Changing my name upon removal of conditions

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Hello Everyone,

I'm going to apply for removing conditions in September but I'm really confused about changing my name. I still have my maiden name and in Maine, I can't change it to my husband's name until I get it changed on my green card. I went to the SSN office to try and they refused cause my green card has my maiden name regardless of my marriage certificate. My question is..when I apply for removal, do I put my husband's family name instead of my maiden name and they'll simply use that on my new green card if all goes well? All our evidence is with my maiden name (car insurance, registration, lease, car ownership, etc. The only place that allowed a name change based on my marriage certificate is our bank so I have my husband's family name on our joint account in addition to any cards we get from friends. Will that cause confusion? Should I send a copy of my passport with my maiden name to eliminate confusion?

Another question I have is about evidence submitted when I applied for AOS. I didn't submit any pictures or such since I didn't have to send it in. I only had to take it with me to the interview and they kept none of it. Can I send in some of the photos and evidence they saw then in addition to new evidence or not? Is there going to be an interview?

Any advice is appreciated.

[jkelly07 120]

if you want to start using your husbands last name,then start by filing the 1-751 in husbands last name that name -.and put down any other name used, put maiden in that space then when approved you should receive your new permanent resident card in your married name then you can go to the ss office have it changed to married name.

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Thank you for your reply. Do you have any insight about the evidence submission questions?

[Christi85 86]

Hmmm...not sure what to advise you, but do you think you'll be applying for citizenship once you hit the 3 year mark?

I'm asking because the citizenship application (form N-400) specifically allows you to request a name change on the form. If you request a name change and your citizenship is approved, then your naturalization certificate should be issued in the new name, as well as your US passport if you apply for one.

So if you think you can wait until you are eligible to file for citizenship (I assume September 2014?), then it should all be much easier for you.

I know about the name change headache. I really wanted to take my husband's last name upon marriage, but my home country does not allow that. By law you have to keep your maiden name or else go to court to officially file a name change petition which would allow you to change your name in all official documents. I didn't have the money or the energy to go down that route, plus I was already living outside my own country before I came to the US, so I couldn't be present for any court hearing, so I reluctantly opted to keep my maiden name and we have gone through the immigration process (and now removal of conditions) using my maiden name. Upon applying for citizenship though (I become eligible on March '14), I fully intend to finally do a name change and have my name changed to that of my husband's - at least here in the US

So just throwing that in as an option if you are willing to wait to make things simpler for you.

As for the evidence question: I don't see why not use some of the pictures you've used before for AOS. As long as they were taken after marriage (that's all they care about at ROC stage) and as long as you have more recent ones to span the entire period of your marriage so far. At ROC stage there is usually no interview. They either approve you straight or send an RFE and as long as you submit the requested evidence, an approval follows. Interviews tend to be reserved for cases with red flags, cases that have a change of status mid-process, cases that filed for a divorce waiver etc. Cases that have received an RFE and responded with not-so-good evidence may also get asked to come in for an interview. So not getting an interview is actually a good thing at this stage - nobody wants to get that That being said, they do occasionally ask random filers to come in for an interview even if there's no red flags in their case, but this is much less common. So as long as you have a straightforward case, filing jointly with your spouse with enough evidence, chances are you won't be getting an interview.

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Thank you very much that's actually very helpful. I do want to change my name this time around, I'm not in a hurry for my own sake, but one of the questions I was asked during the AOS interview is why I didn't change my name to my husband's. I wanted to but I didn't know how it would affect the process. Yes I'm going to apply for citizenship next year but it seemed during the interview that it was a question of why not change your name if you're married to him..not sure what to do.

[Canadiana013 1]

I also intend to change to my husband's name during removal of conditions too. I went to the SS office and ran into the same problem. They wouldn't let me change my name until it was on my green card. They also advised to keep my current I.D. (driver's license) with my maiden name as proof of my identity when I come back to change my name in the future.

[bigdog 376]

Like stated, apply under the name the way you want it on your green card, list your AKA's. For your evidence see USCIS and VJ guides. Also Gary and Alla have a post at the top ot the forum indicating what is important. Provide everything you can, all offical documents, photos, cards from friends, joint wedding invitations, memberships, insurance, 401k and retirement docs, 3/4 sworn affidavits. My wife changed hers at the AOS, went to SS no issues, then MVD for her DL, then changed all the banking stuff. Our ROC was about 150 pages including our joint trax returns.

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Is their a certain form to use for the Affidavits of Support?

[AlisonR 0]

I changed my name when I removed the conditions. I put the same name that I had on my 2 year green card on the application, but in my cover letter I told them that I would like to change my name to ________ . After I asked them to change my name, the letters that I got from the USCIS had the name that I wanted.

I changed my name with the SSA before I got my 10 year green card, but it was a lot of work. I tried to change my name with the SSA, but they would not change it without the 10 year green card. The SSA did not accept the letter from USCIS that said that I was still a permanent resident for a year while they processed my 10 year green card. I really wanted to change my name as soon as possible, so I made an InfoPass appointment and told USCIS that the SSA would not accept their letter. I also showed the USCIS the instructions from the SSA that said that they cannot accept the letter, and need the actual green card. Then, the USCIS officer stamped my passport with the I-551 stamp. I took the I-551 stamp back to the SSA and they finally changed my name! I was so happy because I didn't want to wait until I applied for citizenship to change it!

I don't think the names will cause confusion because the application asks you to list all the names you have used before. I had 3 different names and it wasn't a problem. I couldn't decide which name I liked before I changed it for the last time, so I had 3 different names: my maiden name, a hyphenated last name and another name! You can send a copy of your passport and marriage certificate with your maiden name if you want to.

I sent all the documents they suggested in the instructions, so I sent leases that showed that we lived together, bank statements from our joint accounts, joint federal and state tax returns, and affidavits from his parents and my parents etc. I did not have an interview for removing conditions. Good luck! You'll be fine!

Edited July 11, 2013 by AlisonR

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Thanks a lot for your reply! I'm due to submit in September so I'm working on gathering everything together.

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

I think when you apply for your citizenship you could change it a hecka lot easier, then why make so much headache? But it's up to you. For sure, they won't deny your application just because you did not change your name. And they asked at the interview because they were just wondering. Each IO is different. They didn't ask us at all, and we did not change our names at all either. And same way like you, IO looked at the photos but took none of it. Anyway, up to you. Good luck with whatever you do!

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Thank you. Does anyone know if I have to put descriptions of the photos I send in, like who the people are and where it was taken?

[Dave&Roza 748]

Thank you very much that's actually very helpful. I do want to change my name this time around, I'm not in a hurry for my own sake, but one of the questions I was asked during the AOS interview is why I didn't change my name to my husband's. I wanted to but I didn't know how it would affect the process. Yes I'm going to apply for citizenship next year but it seemed during the interview that it was a question of why not change your name if you're married to him..not sure what to do.

Strange that they asked you that question about the name change for AOS. It was a non-issue with my wife and if asked I would have told them it was non of their damn business and then give them the actual reason. I also find it strange that the SSA will not let you change your last name on the SSC with the old SSC and the marriage certificate. You might want to try and spend the day there and record who you speak to and what they say. Then write an e-mail to the main SSA office's website and tell them what you are trying to do--or you can start with the e-mail and take their response to the local SSA office. Unfortunately the SSA employees are not properly trained in their own procedures. How does a USC female change her last name as she has only the old SSC and a Marriage Certificate?

For your pictures, I would print them out and place them on an 8.5" X 11" piece of paper with who is in the picture, where it was taken, and when. Since we used digital pictures, I just printed them out 2 per page with the caption as a footer under the picture. As others have stated you put the name you want on the GC in the first space on the application and list the maiden name is other names used. You may want to include a Marriage Certificate. again, to show the reason for the name change. I was talking to a person that recently retired today and he was talking about how his dealing with the SSA was going in applying for Medicare--what a royally disappointing agency.

Good luck,

Dave

[Deema & Wayne 28]

I thought it was strange too that they would ask why I didn't change my name but to be honest it seemed that it was just the IO's curiosity. So this is what i have so far for evidence:

1. 6 Affidavits of Support

2. Apartment Lease in both our names

3. Bills with proof of same address (TV, Electricity, Internet, Verizon family plan, DeadRiver). All these have the same address but are in one of our names (i'm assuming that's okay).

4. B-day, Anniversary cards, Invitations addressed to both of us.

5. Insurance card and copy of life insurance with each other as beneficiaries

6. Joint Bank Account with sample statements from checkings and savings in addition to letter from the bank stating when we opened the account together

7. We're currently looking for a house to purchase so I'm including our Mortgage papers with my as a co-buyer, and our pre-approval from the financing company. Also forms signed by both of us for our Realtor.

8. Papers proving that my husband had a vasectomy reversal so we can start a family (receipts, papers from the hospital)

9. Around 60 pictures of us, family, friends, etc.

10. Our Renter's insurance policy in both our names.

11. Our joint tax returns for the past 2 years

12. Car registrations for 3 cars, one we sold and two we have now. Also we are financing the 2 cars we have now and i'm the co-buyer on both.

13. A promissory note addressed to both of us from an acquaintance promising to pay us back an amount of money we lent her.