Last Name

[brightskte 18]

Mathew and I just got back from our honeymoon on Sunday and I'm trying to get the forms together so that we can send for his AOS when the marriage certificate comes in the mail. And of course, just because I'm so special and a freak when it comes to these things I'm still up at nearly 2am worried while my husband is snoring happily in the bed.

The wedding day was so stressful that I didn't look at the marriage license. I never even took it out of the envelope after the day it was issued. My minister never asked Mathew and I to sign it(which freaks me out because I can't find if it's a requirement for Kentucky). I know that in a lot of states(it's funny because I've found nearly every other states requirements except my own) the bride will write what her name will be changed to on the marriage license before it is sent off by the minister and that is part of the name change procress. But again, I never saw my license that day and I didn't fill out anything like that when we applied for the license at the County Clerks office. So now I'm not only afraid that besides my minister being a complete a-hole for various reasons that day(he forgot my wedding!) he may have also forgot to have us sign the license which I think would make our marriage not legal. But then again, Kentucky may not require that so I wont know until in the morning when I call the County Clerks Office.

So after all of that rambling my issue is this--

I am the USC. On the I-485 when it asks to list the present spouse that would be me(duh). But my last name is not his yet. I can't change it until the marriage certificate comes in the mail(supposing that we did not, in fact, have to sign it on the wedding day). Would it be wise to wait a few more days after the marriage certificate comes in the mail so that I can go change my name and THEN apply for his AOS or will it be okay for me to put my name as my maiden name, send off for AOS when the certificate gets here, and change my name while AOS is in process?

I know this is simple, but apparently I like to freak myself out and stay up until crazy hours wondering about the minuscule details of everything. I've been through 15 pages and done a number of searches but either I'm missing it or no one is as crazy as me about this sort of thing.

[Rohini 0]

Your name doesn't change legally until you change it with the social security admin. (My last name is listed as my former on the marriage certificate, btw.) I am in KY too, and I was able to go to the County Clerk's Office and obtain a certified copy for $5 before they sent the one by mail. If you have time to wait, you can also change your name on your social security card before filing for AOS.

[menina 50]

Your name doesn't change legally until you change it with the social security admin. (My last name is listed as my former on the marriage certificate, btw.) I am in KY too, and I was able to go to the County Clerk's Office and obtain a certified copy for $5 before they sent the one by mail. If you have time to wait, you can also change your name on your social security card before filing for AOS.

We got married in Utah and had no place on the marriage certificate for me (US citizen) to write my new last name. I filed AOS for my husband using my new last name and then changed it with ss after filing the papers. While we were waiting for the interview, I got my new DL, passport, etc. We didn´t have any problem getting approved, and I felt that it was important that the forms be filled in with the name I intended to use in the future since I will be using my new last name for the next round of paperwork. We did the process ourselves without hiring a lawyer, but I do have a friend who specializes in immigration law, and she advised me that it would be no problem to use my new last name pending me changing my from my maiden name to my husband´s last name. Our marriage certificate just has my maiden name on it, and since we live in another state where you DO write your new name on the marriage certificate, this confused the DMV and the bank, but I was able to explain it to them, and they approved the name change. Don´t worry, I was stressing about the same thing. You can call the county clerk to be sure you don´t need to go sign the certificate or do a name change there since rules vary from state to state. That will give you some peace of mind. Good luck!

[Kimbear 53]

Mathew and I just got back from our honeymoon on Sunday and I'm trying to get the forms together so that we can send for his AOS when the marriage certificate comes in the mail. And of course, just because I'm so special and a freak when it comes to these things I'm still up at nearly 2am worried while my husband is snoring happily in the bed.

The wedding day was so stressful that I didn't look at the marriage license. I never even took it out of the envelope after the day it was issued. My minister never asked Mathew and I to sign it(which freaks me out because I can't find if it's a requirement for Kentucky). I know that in a lot of states(it's funny because I've found nearly every other states requirements except my own) the bride will write what her name will be changed to on the marriage license before it is sent off by the minister and that is part of the name change procress. But again, I never saw my license that day and I didn't fill out anything like that when we applied for the license at the County Clerks office. So now I'm not only afraid that besides my minister being a complete a-hole for various reasons that day(he forgot my wedding!) he may have also forgot to have us sign the license which I think would make our marriage not legal. But then again, Kentucky may not require that so I wont know until in the morning when I call the County Clerks Office.

So after all of that rambling my issue is this--

I am the USC. On the I-485 when it asks to list the present spouse that would be me(duh). But my last name is not his yet. I can't change it until the marriage certificate comes in the mail(supposing that we did not, in fact, have to sign it on the wedding day). Would it be wise to wait a few more days after the marriage certificate comes in the mail so that I can go change my name and THEN apply for his AOS or will it be okay for me to put my name as my maiden name, send off for AOS when the certificate gets here, and change my name while AOS is in process?

I know this is simple, but apparently I like to freak myself out and stay up until crazy hours wondering about the minuscule details of everything. I've been through 15 pages and done a number of searches but either I'm missing it or no one is as crazy as me about this sort of thing.

Kayla,

my marriage licence did not need signatures other than the person doing the ceremony, and it has my maiden name on it as well. I filled out the aos paperwork in my married name and just included a photocopy of the marriage certificate we got about a week or so after the marriage. I would definatly wait since you must send a copy of the certificate with the aos package anyway, since the marriage cert is your proof you complied with the k1 visa and are fulfilling the rest of the requirements for your green card. Whether you change your name or not as the USC doesn't really matter TBH, it's all about the Alien at this point. Just have patience

Edited July 6, 2010 by Kimbear

[VanessaTony 3,567]

The wedding day was so stressful that I didn't look at the marriage license. I never even took it out of the envelope after the day it was issued. My minister never asked Mathew and I to sign it(which freaks me out because I can't find if it's a requirement for Kentucky). I know that in a lot of states(it's funny because I've found nearly every other states requirements except my own) the bride will write what her name will be changed to on the marriage license before it is sent off by the minister and that is part of the name change procress. But again, I never saw my license that day and I didn't fill out anything like that when we applied for the license at the County Clerks office. So now I'm not only afraid that besides my minister being a complete a-hole for various reasons that day(he forgot my wedding!) he may have also forgot to have us sign the license which I think would make our marriage not legal. But then again, Kentucky may not require that so I wont know until in the morning when I call the County Clerks Office.

So after all of that rambling my issue is this--

I am the USC. On the I-485 when it asks to list the present spouse that would be me(duh). But my last name is not his yet. I can't change it until the marriage certificate comes in the mail(supposing that we did not, in fact, have to sign it on the wedding day). Would it be wise to wait a few more days after the marriage certificate comes in the mail so that I can go change my name and THEN apply for his AOS or will it be okay for me to put my name as my maiden name, send off for AOS when the certificate gets here, and change my name while AOS is in process?

First I need to correct you. Your name IS his now. If you are electing to change your name to his, it's already LEGALLY your name. You have performed a legal name change by getting married. (proof of this is travelling on your maiden name passport by showing marriage licence as proof of name) You just need to document it. The reason you CAN change your drivers licence, SSN, passport etc it's because you have ALREADY legally changed your name, you're just now documenting it (by showing proof of the legal change, i.e. your marriage certificate). So complete the AOS forms with your LEGAL name... which if you've chose to take your husbands name is your new married name.

To dispel any concerns about documents not matching.. I am the immigrant. I have a SSN. I applied for AOS using my passport which is in my maiden name. My drivers licence, SSN, passport and all of that are all still in my maiden name (except my US bank account). Now that my GC is approved (just waiting for it now) I can start legally changing my name in Australia AND here. It did not affect my GC process at all. The marriage certificate is proof of my name change.

As for your licence and licence rules... you're right that I haven't had any luck finding anything Kentucky specific so i guess you'll just have to wait and see. And if he DID do it wrong I would sure as hell get your money back for him "performing the ceremony". Good luck. Perhaps you could upload a pic of your licence (pertinent stuff removed) so the next person who asks knows.

Good luck!

[brightskte 18]

Thanks for clarifying. :)I was really bothered by the possibility of doing the AOS forms in my maiden name since it will be changed on my SS Card, Drivers License, and passport pretty soon.

When I called the County Clerks office this morning she said that Kentucky doesn't automatically change your last name upon marriage. It is assumed that you will keep your maiden name until you go through the routes to change it(SSN, Drivers License)and that marriage just makes you eligible to change your name without a court petition. I don't know how true that is, but it sounds a little off to me. Wouldn't be the first time that government workers have been wrong! She did also verify for me that the minister did send the the marriage license in and that our certificate was mailed this morning, meaning I should get it tomorrow. If I do I'll go ahead and go to the Social Security Office and start the name change stuff.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Thanks for clarifying. :)I was really bothered by the possibility of doing the AOS forms in my maiden name since it will be changed on my SS Card, Drivers License, and passport pretty soon.

When I called the County Clerks office this morning she said that Kentucky doesn't automatically change your last name upon marriage. It is assumed that you will keep your maiden name until you go through the routes to change it(SSN, Drivers License)and that marriage just makes you eligible to change your name without a court petition. I don't know how true that is, but it sounds a little off to me. Wouldn't be the first time that government workers have been wrong! She did also verify for me that the minister did send the the marriage license in and that our certificate was mailed this morning, meaning I should get it tomorrow. If I do I'll go ahead and go to the Social Security Office and start the name change stuff.

Actually, it is exactly the same in Georgia. You are eligible to change your name on marriage but you need to take the steps to change it with SSN, Driver's License, etc. The marriage certificate acts as your legal proof to change your name but it doesn't happen automatically. Since I chose to keep my maiden name I didn't have to change anything, but I wanted to make sure that I did keep my maiden name when I got married, so I checked into it and this is what I found out as well.