I am currently married to a Thai lady of three years we reside in the USA. She has a current permanent residency card(green card) it is good for 8 more years.

When we were married she took my last name all her documents in the usa are in her married(Farang) name.

She will need to renew her Thai Passport this summer and her Thai id when we go visit next winter. Here are the questions

1) Does her passport when it is renued need to reflect her new married last name.

2) Same with Thai Id

We may at some point purchase property but not in the immediate future.

I know the down falls of that a complete topic of its own.

Are there any advantages of changing her name or not

Is it required

There is also the question of booking flights and returning to the usa with different names on the green card verses her visa

Anyone in a similiar situation with thoughts on this subject

Thanks

There is no legal requirement to change the name, nowadays a Thai woman can ot to keep her own name.

When my wife renewed her Thai passport at the Thai consul in the US, they would not put it in her married name unless we went to Bangkok and registered the marriage. I thought this was crazy because the original passport was already in her married name. So, they renewed her passport in her Thai name which matched her ID card. As Mario said, there is no requirement to use the married name, and we have never had a problem. The consul people said " when in the US use your married name, when in Thailand use your Thai name". The only thing to be aware of is when purchasing airline tickets, you will want the name on the ticket to match her passport.

Thank you for your comments

Thai Passport And Thai Visa

There is also the question of booking flights and returning to the usa with different names on the green card verses her visa

A Thai visa is for travel to Thailand. Your wife, as a Thai national, should enter and leave Thailand with her Thai passport and thus will not need a Thai visa. She must use her US passport to leave the US and on return to the US present the US passport to US immigration, which means that she also does not need a US visa.

If her Thai passport is already expired or would expire before her trip to Thailand she should preferably get a new Thai passport from the Thai embassy in the USA before she leaves. Alternatively, she can enter Thailand with her expired Thai passport and then get a new one from a passport office in Thailand.

thanks for the reply

Thai Passport And Thai Visa

There is also the question of booking flights and returning to the usa with different names on the green card verses her visa

A Thai visa is for travel to Thailand. Your wife, as a Thai national, should enter and leave Thailand with her Thai passport and thus will not need a Thai visa. She must use her US passport to leave the US and on return to the US present the US passport to US immigration, which means that she also does not need a US visa.

If her Thai passport is already expired or would expire before her trip to Thailand she should preferably get a new Thai passport from the Thai embassy in the USA before she leaves. Alternatively, she can enter Thailand with her expired Thai passport and then get a new one from a passport office in Thailand.

This is correct information, however If she only has a green card, she can not get a US passport. She must obtain citizenship by naturalization.

Yes, you must be a citizen to get a us passport. We are not concerned about that until the time comes.

I think my questions have been answered thanks for all the replies