There are limitations
I’ve got some work off this week and one of the things on my list is to get my last name changed to Tim’s surname. Generally this shouldn’t be too much of a chore, but I have to go to the consulate to have this done since I live in Germany. Yesterday I was reading on the consulate website, and it said that the Frankfurt consulate serves south-western provinces in Germany and that the Munich consulate serves Bayern, the southern-most German province, where we live. Munich is a 3 hour train ride from here; Frankfurt is 40 minutes, so I started to get concerned that they were going to make me go to Munich, which would cost 100 euro just for the train ride!
Luckily, there are limitations, even to American bureaucracy (apparently): I called the Frankfurt consulate and they said they didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t go to them. Now that’s the way I like it.
UPDATE, 19 January 2007: The American consulate refuses to give me a passport with Tim’s name because my name on the marriage certificate still shows my maiden name. They said the Dutch authorities made a mistake in marrying us, and that I should have it corrected. After 4 weeks of chasing the Dutch authorities, I finally got an official letter from them saying that they have no authority to change my name, only to marry me, and that to have them change my name I would have to sue them for a court order. Sigh, what now?