should i change my last name?

[katiushka 1]

I just read all the related conversations about this and i still have a dilema..... i do want to change my last name but i am afraid it will bring me more complications than satisfactions.

to make it short, i was born in russia so i travel on a russian passport. i also moved to peru with my family a long time ago. i always kept my russian passport but got peruvian permanent residence. i applied to a K1 from Peru and have the visa stamp on my russian passport.

so if get married and change my last name and i am afraid of the following:

• i will get my SSN and green card with my new last name. when i want to travel out of the country with my passport how do i prove that all documents belong to the same person? do i have to carry a copy of my wedding certificate with me?

if i change my last name, should i go to the russian embassy to change my passport?

if i change my passport name.... it will bring me lots of complications in peru, my documents wont match, the peruvian residence card has to match to the passport..... OMG......

does anybody has experiences similar to this dealing with 3 coutries instead of only two? what advices can you give me? i really want to change my name but thinking on a reasonable way, sometimes i think that if i keep my last name my life will be easier.

[DakotaK1 1]

Hi

I am kinda in the same boat as you,Germany,US,and UK.

But I decided to change my name,have not had to deal with the foreign contries yet due to my passports still being up to date.

[Nina+Matt 0]

@virginia but you have a german and a uk passport! so you can basically travel with one of them.....

katiushka has a russian passport and a peruvian "green card", so she needs to travel with her russian passport and she mentioned that the peruvian "gc" has to match the russian passport, so she would need to change not just her russian passport but also her peruvian "gc".....

i dont really know how complicated it will be to get the passport changed (waiting time at the russian embassy) and also how long and hard it would be to change the peruvian "gc".

i took my husbands name after we got married (green card has married name on it) but since my german passport is still valid until 2012 im not going to get the name changed on it now. what im doing when flying is, i purchase the tickets on my maiden name so they match my passport but also carry a copy of my marriage certificate so i can proof the different names on passport and gc.

when filing for aos you just need to use the name that should be on the gc so either new married name or maiden name, but remember that when you want to change the name on your us gc later on you will have to pay a fee to do so and i think its not really cheap.....

Edited July 10, 2008 by Nina+Matt

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

@virginia but you have a german and a uk passport! so you can basically travel with one of them.....

katiushka has a russian passport and a peruvian "green card", so she needs to travel with her russian passport and she mentioned that the peruvian "gc" has to match the russian passport, so she would need to change not just her russian passport but also her peruvian "gc".....

i dont really know how complicated it will be to get the passport changed (waiting time at the russian embassy) and also how long and hard it would be to change the peruvian "gc".

i took my husbands name after we got married (green card has married name on it) but since my german passport is still valid until 2012 im not going to get the name changed on it now. what im doing when flying is, i purchase the tickets on my maiden name so they match my passport but also carry a copy of my marriage certificate so i can proof the different names on passport and gc.

when filing for aos you just need to use the name that should be on the gc so either new married name or maiden name, but remember that when you want to change the name on your us gc later on you will have to pay a fee to do so and i think its not really cheap.....

Yes, it is like $300 to change the name on a US GC. My wife is in the same boat. She lives in Argentina but she is peruvian. We have not changed anything in her passport or anything yet. We will do it when she gets to the US.

Becuse the Peruvian embassy in Buenos Aires said that it could take up to 8 months to change her name in her passport, So we did not want any problems with the visa process, so we just decided to wait. When she gets to the US, who cares how long things will take, at least we will be together.

[katiushka 1]

wow... sounds a little bit scarry but i think i will carry my wedding certificate everywhere. my pasport expires at the end of 2010 so i still have some time i just hope the russian embassy here wont take that long to change my passport. 8 months is too much!!!! it is crazy.

another option i was thinking about is using my husband last name on the states but for the russian embassy and peruvian inmigration, keep my own family name. and when the time to renew my russian passport comes..... i will decide if i change my name on it.

thanks to you all and if there is more people with similar experiences i think it would be interesting to find out what they choose.

bye!

[Cdn_Ali 11]

I have to deal with 3 countries too, and I have decided not to change my name on any official documents, visas, bank accounts, etc. I will keep my maiden name on all those things. My husband would prefer me to change my name but he understands why I won't. My compromise is that I will use my married name for non-official things where it doesn't really matter.

[Nina+Matt 0]

you just need to carry your marriage certificate when you have to use your passport (with maiden name) and your gc (with new family name) to show that you are still the person holding your passport......

[mrsartis 10]

Hi there, as soon as you get married. YOu can change your name and your passport by goingto the nearest Russian Embassy and have your passport updated..

Cheers!

[sashagrin 0]

mmmm....My russian passport expires in 2010...I checked at the Russian Embassy web-site, it takes up to 6 months to change an expired passport. But they do put a kind of a stamp in your still valid passport to indicate the name change. I read it in Russian forum here.

I actually changed my last name and now I'm wondering if it was a wise decision because of the paperwork it brigs along...Just back from a SS office...

[ellla 0]

I haven't changed mine, it seems so complicated. I am still thinking to get my last name hyphenated and add my husband's last name, but I already applied for AOS with my maiden name. Is it possible to change last name during the GC interview, or even later, when removing condition? If so, maybe I will do it then.