hoyateach

A brief tale of the rather odd saga I just went through:

Back in May, following our honeymoon, my wife requested a new (technically renewed) passport to reflect her new name. We got it in the mail last week and found that her flashy new e-passport kept her maiden name despite the inclusion of the marriage license and proper paperwork we'd included with the application.

So I went online to track down how to correct this. The good news: since we're re-submitting within 30 days of receipt, we won't need to include new photos, nor will we pay any extra fees. The bad news: the gov't didn't know where I should send the request.

According to this website, you should check the number on your passport that corresponds to the appropriate passport agency. The number on her passport was 16, which doesn't correspond to any agency anywhere in the federal system. I was going to send it to the national passport center in New Hampshire but then figured that maybe I should try calling someone first. After quadruple-checking that I was indeed getting the right number, and that no such number was on the government list, I sacrificed a small woodland animal for luck and called the passport hotline.

After 5 minutes of playing with the automated menu, I actually got through to a real, live person. I explained my problem, listened to him check whatever he was checking, waited on hold while he checked with someone else, and was dismayed to learn that I was right on the money: there was no passport agency with the number 16. I figured then that I might as well send it to Area 51.

In the end, he suggested sending it to the nearest local passport agency and said they'd forward it to the correct agency if they weren't going to handle it themselves. Since that seemed reasonable, I agreed and thanked him for his time. Then, curious, I asked where he was located. He said he was at a regional office in Miami. At least he wasn't outsourced to India.

Once more, then, we're sending my wife's passport into the maw of the federal bureaucracy.

I documented the entire call in the accompanying letter - date, time, the CSR's name - and will be sending the letter out today. The moral: when in doubt, always check with another source, make no assumptions, and document everything.

I'll let you know how this turns out.

sylvia hennesy

Next time, don't have your wife change her birth name!

hauteboy

Did you check the back pages? When my wife changed her name they only modified the Amendments section with a line saying her new name. Married 5 years and she still has maiden name on her passport info page (it's still good till 2011).

Taiwaned

For my wife's passport, the admendment page was also the only thing modified.

But in your case, since you are renewing for a new passport, what they did is kind of weird.

hoyateach

No, this was a top-to-bottom renewal, from a non-electronic to an electronic passport, complete with new passport photos. And yes, it was very weird.

It's in the mail now so I'll keep you all posted as to how this goes.

suranyi

I had to get my wife's passport reissued with her new name in January, just before the huge mess started (although things were already starting to bog down a little).

We had a trip in her maiden name in early January, and a trip in her married name in late February, so we had to get it done between those dates.

So first we sent it to one address given to us by the Post Office, with a certain form. They sent it back to us saying that if the passport was more than a year old (I think) it couldn't be done by way of an amendment, but instead it would have to be a whole new passport by way of renewal. So we wasted a couple of weeks.

Fortunately we expedited and still got it in time.

Ed

kipper

Oops--I've actually never changed mine. I guess I should do that before we plan of traveling outside of the country.

UALOneKPlus

Government efficiency at work.

Rejuvenated

Excellent, excellent advice. ^

LAlady

I'm going through this process right now (married in '04) and the state dept has my passport, currently. I'm at their mercy!

I read your post with interest, thanks!^

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Married five years now, and the Mrs still uses her maiden name on her passposrt. We just carry a certified copied of our marriage certificate. Never had a problem. That said many of her tickets are paid for with miles so I make sure the ticket is in her maiden name. When we buy them is the only time we have to worry but most of those are domestic.

MarcPHL

Any chance 16 refers to a site they recent opened (or significantly expanded operations) to deal with the backlog, e.g. New Orleans and the documentation/reference material has not been updated?

oldpenny16

Well, I have the opposite situation. I renewed in March 07.

New passport has no mention of my maiden name at all. Not a word. Now I have to consider getting the names on my FF accounts changed to match my passport.

What are they thinking?

mjcewl1284

Same for my wife here ^

hoyateach

I suppose that's theoretically possible but if that was the case, why couldn't the CSR access that info? You'd think the people responsible for dealing with the public would have the latest scoop but, alas, he saw what I saw: 16 didn't exist. I think that New Orleans residents would be sending their stuff to Houston anyway.