Name Changes?

[thepizzadude 26]

Hello,

I am needing some advice to ponder so I can figure out what I need to do next.

When my wife came to the US we basically followed the custom in the US when it came to changing her name which was just to change the last name. All documents, perm resident card, ss card, drivers permit, credit cards etc...

As many of you know the PI way of changing names is a little different, they basically drop the middle name move the last name to the middle and add the new last name...

i.e her name was as an example Jane Lynn Doe and she married John William Johnson in the US her name would become Jane Lynn Johnson but in the PI it becomes Jane Doe Johnson.

So...we go to get her passport renewed and the Chicago Embassy will only make it Jane Doe Johnson per the PI custom.

She is planning on going back to PI for a visit, is this going to present problems.

Homeland security says they will only need the Perm resident card to enter the country...will the customs agents in PI throw a fit about the passport and Green card not matching and not let her leave the country or will she not even need the passport since she has a Green card...am I in for a worrisome trip....should we just cancel the trip and let her get her citizenship/naturalization taken care of and not have to worry at all...?

Or am I just worrying about nothing because this happens all the time in PI.????

Help the noob, please!

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

That is BS. Her name on the passport should match the name on her marriage certificate. That's what we put on my wife's. However, on the marriage cert, we went with the PI style, cuz that's what she wanted. first/middle/last became first/last/married. And the passport matches, because that's the way we filled it out. Maybe someone here will say otherwise, but I think the passport folks should go along with her married name, as specified on the marriage certificate.

[Hank_ 9,174]

That is BS. Her name on the passport should match the name on her marriage certificate. That's what we put on my wife's. However, on the marriage cert, we went with the PI style, cuz that's what she wanted. first/middle/last became first/last/married. And the passport matches, because that's the way we filled it out. Maybe someone here will say otherwise, but I think the passport folks should go along with her married name, as specified on the marriage certificate.

Doesn't have to, she just needs to carry a copy of her marriage certificate.

The Philippines if funny about "traditional names" and they do make it well known at passport renewal time after marriage. Rocking the boat by not following tradition for the Philippines only causes problems down the road.... which the OP is finding now.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Interesting. Guess we got lucky by doing it "their" way in the first place.

[JoBri 548]

We had a problem with an ignorant IO at my wife's interview. We got married in the Philippines, and my wife changed her name per custom, with last becoming middle and my last name becoming her last name. That is how it is on the marriage certificate and her Philippines passport too. Same on visa she got and all USCIS documents, green card, etc. It is the name she used since before coming to the USA after we married and all these years here. She built her credit history on her new married name and that is her payroll signature with the US Air Force, and with the banks. EVERYTHING is in her married name, her LEGAL name.

Then this stupid USCIS officer at her naturalization interview insisted that she had to change her name for her naturalization oath to using the middle name she had at birth! That would have been a FAKE name! She was being told she could not use her LEGAL Philippines married name! Sheesh...

Then the USCIS officer came to us in the waiting room AFTER her interview for naturalization and told us that after seeing the looks on our faces about that, he decided to let her keep her name. In actuality, I think after I questioned him so much about his logic, he went to his director and found out he had made a big mistake. At any rate, he had her re-sign all her paperwork for Naturalization again using her LEGAL name rather than the USCIS-issued name, so she could take the oath that same day.

That would have been a huge mess. I am glad I was with my wife at the interview, otherwise she would not have pressed the matter as I did, and she now would be using what I think would have been an illegal name, one picked for her by the officer, rather than her legal name.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Brijo