We have been married since 1974 (in Thailand) and her passport has always had her married surname, till now. The Embassy in DC sent me this confusing list of hoops to jump through to get it changed back. Does anyone have a clue what this is all about??? Could present a problem for her to return to the States from a trip home, clearing US Customs with documents that have different names??

Assuming she also has a US passport it's likely a non-issue. I travel to the US on my US passport (which has my 6 letter shortened for convenience last name), on which my last name is spelled differently from my Thai passport/Thai ID/etc. (which has my 17 letter last name). Just make sure your ticket has your US name on it. Ticket matches passport, sorted, Homeland happy. For returns to Thailand, for Thais, they don't make an issue of what name is on the ticket just so as long as you have a valid Thai passport to enter on.

Assuming she also has a US passport it's likely a non-issue. I travel to the US on my US passport (which has my 6 letter shortened for convenience last name), on which my last name is spelled differently from my Thai passport/Thai ID/etc. (which has my 17 letter last name). Just make sure your ticket has your US name on it. Ticket matches passport, sorted, Homeland happy. For returns to Thailand, for Thais, they don't make an issue of what name is on the ticket just so as long as you have a valid Thai passport to enter on.

Thanks for responding. Maybe my concern is too high. This surname thing could be an advantage for property ownership in Thailand I suppose.

If your wife holds a US passport then she is obliged to enter and leave the US on her US Passport.

If the Thai embassy has changed the name recorded in her passport without your wife's agreement then she should ask them to correct their error.

A non Thai name is not an obstacle to your wife owning land in Thailand.

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(which has my 17 letter last name)

Chinese Thai then?!

Thai-Chinese, A.B.

If your wife holds a US passport then she is obliged to enter and leave the US on her US Passport.

If the Thai embassy has changed the name recorded in her passport without your wife's agreement then she should ask them to correct their error.

A non Thai name is not an obstacle to your wife owning land in Thailand.

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(which has my 17 letter last name)

Chinese Thai then?!

Whew, this is getting convoluted!! The wife has only a Thai passport, and the Thai Embassy in DC arbitrarily did the surname change so it would match her Thai Id Card. This they said in a recent phone call I made to them, also referring to a change in Thai law from 2005. The instructions they sent to change it back to her married name involve the US State Dept. and going to Thailand (both of us) to her local Ampur, etc to get it sorted. Maybe I am thick headed, but if our marriage license was good enough to get her a Thai passport and US Resident Immigrant status in 1974, what the heck has changed. Or could it be a fleece job for fees and travel expenses to get it sorted? Just wondered if any other readers have bumped into this curiosity, and have an idea of it's real purpose. According to DC Embassy official, all she has to do is show the marriage license to Homeland Sec. if they question the surname disparity. Hmmmm!

An extended family member applied for his first Thai passport at Bang Na about three years ago. Luckily he kept the application form etc., because when it arrived in he mail they had dropped thelast letter of his family name.

He quickly took all the documents back to the Bang Na passport office and a new passport was issued within an hour with many apologies and the supervisor scolding the staff in front of him (and no fees).