Name change cert with DS-230?

[Jughead 3]

My wife was able to obtain a Japanese Certificate of Name Amendment which shows that her last name was officially changed to mine with the Ministry of Justice.

I know a document like this is not required to be submitted with the DS-230/IV package. However, she feels that we should submit it since the marriage certificate shows her maiden name. Would it be a good idea to send this in with the DS-230?

[pushbrk 13,172]

Marriage certificates alwasy show maiden names for women marrying for the first time, because they are intended to show that Mary Jones married John Smith. She couldn't be Mary Smith until AFTER the marriage. No documentation of name change is required in this situation, but it won't do any harm to submit it.

For example. I have had three marriage certificates in my life. All show the respective name of my wife the day BEFORE the marriage. In two cases, that was the maiden name. In one, it was the previous married name. In the first two cases, the women took my name. In the third, she did not. It is not customary for a Chinese woman to change her name based on marriage.

Submit the document or don't. It really doesn't matter, since she's submitting a copy of her passport with the married name. She did change the name in the passport, right?

[Jughead 3]

Marriage certificates alwasy show maiden names for women marrying for the first time, because they are intended to show that Mary Jones married John Smith. She couldn't be Mary Smith until AFTER the marriage. No documentation of name change is required in this situation, but it won't do any harm to submit it.

For example. I have had three marriage certificates in my life. All show the respective name of my wife the day BEFORE the marriage. In two cases, that was the maiden name. In one, it was the previous married name. In the first two cases, the women took my name. In the third, she did not. It is not customary for a Chinese woman to change her name based on marriage.

Submit the document or don't. It really doesn't matter, since she's submitting a copy of her passport with the married name. She did change the name in the passport, right?

Thanks, pushbrk. I explained this to her as well. But she feels that it will help show that we have a legitimate marriage. And as you mention, it probably wouldn't hurt to submit it.

Yes, she recently had her passport updated with her married name. Her bio page still shows her maiden name, but they added an amendment page to the passport with the married name and the date of the change. She originally changed it to show her maiden name with my last name in parenthesis, e.g. Mary Jones (Smith). But now that she's taken my name officially, it's been updated to show Mary Smith.

So when we send a copy of the passport in, we should include a copy of the bio page and most recent amendment only, correct?

[pushbrk 13,172]

Correct.