Can my British wife change her last name after we filed her I-485 with her maiden name?

[dividedsky 0]

Situation:

I am the male US citizen, my wife is the British immigrant. She came here on a k1 visa early August, got married in the middle of August, we sent our I-485 and supporting documents at the end of August. She has her social security card already but it doesn't have work authorization. We haven't changed her last name yet.

Question:

We already sent all her documents with her maiden name. Can we go to the social security office to change her last name to my name now AFTER having applied already? Or will it confuse and mess up the whole process?

Thank you in advance.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

The problem is her documents are going to come in her maiden name so while you CAN go to the SSA once you have the EAD, the EAD will be in her maiden name, as will her greencard (unless you interview).

You can try making an infopass and changing her name there, but most likely you're going to have to either hope for an interview (and change it there) OR you're going to have to wait for ROC (in 2 years) OR you can pay the $450 fee for the I-90 and change the greencard after you get it.

If she wanted to take your name she should have written her married name on the forms. Hindsight of course but should help anyone else that comes along.

[Andrea&Henry 311]

He/she is totally right! You should do that when you filled a month ago. Now her greencard and her EAd re going to have her maiden name. The thing is, that her GC will aloud her to access to other type of id like driver license, voter registration, credit cards, debit cards etc etc and everything will have her maiden name. You can pay the fee and submit the I90 but them she will need to change everything again including her SSN.

[dividedsky 0]

okay great thanks, we'll just wait until naturalization