Question:
My Wife is currently on a Temporary Spouse Visa after successfully
fulfilling the requirements of the Prospective Spouse Visa! Ofcourse She is
here in Australia now ,
my question is this, At some point in the future it will be necessary for
her to change her Passport (Philippine) from her maiden name to her married
name. Now it would be have to be done by the Philippine Government which
brings me to the dilemma , and that is the airlines , to travel over there
and get her passport updated creates problems with the airlines (as her
airline ticket and visa would be in her maiden name ) and the new updated
Passport in her married one . So I think the airlines wouldn't let her board
the plane.
What do most people do in this situation after coming out on a fiancée visa
and then progressing to the tempory spouse ? or maybe they wait until a
permanent visa is granted !
Answer:
Two suggestions - firstly phone the airline and ask their advice.
Tensecondly, if the Phillippine government allow you to keep the old
passport, produce them both and explain the situation.
Due to some complications with my marriage certificate it took me around
6 months to get my passport issued in my new name, I was due to leave
the country so requested my passport back from the Aus embassy, and at
the last minute the consul decided to stretch some rule and issued me
with a passport in my new name. But by that time I had flights booked
under my old name, I tried to get the travel agent to change the name on
the booking, but since all my flights were full, there was no way to
change the name.
The agent talked to the airline, and they said that it would not be a
problem, so long as I was carrying my old passport as well as my new.
So I did this on 2 international flights with different airlines, and
had no problems at all. This included one flight into Aus and they
didn't even blink, I thought they might ask questions, since I know they
use passenger lists for pre-arrival checks and things.
Incase you're wondering, the complications I had on getting a new
passport were because my marriage certificate (issued in Lebanon) was
not stamped by the ministry of exterior affairs and so the Australian
embassy in Cairo wouldn't accept it. So it might pay to check with the
embassy prior to leaving Aus, and find out exactly what paperwork they
need, you don't want to fly there and find you're missing something.
Also I don't see that it makes any differnce whether she's on temp or
permanent visa, you will have the same issues.
Just a few thoughts, as I'm far away from encountering such a situation,
but why do you want to go to the Philippines to get her name on the
passport changed?
Well, I don't know if the Philippines use similar procedures than those
used by most European Countries (for example), but I think it should be
a lot easier to apply for such a change at least at the Embassy of the
Philippines in Canberra, if you don't find a Consulate of the
Philippines which is nearer and also authorised to handle such
applications.
This way you could even save the money for the flights
I never thought it was possible to for a Embassy to update a
Passport and we are going back to the Philippines anyway to visit our family
there , it wasn't as if we were just going back for that reason .
