Can I use my Philippine passport instead of a US passport?

Can my wife use her US VISA in her single name and use new passport with her married name?

• My wife have a US Visa stamped in her old passport when she was single. She has a new passport now using her married name. Do we need to ask the US Embassy in the Philippines to have the old valid US VISA stamped on her new passport? We are afraid that the US Embassy will minimize the validity of her visa since she was given a 10 year visa when she was single.

• Answer:

  The old rule was that a multiple entry indefinite visa in the old passport was valid for ONE MORE JOURNEY with a new passport. The current rule is actually more generous: "My passport containing a valid visa has expired. I've obtained a new passport; do I need a new visa? "If the passport in which your visa has been endorsed has expired, the visa in the old passport still can be used, provided that you also carry a valid passport of the same nationality. Note: If, when canceling your old passport, the passport authority has clipped the corners of the passport, and, in so doing, has damaged the visa in any way, that visa is no longer valid and cannot be used for travel to the United States." Whether USCIS would let the holder in with the old one under a different name is problematic; they should but they cannot be forced to. Even more so is whether the airline would let you board. Generally, the rule is that you CAN travel with a passport in the former name if you bring a marriage certificate (on official safety paper, see below) to prove the change. But the problem is that the airline can not be forced to accept you and so it is best to make sure they agree to do so before you fly. (If all documents are in the former name then there's no poroblem.) But your case involves two anomalies and you might want to get it fixed before traveling. As to use of a passport in the old namel, Here's what the US Embassy in Manila has to say: "CHANGE IN MARITAL STATUS "MAIDEN NAME TO MARRIED NAME "Female holders of valid visas on passports reflecting their maiden name may just present to the U.S. immigration officer at the Port of Entry a legal document, such as marriage certificate printed on the Philippine National Statistics Office security paper, attesting to the change of the surname every time she travels to the United States. "Should one wish to have her valid visa transferred to her new passport, which bears her married name, one must reapply . Please comply with the Nonimmigrant Visa Application Procedures." In other words: you can legally travel with the old and the new passports as you ask, but whether the airline will accept you is up to them.