife's case not even bothering with it, her new passport since marriage still shows maiden name.

[Lee VD]

Authentication is not name addendum service. Authentication is for things like authenticating a State Issued single cert used when planning on getting married in China.

 

If it were me I would be using visa rite service, or as in my wife's case not even bothering with it, her new passport since marriage still shows maiden name.

 

Yeah, I figured out the authentication thing... they left the addendum process ambiguous in the instructions, hence our question.

 

We finally got an email answer: one word "correct"... essentially "yes, to all of the above". So its good to know we can just mail in and get mail back service. We have other minor complications with the airline regarding using her maiden name on the ticket. She has high status on United along with me and they can't put her FF # on the reservation if the name doesn't match so her status doesn't get recognized which has various effects including being able to clear on business class upgrades I will be sponsoring for her. The airline also required paying a much higher fare to just get the chance to upgrade so we need to have her status on the reservation to not waste that extra money. So we want to book the ticket under her new name which will require the addendum.

 

We plan to get the packet sent out by Monday to SF.

Edited August 10, 2011 by dnoblett
Quote tags fixed (see edit history)

[Lee VD]

All taken care of! We sent out the packet to SF consulate:

 

- Application

- Visa Photo (note their weird size requirement) (they dont use it, unknown why they want it, records only I guess)

- Passport (+ copy of first page and last US visa and I-94)

- Green Card (+ copy)

- Marriage Cert (+ copy)

- Name Change Court Order (+ copy)

- $10 fee + $5 mailback fee (one money order)

- Pre-paid return addressed Express Mail Envelope

 

We sent it Priority Mail delivery confirmation but got tracking info along the way. We did Express Mail back for the extra security, tracking, and peace of mind since we were out of town and had a mail hold on. All our original docs came back.

 

We got back home yesterday and got the envelope back. It took about 5 business days for them to process and send back (they promise 7-10).

 

They took a page to put a machine printed message saying the bearer of the passports name is also spelled "new name" with the red stamp in it.

 

It will make life much easier being able to book tickets or match against documents with BOTH names being represented in the passport.

 

(Note: Our case was complicated by the fact she changed her FIRST name as well as her last name)

 

Note, from our research it seemed that only the SF consulate provides this mail back service (although another member reports Chicago will do it upon request)

Edited September 2, 2011 by Lee VD (see edit history)

[Randy W]

All taken care of! We sent out the packet to SF consulate:

 

- Application

- Visa Photo (note their weird size requirement) (they dont use it, unknown why they want it, records only I guess)

- Passport (+ copy of first page and last US visa and I-94)

- Green Card (+ copy)

- Marriage Cert (+ copy)

- Name Change Court Order (+ copy)

- $10 fee + $5 mailback fee (one money order)

- Pre-paid return addressed Express Mail Envelope

 

We sent it Priority Mail delivery confirmation but got tracking info along the way. We did Express Mail back for the extra security, tracking, and peace of mind since we were out of town and had a mail hold on. All our original docs came back.

 

We got back home yesterday and got the envelope back. It took about 5 business days for them to process and send back (they promise 7-10).

 

They took a page to put a machine printed message saying the bearer of the passports name is also spelled "new name" with the red stamp in it.

 

It will make life much easier being able to book tickets or match against documents with BOTH names being represented in the passport.

 

(Note: Our case was complicated by the fact she changed her FIRST name as well as her last name)

 

Note, from our research it seemed that only the SF consulate provides this mail back service (although another member reports Chicago will do it upon request)

 

I think that would be the case at all consulates (definitely at Houston). A replacement passport application must be submitted in person, but can be mailed upon completion. Most other services can be handled through the mail.

[Lee VD]

 

I think that would be the case at all consulates (definitely at Houston). A replacement passport application must be submitted in person, but can be mailed upon completion. Most other services can be handled through the mail.

 

We tried to focus most on SF since that is our designated consulate based on our address. DC somewhat recently discontinued mail back service (for Visas at least), directing you instead to 3rd party services. What we had most trouble finding on this was mail IN service. Not all consulates provide much info on their web sites on this name change process so it may be possible but require inquiry. I tried emailing Chicago to ask them if we could mail this in:

 

"Is it possible for her to mail in the application, passport, her green card, and other supporting documentation to have this processed? I understand she also needs to provide a return overnight address label. If so, can you provide the detailed instructions so she can do this?"

 

and their reply was:

 

"You need to apply the Name Notation for your Chiness passport. "

 

Umm... not very informative

Edited September 4, 2011 by Lee VD (see edit history)