During the course of their lives, citizens may encounter situations where, due to a change of surname, it is necessary to change documents. Some do this consciously due to the dissonance of their name, others due to life circumstances, for example, in connection with marriage.
Any changes in the personal data of citizens must be accompanied by a change in identification documents. One of such documents is a passport for traveling abroad.
This article discusses the features of the procedure for replacing a foreign passport when changing your last name and the possible difficulties associated with it.
Reasons for changing your passport
In accordance with the law, citizens of the Russian Federation can freely change their personal data regarding their full name from the age of sixteen. Most often, a change of surname occurs after women get married. As a rule, immediately after changing such data, you will have to change your identification documents.
The reasons for changing a foreign passport include:
- change of surname;
- loss or damage to the passport, making it invalid.
The law does not oblige a person to immediately change his passport when changing his last name. Theoretically, if a citizen does not plan to travel abroad, then he does not need it. But if this is not the case, and a trip abroad is more than likely in the near future, you need to take care of replacing this document.
Period of registration and validity
If an application for a new international passport occurs at the place of registration, then the production and issuance period is 30 calendar days; in the case of registration at the place of residence, the minimum period is doubled.
In extreme situations - serious illness or death of a relative located outside the legal territory of Russia, the application can be considered and a passport issued within three days. The presence of the fact must be documented by a certificate or death certificate, epicrisis of the medical institution or the conclusion of the attending physician.
The validity period of the issued passport is:
- biometric form – 10 years;
- sample of the old format - 5 years.
Is it necessary to change it urgently?
The law does not regulate the time frame for replacing a travel identification document. If citizens do not need to travel abroad, they may not replace their passport until it is needed, regardless of how long it will take after the official change of surname.
In practice, everything can be decided by a specific life situation. For example, changing your last name as a result of marriage may not require urgent registration of a foreign passport during a pre-planned trip abroad. This is the situation when tickets, hotel, etc. were arranged in advance.
Since a general civil identification document will not be needed when crossing the border, you can safely change your international passport when changing your last name after a trip abroad. This is especially true for situations where a general passport with a new surname has not yet been received. But in a situation where you still need to get a visa to travel, then replacing your passport when changing your last name is necessary. Since the embassy or consulate will require a general civil identification document for paperwork. For a positive decision on issuing a visa permit, the surnames in both passports (internal and for traveling abroad) must be identical.
What to do if you bought a ticket and then got married and changed your last name
You cannot fly using a passport and an air ticket in your old surname: the ticket must be reissued. Send the airline scans of your marriage certificate, old and new passports and find out under what conditions changes can be made to the reservation.
Most carriers will change your data for free, including S7, Aeroflot, UTair, Ryanair, easyJet and AirAsia. Ural Airlines will replace the maiden name on the ticket with a new one for 500 rubles, Nordwind will charge 610 rubles. Translations of documents may be required for foreign carriers.
If you changed your last name after a divorce or simply decided to change your name and received a certificate of name change, the procedure is the same. The main thing is to provide supporting documents to the airline.
Is it possible to travel with an old passport?
Do I need to change my passport when changing my last name? Despite the fact that after changing the surname, the international passport is invalid, there is a certain conflict in this matter, since in practice this document is not related to the general passport. Therefore, traveling abroad using an old identity document is possible in the following cases:
- visa-free border crossing regime;
- presence of an open visa.
Countries with a visa-free entry regime for Russians do not require the provision of a foreign identification document. Therefore, theoretically, visiting them is possible without obtaining a passport to travel abroad.
FAQ
Question No. 1: Is it possible to renew a foreign passport?
No. The law does not provide for the renewal of a foreign passport as well as an all-Russian one. When these documents expire, they become invalid and must be replaced.
Question No. 2: What should I do if the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs artificially delays the deadline for issuing a new foreign passport without explaining the reasons?
Request a written response explaining the reasons and, in case of refusal, contact a higher authority.
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What about visas?
There are often situations when it is necessary to change a foreign passport due to changes in personal data, but valid visas remain in it. In order not to lose your visa, you are allowed to cross the border with old identification documents. But it is necessary to take into account that the fact of crossing the border with an “invalid passport” due to a change in personal data may be revealed when receiving a new visa. Such an unpleasant fact can lead to a refusal to issue a visa and even additional sanctions. For example, a ban on entry into a certain country for a certain period. Therefore, a new passport will have to be issued for such countries.
You can find a lot of “bad advice” on the Internet when you enter the keywords “replacement of international passport, change of surname” into the search, but it is better to contact the consulate of the country you plan to visit and, if you have a valid visa in your old passport, ask to transfer it to the new one. The consular fee will have to be paid again, but the visa will be added to the new passport automatically upon presentation of a document indicating a change in personal data and a copy of the visa pages from the old identification document.
Possible difficulties
Refusals to accept an application form are most often caused by incorrect filling out, especially confusion in the employment section.
An application submitted electronically may be rejected due to a photograph that does not meet the requirements.
To avoid delays, we recommend that you carefully study the instructions regarding this process before filling out the questionnaire.
Whether you need to change your passport after marriage depends on the situation. If there is no need to obtain new visas, you can use your old document until it expires.
Re-issuance of a passport will be carried out according to the same algorithm as obtaining a new foreigner, and will not cause any great difficulties.
How long is a passport valid after changing your last name?
Theoretically, a foreign passport is valid until you receive a regular passport with a new surname. After a new internal identification document has been received, the citizen cannot use the old passport. But in practice, you can use foreign passports to travel abroad where the presentation of an internal identity document is not required. In addition, you can use a passport with your old last name to enter countries with a visa-free regime (Turkey, Dominican Republic). If a citizen, after changing his last name, chooses a country for which an entry visa is required, he needs to change his international passport and there are no other options.
As for the legislative norms, they define a deadline of one month after changing personal data only for internal passports. There are no time limits for changing a foreign passport.
Some citizens, taking advantage of the fact that an internal identification document is not required when crossing the border, use their old passport (with old data) with an open visa to travel abroad. This is possible, but in the future it may become a problem when obtaining a new visa permit for a given country, since a document check will show that the citizen crossed the border with an actually invalid document.
Price
The procedure for replacing a foreign passport is not free. To re-issue a document for an adult, you need to pay a state fee in the amount of:
- 3,500 rubles - for a biometric sample;
- 2,000 rubles - for a paper version.
For children under 14 years old the amount will be 1,500 rubles. - for a new passport and 1,000 rubles. - for the old one.
When sending an application for renewal of a foreign passport through State Services, there is a 30% discount. Taking this into account, the state duty for an adult citizen will be 2,450 rubles (new sample) and 1,400 rubles (old sample). For a child: 1,050 and 700 rubles. You can pay the state fee directly on the website. A receipt will be sent by email to confirm payment.
You can pay for passport renewal:
- through State Services;
- at a bank branch;
- via online banking.
Note : There is no state fee charged for issuing a new generation passport to a citizen of the Russian Federation whose place of residence is the Kaliningrad region.
Re-issuance of a document through the MFC
Submission of collected documentation can be done through the Multifunctional Center. To do this, you need to adhere to the following procedure:
- Select a branch of the MFC.
- Make an appointment in advance or visit the facility and get an appointment on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Hand over the collected package of documents to the specialist.
- Fill out the application according to the established form.
- Receive a receipt with the date of visit to the authority to receive a completed passport.
An example of refusal to accept documents and an application for a foreign passport
The reason for refusal is determined according to Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation No. 864. In fact, there are few such reasons, and they are quite typical. They may refuse if:
- not all required documents have been submitted;
- the internal passport of the applicant (authorized representative) is expired;
- the submitted documents do not meet the requirements for form and content and are unreadable.
If the photograph does not meet the established requirements (or is missing), the documents may also not be accepted. The listed violations must be eliminated, after which the applicant can again appeal to the MFC on this issue.
Underwater rocks
What nuances may arise depends on the specific situation. The table shows the most common ones.
| Possible problem | Solutions |
| The bride and groom plan a foreign trip even before the wedding. Wife changes last name | Before the union is concluded, visas are issued on the basis of old documents. The information matches, so there will be no difficulties at border control |
| The newlyweds decided to make the voyage after the wedding | 1. You can obtain an entry permit using your previous surname and go on a voyage using your existing travel permit. At the border checkpoint, a national passport is not needed 2. When using an old ID, you need to remember that you must return to your homeland no later than a month from the date of marriage, otherwise you will have to pay a fine for using an expired document |
| Travel to states with which Russia has an agreement on visa-free entry | After changing your surname, you don’t need to re-register your OPP at all due to the absence of the need to obtain an entry permit |
Another quite common situation is in which the document for foreign travel does not need to be updated. For example, a girl registered it, after which she got married and changed her personal information. After some time, the marriage broke up and she returned to her maiden name. And being married, she did not leave her homeland, and therefore there was no need to order a new passport. Thus, the document is still valid due to the fact that the personal data in it corresponds to those indicated on the internal identity card.
