Family Question

[ukman]

Hello OV

I have been asked a questioned today by a friend and I have been stomped.

The answer he wants to find out is. The are a large family of over 7 travel to the states the same time as my family. Two of the kids in his group are step kids. He got married to their mum last year and the two older kids are his step and do not carry his last name and when they travelled before the mum had the older kids last name and the younger ones had his name, now that they are travelling for the first time after being married the older two still carry the mums old last name, will there be any problems at immigration.

Thanks

[gpullan]

As long as the ticket booked is exactly as per the passport then it will be fine. My wife has a passport in her old name and we just book in her old name, no problems.

[ShirleyD]

There won't be a problem. If they live at a different address from you though, they will need a separate customs form

[gpullan]

I'm not sure about the customs forms, we just fill in one group form and there were 8 of us from 4 different addresses travelling.

[lynn56]

hi we have travelled to florida since 1993 and since 2000 have taken my young daughter who has a different surname to myself and my husband she is privatly fostered and with signed paper from her birth parents have had no problems at all going through imigration we have never been asked for the paper and we have been 8 times since we had her with us first time she was only 17 mths old last ime being last year at age 11 yrs

[christhear]

When we travel there are 3 of us. I kept my maiden name and my sons name is double barrelled made up form mine and my husbands. So there are 3 different surnames.
We have never had any problems with this.

[ujpest doza]

Bear in mind that you have to comlete a customs form for each different surname.

eg if you're all called smith one form for the entire party is enough.

if you have more than one surname then more than one customs form has to be completed.

[christhear]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ujpest doza
Bear in mind that you have to comlete a customs form for each different surname.

eg if you're all called smith one form for the entire party is enough.

if you have more than one surname then more than one customs form has to be completed.

[/quote]

This depends on who you listen to.. Some times at the airport they are saying one customs form per surname, sometimes one per family.
We have only ever filled one out for the 3 of us - same address but 3 different surnames.

[steph_goodrum]

I think you are referring to Immigration rather than Customs, is that right?

Not sure how old the step children are but probably in their passport their Mums name is listed as next of kin (and assuming they had the passports before you were married), to be on the safe side if she carries your marriage certificate showing her old name then that should be enough to prove parentage, if questioned. Since it is a fairly comon scenario these days there shouldnt be any problem. You could always take copies of their birth certificates if you really want to be on the safe side. The chances are they wont get asked but if they have the "paper tail" that ties the names together they will have it covered.
The Customs form is easy really, as they are one household then he or she can fill it in as the head of the household.

[steph_goodrum]

Realised after I posted that my 2 nephews were in the same situation when they travelled a couple of years ago to US. They went with Mum , Stepdad and step grandparents and were the only 2 with different names, checked with their Mum today and nobody asked any questions.