How Can My Wife Use My Last Name?

[BIT 3]

When I filed the I-130 AND the other adjacent docs, I used her last name "Rivera" but she says that she would like to take my last name and use it which is "Garcia"

When can she do this? is it when she gets her SSN Card? or when?

Thanks

Bryan

[sulhaq 60]

Has your wife changed her name on the relevant documentation yet? For example, I filed under my wife's married name (my last name), but my wife had already changed her Pakistani Passport/I.D. Card name to my last name. Is this true in your case?

[Elghazi2008 4]

She could probably start the process of changing her name now....You need to go to your local Town/City court offices with a copy of your marriage certificate and find out what paperwork you need to file, if any, to change her name. They should be able to help you but they may tell you to go visit your county clerk. Phone calls are just as good as visiting in order to get information. I'm thinking you would need a court order to change her name since you didn't change it when you got married... If that's the case, you'll have to pay a fee to file the application and you'll probably have to pay a local newspaper to publish a name-change notice. The clerk's office should be able to tell you what you need to do. Once publication is complete, you would be able to go to the social security office to change her name. Once that's done, you'd just have to go around changing her name on everything else...

Edited March 25, 2012 by Elghazi2008