Ukraine Name Change.. Oh my .......

[Ryan & Inna 0]

Hello everyone,

We're new to the forum and just wanted to say thank you for all the advice and experience that is here. It has definitely made our I-129F process less painful and stressful.

While we wait we're going over every detail with regards to the future and how, what, where, when we need to file.

Inna (my fiancee) is not (yet) interested in USA citizenship nor staying prolonged USA and we discussed that we can and will rotate between USA and UA.

Here lies our first issue:

1. Once married we will file for AOS with the inclusion of the AP (travel document)

2. Based on the information around VJ and the internet the AP (travel document) takes about 60-90 days to receive.

3. Once we receive the AP (travel document) we want to go back to UA and begin the name change process for Inna's international UA passport. AP will have our name and Inna's passport will show her former name. We've read this can raise red flags when going through customs and usually given a hard time even with supporting documents showing the change.

4. http://www.ukrconsul.org//consular/pass_name_change.html --- The Ukrainian Consulate indicates that to do name change must be done at her local OVIR office in UA and cannot be done at the Consulate since she does not have the immigration stamp from UA officials granting permission to change permanent residence to USA.

5. To do a name change .. from what has been read a new international passport will be issued. So if a new passport is issued will customs agent be confused why we have a brand new passport with a AP and no stamps inside passport.

6. We're also reading about the permission to immigrate if you wish to remain a UA citizen and live in USA after K1 visa you need to have proper permission (some sort of stamp).

Within this requirement there is mention from notarized letter that neither parent is owed money by the child. UA codex states that parents have financial right to gain support from child once child is an adult. (surprised that I could not find anything about this on VJ.. probably because no one goes back to UA or just travels on US passport and disappears off the UA radar)

Soo.. we're still reading the process and we're wondering if anyone has run into this situation and what the best (fastest) way to solve it.

We did discuss keeping her maiden name but we were not too interested in that.

Thanks in advance!

-Ryan

[tom&tanya 48]

Ryan,

I translated paragraph 2 and it looks like you can change the passport while you are here in the US. Since your Fiancée ( by this time your wife), will have come to the US as a "temporary visitor" She does have the option of applying at the consulate. The reason she can is because when she entered the US on the K1 visa, she did not have a Green Card.

Also remember that Green Cards are issued to spouses of US citizens to live permanently in the USA and to my knowledge are not to be used as multiple entry visas. So be careful how you approach is subject with USCIS.

"Citizens of Ukraine who left Ukraine temporarily and local authorities are authorized to reside permanently in the United States (holders of Permanent Resident Card), and who for various reasons not arranged permission to leave Ukraine for permanent residence abroad (PMP) can obtain a new passport citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad to meet the Consulate General after the application for permanent residence in the U.S.. At the time of consideration of such application the applicant will be accepted on temporary consular registration for one year (in case of a valid passport)."

Good Luck,

Tom

[baron555 934]

Alla kept her maiden name for all the hassles you have listed. I like it and she is still my wife and she refers to me as her husband.

[tom&tanya 48]

My wife is keeping her maiden name too, it just seems like a giant cluster f*** to go through all that.

Woops ... not her maiden name, she is keeping her former name.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Alla kept her maiden name for all the hassles you have listed. I like it and she is still my wife and she refers to me as her husband.

Us too. Way too much hassel. We did the same and it made exactly -0- difference.

[Neonred 3,562]

My wife changed her name, but did not change her Russian passport (although the Russian embassy put a stamp inside her passport indicating a different name in the US). No issues traveling even when we did not have the stamp. Just needed the green card and a copy of the marriage certificate. We did in fact try to change her Russian passport in Russia and it was such hassle we never got it done. Knowing what I know now we would not even waste our time trying to change the passport. There is no need.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Vika took my name, and we did everything (SSN, drivers license, etc.) in her married name. She did not change her Ukrainian passport, as she has early on made clear she wants US citizenship anyway. Also the hassle, and she is conviced that it will goof up her property ownership somehow.

I read here all the time (mostly from men) posts about how they never wanted their wife to take their names, it doesn't matter, etc. Each to his own I say, but it did matter to us. We made a decision to share names as a symbol of a shared life. Just wanted to go on record with that.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Vika took my name, and we did everything (SSN, drivers license, etc.) in her married name. She did not change her Ukrainian passport, as she has early on made clear she wants US citizenship anyway. Also the hassle, and she is conviced that it will goof up her property ownership somehow.

I read here all the time (mostly from men) posts about how they never wanted their wife to take their names, it doesn't matter, etc. Each to his own I say, but it did matter to us. We made a decision to share names as a symbol of a shared life. Just wanted to go on record with that.

I knew several couples on VJ would chime in about the name change. I know it is not such a problem, really. Certainly not if it is something you want to do. Property ownership in Ukraine can be a problem because they will triple (or more) the taxes if the property is not owned by a citizen that LIVES in Ukraine. I cannot say for sure if this is a national thing or something determined by Oblasti or cities. Changing the name on the Ukrainian passport requires you update your registration to show you are a US permanent resident and that could then cause tax increases. It may be more a fear in theory than in practice.

I had no opinion one way or the other on a name change. Alla has never changed her name, not for her previous marriage and not now. I am OK with that. If people want to change names, I am OK with that also.

[Noel194 53]

I would be very careful. The purpose of a green card is to live in the US full-time not back and forth. Katya had to go through weeks of appointments and documents in the Ukraine to receive the "stamp" that allowed her to legally immigrate to the USA. She also needed the documents from both parents. The green card is a permanent resident card in the USA. You cannot be a permanent resident of the USA and also be a permanent resident of Ukraine. I know several people have 'gotten away with it" but things like this are never a problem until the Ukraine or USA authorities want them to be. It is like driving 58 in a 55mph zone. Police never ticket you but they could if they wanted to. We have tried several times to have her passport changed in the USA at the DC Consulate with no luck. The Consul kept saying he needed a document certified by Apostille specifically authorizing the name change. No they would not accept the marriage certificate they wanted a name change document. We ended up have her name change in the court system and that satisfied them. Good Luck

[Brad and Vika 129]

I would be very careful. The purpose of a green card is to live in the US full-time not back and forth. Katya had to go through weeks of appointments and documents in the Ukraine to receive the "stamp" that allowed her to legally immigrate to the USA. She also needed the documents from both parents. The green card is a permanent resident card in the USA. You cannot be a permanent resident of the USA and also be a permanent resident of Ukraine. I know several people have 'gotten away with it" but things like this are never a problem until the Ukraine or USA authorities want them to be. It is like driving 58 in a 55mph zone. Police never ticket you but they could if they wanted to. We have tried several times to have her passport changed in the USA at the DC Consulate with no luck. The Consul kept saying he needed a document certified by Apostille specifically authorizing the name change. No they would not accept the marriage certificate they wanted a name change document. We ended up have her name change in the court system and that satisfied them. Good Luck

Did the court name change work for both passports? I was under the impression that the internal one absolutely required domestic (Ukrainian) handling, and probably a long wait.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Vika took my name, and we did everything (SSN, drivers license, etc.) in her married name. She did not change her Ukrainian passport, as she has early on made clear she wants US citizenship anyway. Also the hassle, and she is conviced that it will goof up her property ownership somehow.

I read here all the time (mostly from men) posts about how they never wanted their wife to take their names, it doesn't matter, etc. Each to his own I say, but it did matter to us. We made a decision to share names as a symbol of a shared life. Just wanted to go on record with that.

Same here. Except Belarus only has one passport...no "internal passport" such as Ukraine has. We got married in Belarus with all the proper documents, she changed her last name to mine, and then got a new Belarusian passport with her new last name before she flew here. She had her SSN (card), Green Card, drivers license, shared bank account, credit card, job, etc... within two months of her arrival here. Of course we don't plan on living in Belarus so that probably makes a difference in regards to the OP's situation.

[eekee 182]

I would also wait and see if she *actually* wants to live in Ukraine after spending significant time in the US. Look at Brad and Vika's recent thread...

Edited November 15, 2010 by eekee

[Brad and Vika 129]

I would also wait and see if she *actually* wants to live in Ukraine after spending significant time in the US. Look at Brad and Vika's recent thread...

You got that right sister!

[SMR 368]

I would be very careful. The purpose of a green card is to live in the US full-time not back and forth. Katya had to go through weeks of appointments and documents in the Ukraine to receive the "stamp" that allowed her to legally immigrate to the USA. She also needed the documents from both parents. The green card is a permanent resident card in the USA. You cannot be a permanent resident of the USA and also be a permanent resident of Ukraine. I know several people have 'gotten away with it" but things like this are never a problem until the Ukraine or USA authorities want them to be. It is like driving 58 in a 55mph zone. Police never ticket you but they could if they wanted to. We have tried several times to have her passport changed in the USA at the DC Consulate with no luck. The Consul kept saying he needed a document certified by Apostille specifically authorizing the name change. No they would not accept the marriage certificate they wanted a name change document. We ended up have her name change in the court system and that satisfied them. Good Luck

I would second this. If you ask any government, they will tell you you can't be a permanent resident of two countries simultaneously. It contradicts the definition of permanent resident. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't work things out so that your wife can maintain a green card while also spending significant amounts of time in Ukraine. But it will probably be difficult. Also, this probably isn't going 58 in a 55. 58 in a 55 means that a cop probably won't ticket you even if he sees. This is 80 in a 55. Make sure that the cops don't see you. Now, I'm not really saying that it's illegal, because I don't think it is. But that won't stop the government from revoking her green card if they find out and don't think that you are jumping through the correct hoops.

Also, on the subject of getting AP and then leaving: you need to make sure to time things well. After receiving AP, you could receive the invitation to the AOS interview at any time. Depending on what your local office is, the interview may be scheduled for a couple weeks out. If no one receives this invitation (since you are not at home) you could miss your interview. Your AOS petition would be considered abandoned and AP could be voided. At that point, you will be starting over with a CR-1 visa since your now wife will not be able to enter the country with her voided AP (regardless of which passport).

So if you plan on leaving the country with AP while waiting for a GC, make sure that someone you trust is receiving your mail so that if an interview is scheduled you don't miss it. If you know when the interview is, you can probably call and reschedule it. This will put you at the back of the line and delay the interview, which is what you want. This may seem like a scare story but I know it has happened to people on VJ.

Just in general, you need to understand that while you and your non-USC wife reside in the US, her status will be well protected and maintained through the following of some basic steps. If you intend on leaving the US and residing in other countries for extended periods but don't intend on getting citizenship for her, you will always be jumping through hoops and researching laws to make sure she will be able to return to the US. Even then, you will have to return to the US regularly and reside here for extended periods of time to maintain the GC. My personal advice is to get citizenship for your wife. I can understand the ideological difficulties this creates, but it resolves a whole multitude of problems. And as a nice bonus she'll get to vote for leader of the free world.

In the meantime, in terms of name changes, this is something that we are still trying to work out. It's a complicated issue and part of me is wishing that we just didn't change my wife's name officially on any of the documents. Noel194 makes a good point. While in the US a marriage certificate is typically a good basis for a name change whether or not it explicitly records the name change, the same does not hold internationally. If a marriage certificate does not explicitly state that the bride takes the groom's surname, then it will likely not be accepted in Russia or Ukraine. You need a court order (and Apostilles, of course).

[LvivLovers 39]

In our case, we decided to get married in Ukraine instead of her coming on a fiance visa. I didn't want to have any hassles with name differences etc and she wanted to take my name, so before she ever left Ukraine, she changed her name on all documents. It took 3-4 weeks to get her internal Ukrainian passport change and then a couple weeks to get her international Ukrainian passport changed after that. I'm really glad we did it that way as we've never had any hassle over inconsistent documents at all.

The only minor hitch was on her internal passport change they looked at my surname (which we translated to Ukrainian) and thought it was some kind of joke so they just sat on the passport rather than working on it. My wife had to go in and check on it a second time...at that time they said they figured if it was real someone would come and ask about it. (Only in Ukraine, right?!? hahaha) After that everything was smooth sailing.

We also got copies of all her school records and other important documents and had them translated in Ukraine really cheaply. It gave my wife something to do while waiting for the visa and made things a whole lot easier once she got to the States.

So chalk me up as +1 for getting everything changed before they even leave their country. (Besides...it's sort of cool to see your English name translated into Cyrillic)