Changing last names

[southernman 29]

My fiancee wants to take my last name at some point in the future but obviously we know the hassles regarding her Belarus passport and having a different US id. We want to get married within the first few weeks of her arrival but unsure when the best time to make this change would be. Prior to SSN or would things be easier down the road?

I have read some of the previous threads regarding this topic but still a little confused about when the best time to make the change would be in reference to the least amount of headaches. Can she completely change her Belarus passport name from within the states?

[Phil & Alla 26]

There are some pros and cons and different schools of thought. Just let me say my wife and stepdaughter are also Belrusian citizens.

My first thought was to get everything I could, state I.D. and SSN, prior to marriage for AOS. Well we also decided that she would use my last name.

First trip to Social Security got her card two weeks later. Next trip to change the name, next trip with EAD, but they did not remove the conditions so the last trip with her green card we got it all right. Same went with sate I.D. for the most part, first expired when the I-94 did, second visit name change and the 3rd trip with her green card.

So it is going to be up to you of how many trips to the offices you want to make. Knowing what I know now, I would wait until EAD is issued before going to social security, she cannot work with out the EAD so the SSN is not a lot of good. If you decide to get it sooner, make sure to do it at least 2 weeks prior to the I-93 expiring. Check with DMV on the I.D.

Now your passport situation. Just for the USA we changed her name to mine on EVERYTHING, most was done through AOS. Now we have looked into it a bit, she can have her passport changed at the Belarus embassy in Washington, but also we were told that she would lose her "registration" to father's apartment if she did this, thus losing any claim to it if her father died, so check if she has anything like this before you decide to change it. We, for now are just going to leave the passport alone, she will travel with her green card and a certified copy of our marriage certificate.

I hope I helped, if I can answer more, let me know

[southernman 29]

There are some pros and cons and different schools of thought. Just let me say my wife and stepdaughter are also Belrusian citizens.

My first thought was to get everything I could, state I.D. and SSN, prior to marriage for AOS. Well we also decided that she would use my last name.

First trip to Social Security got her card two weeks later. Next trip to change the name, next trip with EAD, but they did not remove the conditions so the last trip with her green card we got it all right. Same went with sate I.D. for the most part, first expired when the I-94 did, second visit name change and the 3rd trip with her green card.

So it is going to be up to you of how many trips to the offices you want to make. Knowing what I know now, I would wait until EAD is issued before going to social security, she cannot work with out the EAD so the SSN is not a lot of good. If you decide to get it sooner, make sure to do it at least 2 weeks prior to the I-93 expiring. Check with DMV on the I.D.

Now your passport situation. Just for the USA we changed her name to mine on EVERYTHING, most was done through AOS. Now we have looked into it a bit, she can have her passport changed at the Belarus embassy in Washington, but also we were told that she would lose her "registration" to father's apartment if she did this, thus losing any claim to it if her father died, so check if she has anything like this before you decide to change it. We, for now are just going to leave the passport alone, she will travel with her green card and a certified copy of our marriage certificate.

I hope I helped, if I can answer more, let me know

The bold is an issue so not changing her passport name is probably the best choice. If she does legally change her name here and gets a state DL and AP prior to GC will she still be able to travel with her Belarus passport as long as she has a copy of the marriage cert?

[SMR 368]

The bold is an issue so not changing her passport name is probably the best choice. If she does legally change her name here and gets a state DL and AP prior to GC will she still be able to travel with her Belarus passport as long as she has a copy of the marriage cert?

If this is similar to an analogous situation in Russian law, the issue is not that she would lose claim because she changed her name but rather because she registers as a citizen living abroad in the US. She would then no longer be registered as living in the apartment and thus would have no claim to it (you can only be registered in one place at a time). You can only change your internal passport at your place of registration and your external passport must match your internal passport. She could change her name in Belarus without losing claim to the apartment inheritance so long as she remains registered as living in Belarus.

This is a weird carry-over from communist days. Many apartments are not officially privatized and thus not owned by the people that live in them (but rather by the government). The people that are registered at the apartment have rights to indefinite use of it without owning it. When someone dies, the remaining registrants still have the right to that use. Some registrants have more rights than others (they can make certain decisions, etc.). However, many decisions require consensus of all of the registrants (such as the decision to privatize or sell the apartment). As long as your wife is registered at the apartment, she has a legal right to live there and her consent is required to sell the apartment. She would also be entitled to a share of the proceeds if a decision were made to sell the apartment. Taxes and utility bills may also be calculated based on the number of registrants.

I would add that you can re-new the international passport at the embassy in the US while not registered there. The name will just be the maiden name. My wife has a stamp in her international passport that says she also goes by our last name. That may be available for Belarus. Note that everything in this post is only necessarily valid for Russia. I expect there is a lot of similarity to Belarus, but don't know.

[Phil & Alla 26]

If she does legally change her name here and gets a state DL and AP prior to GC will she still be able to travel with her Belarus passport as long as she has a copy of the marriage cert?

Yes she will be able to travel outside the US with her AP for re-entry and the marriage certificate will be needed because of the name difference.. Her AP (and GC) will have her married name, but all plane reservations which her Belarus passport is used, they will need to be made the way it is on her passport. this was something i have yet to find out, if Alla ever does change her passport in Belarus, how do we get her back?? The plane reservation would be with her old passport and maiden name, we will cross that bridge if we have to For in the states we use Alla's state I.D. and GC. Also for Alla's 11 year old daughter we have the consent letter from her father for her to travel.

SMR explained it better as far as the registration is concerned-- it would have taken me an hour to type that much Alla also has problems translating things to me sometimes But for now we decided not to change her passport just to avoid any potential problems with the apartment. When we go back we will investigate it a bit more, we will spend most of our time in the USA, so as far as everything here, she is my wife with my name.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Phil & Alla

[southernman 29]

Thanks for the responses. I think I understand a little more now but should probably stick with one headache at a time. Sometimes this whole journey seems so complicated but I know it's worth it and really appreciate all the help here.

[cluelessinny 2]

we decided not to change her passport just to avoid any potential problems

Take it from Me, Wait... When Filling out the 1-129f and other forms it is much easier to use the name that is in her passport then wait to see how it translates

The way they spelt my last name in my wife's passport was funny and she had to fix it at the last minute and it delayed our i-130

[Phil & Alla 26]

They have filed a K!, so she could not change her passport until after they are married. The whole name spelling may become a pain in the a**. Alla's birth certificate is in Russian, and translated from Russian to Belarusian it is spelled Ala on her English page of her passport. So I filled out all of the paperwork spelling it Alla. It went through with no RFE, but before the interview I clarified it with the embassy that it would be ok, which it was. Her visa was issued with Ala, so when I initially got her state I.D. and SSN it had Ala, because her visa had Ala on it. I corrected it all in the AOS stage, so if this happens let me know and I can tell you how to fix it.

my thoughts for you right now is concentrate on reading all you can about the K1 process here and go the the embassy's website and READ EVERYTHING and start getting things that will be required for the interview--read and re-read instructions. Warsaw may be a bit different from Kiev. Oh and one more thing that is not covered well--make sure she has ALL of her vaccinations that are required for AOS done at her medical there and make sure she gets a copy of the DS-3025 marked completed from the panel physician. If any doubt about this look at the AOS form here on I-693 and civil surgeons filling them out Good luck

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The wife changed her last name and got a new Belarusian passport the same week we were married. It was a breeze. That was a CR1 visa though so not sure how it works with the K-1.

[Aviator56h 6]

The wife changed her last name and got a new Belarusian passport the same week we were married. It was a breeze. That was a CR1 visa though so not sure how it works with the K-1.

My wife went make her new passport last week in Belarus. All she did was add my last name. In Belarus, they don't have middle names like we do in the states (from what she told me), so, we put her last name as her middle name and her last name as mines (sure name I guess you can say). I sure hope by doing this early that it won't hurt us with the other stuff later. Now I'm wondering about her new flat she has that if she was in the states later on,, will she loose it? Y'all brought out an interesting issue we might not know about.

Capt: chad

Edited October 18, 2012 by Aviator56h

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

My wife went make her new passport last week in Belarus. All she did was add my last name. In Belarus, they don't have middle names like we do in the states (from what she told me), so, we put her last name as her middle name and her last name as mines (sure name I guess you can say). I sure hope by doing this early that it won't hurt us with the other stuff later. Now I'm wondering about her new flat she has that if she was in the states later on,, will she loose it? Y'all brought out an interesting issue we might not know about.

Capt: chad

I'm not sure how the property real estate ownership laws in that country works. I know Belarus allows for dual citizenship and the wife plans on keeping her Belarusian passport (on the side) after she gets her US citizenship/passport for travel purposes there. She doesn't own anything over there but no need seeing how we plan on living the rest of our lives here in the US unless something out of the ordinary comes up. Belarus passports are good for twenty years so at least you know she won't have to mess with it anytime soon.

[southernman 29]

My wife went make her new passport last week in Belarus. All she did was add my last name. In Belarus, they don't have middle names like we do in the states (from what she told me), so, we put her last name as her middle name and her last name as mines (sure name I guess you can say). I sure hope by doing this early that it won't hurt us with the other stuff later. Now I'm wondering about her new flat she has that if she was in the states later on,, will she loose it? Y'all brought out an interesting issue we might not know about.

Capt: chad

From what my fiancee told me, the apartment has to have the exact same name as the passport or there is a danger of losing it in the future. She says its simple enough to change the name of property papers but it takes a few weeks and of course this would have to be done after she changes her passport. I don't really know the answer either yet but you may want to look into it before it's too late.

[Aviator56h 6]

From what my fiancee told me, the apartment has to have the exact same name as the passport or there is a danger of losing it in the future. She says its simple enough to change the name of property papers but it takes a few weeks and of course this would have to be done after she changes her passport. I don't really know the answer either yet but you may want to look into it before it's too late.

My wife also has property that she has that she started building on (just the slab foundation). What she told me was that if she doesn't build (or do something on that land) in 3 years, the government takes it without giving you any money for it. She wants to sale it, but not making any progress doing so to start advertising it. Her flat is a new building they put up on the east side of town not far from there library and we just finished building everything in it this year so she had a place for her and and the baby. I wonder if she knows something about the name game when it comes to changing names. She should know, she's a lawyer over there (lol). I hate to see our hard earn money go to waste that we put into the place.

Capt: chad