URGENT international travel question; FACT-BASED advice respectfully requested

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timmy_d11

Registered Users (C)
My wife is originally from Colombia and she has a Colombian passport in her maiden name. She recently received her permanent resident card, obviously in her married name.

She is VERY EAGER to go to Colombia, and I was going to buy her a plane ticket for next Saturday.

The problem is that the lady from the airline said that the name on the ticket MUST match here name on her passport.

BUT then her name WON'T match on her permanent resident card.

SO I called our paralegal that assisted us with her immigration paperwork, and she said to get her plane ticket in her married name, which matches her permanent resident card, and then go to the Colombian Consulate in on Manhattan Monday (we live in NY) and they can stamp her new name into her current passport and she'll be good to go.

My question is:

Is this valid advice?

Is it simple, easy and fast to have this done?

Can I confidently buy her a plane ticket today and be ASSURED that this can be resolved with one visit to the Consulate on Monday? That we won't have a hangup which will cause us to lose out on $600 after buying the ticket?

She won't need a brand new passport, that may take a while to get, will she?

Any and all FACT BASED advice is appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time.
 
although I am no expert on Colombian passports, advice sounds valid, as that's what I was told for my passport name issue. I just got my passport renewed 6 months before I got engaged and married and really did not want to have to pay for a new passport to reflect the name change, so I was told that I could get a 'name amendment' in the back of the passport until I was planning on getting a new passport.
 
Getting the plane journey and getting into Columbia are not issues here. The only issue is getting back into the USA. The simple answer is that if your wife takes a copy of her marriage license with her to prove her name change, then that will be proof enough to show the US Border Patrol Guard why the name on her passport and the name on her Green Card don't match.

To avoid this issue in future, your wife should get a new passport.
 
Well the consensus seems to be that my wife must put the name which is on her passport on the plane ticket - so I do not see a problem with her actually getting BACK to Colombia.

The possible problem is when she tries to return with a plane ticket in her maiden name and a Colombian passport in her maiden name with a green card in her married name -

So, my question is, would these things plus her marriage license be enough to satisfy borders / customs that she is who she says she is, even though her plane ticket and passport have her maiden name on them?

I need to get her to Colombia AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Her mother is sick and she is VERY worried about her...and hasn't seen her in 4 years.

We will call and/or visit the Colombian Consulate in Manhattan first thing in the morning, to find out what theyrecommend that she does, as far as her ticket and passport being in her maiden name is concerned.

PLEASE HELP if you have factual information about what we must do, and if you foresee being held up from travelling until something is done with her passport.
 
In every case I've heard about like this, where the passport has the maiden name and the GC has the married name, the marriage license was sufficient evidence to prove to the US CBP officier why the names differ. Don't worry about the name on the plane ticket, the only requirement there is that it is the same as the passport.
 
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