already a citizen name change nigthmare

[Paulettex 1]

I'll be as precise as possible.... Is not me is my husband and we don't know what to do. We filed N400 back in december... DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR NAME... he marked YES... he has (i guess had) 2 last names... they were not hyphenated but we hispanic get TWO and since it was a pain we just wanted to have ONE, so it was not a MAJOR name change he just wanted to get rid of his second last name because he never really used it anyways...

At the interview when the lady was going over the questions she asked... DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR NAME... he said YES... she said that since he just wanted to "drop off" one of his last names that was not really a name change....

When we became citizens he got his certificate WITH JUST ONE LAST NAME... NO COURT DOCUMENT.... (for the reason explained above... I assume)

He was able to change his name at the SS office, and request passport, he registered for voting at the ceremony with got our cards with NO PROBLEMS....

BUT... Is impossible to change your name on your drivers license without the D@M COURT DOCUMENT... they refuse to change it they say that he needs a court document and that he did something wrong... So I've talked to SEVERAL friends of mine who had the EXACT name change just dropping off one of the last names and NONE of them got the court document.... (they didnt have problems changing it at the dps either)

Here are the requirements they asked for on their website...

To change your NAME, you need one of the following documents:

1. Marriage license
2. Divorce decree
3. Certified court order
4. Amended birth certificate
5. Foreign marriage license (in English)
6. Foreign divorce decree (in English)
7. Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship with accompanying Court Order

NOTE: All documents must be original or certified copies. We are unable to accept photocopies.

So WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO? We live in texas in houston and is been impossible, he has gone to several dps offices and no body wants to change his name... they wont even update his drivers license to citizen meaning that when it expires if he don't longer has a green card what the hell is he gonna do?

We wrote an email and a letter to USCIS and no body answered has anyone had this experience?

please HELP!!!

ps: THE ARE NO INFOPASS APPOINTMENT AVAILABLE AT THE HOUSTON OFFICE WE ALREADY TRIED THAT....

[JimmyHou 611]

USCIS cannot help you here because they can't give you a name change document, only a court can do that. Since your husband didn't apply for a name change, no request was sent to the court. Therefore, as far as the court is concerned, your husband'a name never changed.

There are three things you can try:

1- Try yet another DPS office. When I got my green card, my name didn't match my drivers license. When I went to renew the license in Houston, I was told the name had to be changed to match my green card. I left and went to another DPS office and they accepted. I know you've tried a few but you could try another one... my advice would be to try one outside of Houston because the lines will be much shorter. If you love on the west side, for example, you can go to Rosenberg.

2- Contact USCIS and tell them that there is a mistake on your certificate. You will have to pay a fee and get the name "corrected" to the two part name. Your argument should be that either there was a legal name change, I'm which case they need to tell you which court approved it or there wasn't a name change and the certificate is wrong. Once you get the new certificate, which could take months, you can file for a legal name change in court. In Texas this costs about $300 I think.

3- You can go to court and legally change his name back to the two-part name and then just stick with that.

I advise you to try option 1 first even if it seems useless; it's the cheapest and quickest by far and it might work. When he goes in, he shouldn't say anything at all about changing his name. Just let him tell them that he wants to change his status to US citizen. Often times, if you don't specifically ask for a name change they won't even look up the requirements. If he does this, he may be given a license with the old two-part name, but that his status will have been changed and that's probably the more important part.

Just to clarify, there should be a form to correct an error on the naturalization certificate. Since it's an official fo with a fee it'll get there attention much faster than a letter.

On the other hand if his license isn't about to expire soon, you can wait and see if they respond to your letter eventually.

[Paulettex 1]

What do you mean they cannot give me a name change document? I got my court document for name change at the very same ceremony the difference between his name and mine name change is that for me it was a complete new last name (since I took his).... Why would I say that there's a mistake on the certificate when there's none... He already have all other documents with just one last name I don't know how would that proceed if I go back and say hey there was a mistake here... All my friends with the same type of name change (just dropping off one last name) didn't get the court document either, I would like to think that USCIS knows what is doing but to this point I don't know whos got it wrong the USCIS or the DPS but most definitely someone is wrong.... I don't think is fair for me to pay ANY AMOUNT of money to fix something I did correctly...

[JimmyHou 611]

You did a legal name change, he did not.

Your name change request was sent to the court for approval. The court issues the name change document.

USCIS cannot issue a name change document because they are not authorized to change a name. What they did was drop one of his names. However, this is not a legal name change and so there is no court document supporting it.

I suggested that you get the certificate "corrected" because it does not have his legal name on it. Your problem is that DPS says the name on his certificate is not his legal name. I'm just trying to give you a way to get around this. I know that You want the new name to be his legal name, but unfortunately you have no way to prove that to DPS.

[JimmyHou 611]

I agree completely that it's not fair for you to pay anything. But I simply gave you suggestions to fix this.

If you don't want to change the certificate, then the only things you can do are

- wait for USCIS to respond to your letter

- contact your congressman for help

- try to convince DPS to waive their rules

As I said above, USCIS doesn't have a name change document to give you. It simply doesn't exist because they never filed a name change request with the court. As you yourself said, your friends in similar situations didn't get a name change document.

Edited July 3, 2014 by JimmyHou

[Paulettex 1]

That's exactly what I don't understand why if he requested to have his name changed he didn't get documents for the name change why didn't they process it as a Name change... Is really confusing because is not a major change but the dps still takes it as is completely different... Tomorrow he will go without an info pass appointment to see what can they do (I know I do not have high hopes) but I'm hoping inside of me that there's a way that they can help him out or point in the right direction maybe there's written somewhere that when is a name drop off and I say drop off because that's the exact words the lady used at the interview no court document is needed there's a dps office 4 miles from the Uscis site so maybe they are more experienced there I will keep you all posted and if anyone out there went thru this how did you fix this? Thanks!

[JimmyHou 611]

The problem is that USCIS is trying to make things easier by bending the rules. The result is that they make things more complicated. USCIS doesn't really understand the rules that other agencies have. It's just like trying to explain the N400 process to the folks at the DPS; they have no idea what you're talking about.

So what happened is that the interviewer looked at your husband's request and thought that it wasn't really a full name change and simply a removal of one of two last names. So he thought he'd save your husband the trouble of signing a few more documents and filing a formal request and he would change the name himself. Unfortunately this has put your husband in a tough spot. The interview officer should have explained that a formal name change was required.

There are lots of people who post on here about how angry they are that they were forced to do a legal name change for a small modification of their name. In cities other that Houston (cities where judicial oaths are rare) this can cause a long delay in the oath ceremony. But the legal name change through a court means that all those people have the proper documents once they are needed.

If your husband gets to talk to someone at USCIS, he should of course ask if there's any way they can go back and get a name change document. I think the answer will be no, but he should ask. At that point, he should ask what he can do to get a certificate reprinted in his original name because that gives you a quick way to renew his license and you can change the name later.

If neither of those things work, he needs to go to the court and request a name change. He will use his old passport or birth certificate as proof of the old name and he will request that the second last name be dropped. He'll have to pay the name change fee and put an ad in the paper, but he'll end up with a name change document signed by a judge. The odd thing will be that the name change document will be issued at a later date than the naturalization certificate, but I doubt that DPS will care. You might get lucky at USCIS, but if you don't, I really advise you to consider this solution because it doesn't involve dealing with USCIS at all; just the court and the only fee you'll pay is the name change fee. If I were in your shoes, I'd just go to court and get a name change. I wouldn't bother with USCIS at all. Good luck!

[Paulettex 1]

So... He went and they said that they dont consider that as name change and for that reason they didn't provide a court document... He went again to the DPS and talked to a supervisor and said that he needed a court document because his name is different, even though he is just dropping off one last name... I will try to go a head and contact the DPS in Austin and see if some higher power can give us an answer... Because my friends could do it and now they changed it... I will write to my congressman as well and to some complaining system USCIS has online.... Probably I will get the same stupid answer but what else can I do? I guess we'll have to do the name change in a court and pay almost 300 bucks in that.... but now without complaining first this can't happen to everyone wanting to do things right and they mess it up

[JimmyHou 611]

So... He went and they said that they dont consider that as name change and for that reason they didn't provide a court document... He went again to the DPS and talked to a supervisor and said that he needed a court document because his name is different, even though he is just dropping off one last name... I will try to go a head and contact the DPS in Austin and see if some higher power can give us an answer... Because my friends could do it and now they changed it... I will write to my congressman as well and to some complaining system USCIS has online.... Probably I will get the same stupid answer but what else can I do? I guess we'll have to do the name change in a court and pay almost 300 bucks in that.... but now without complaining first this can't happen to everyone wanting to do things right and they mess it up

That sounds like a good plan... you have to try to get them to correct things, but if you can't you just have to move on.

Thanks for posting this, it'll really help people considering name changes in Texas.

If someone wants to have a name change, they have to absolutely insist on a formal name change through the courts during their interview, otherwise they may face the same problem that your husband is facing.

I recommend that you write a letter to the supervisor of the Houston office and explain the situation and state that his office's policy of just dropping a name without a formal name change causes a problem with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Maybe that'll help others in the future.

Good luck and be sure to come back and update us on your progress.

[Messybrownhair 251]

Seems we have the opposite situation. I did not ask for a name change but the officer who interviewed me (and approved me) said I did.. Wish they would make up their mind

[Paulettex 1]

Yes I read your post at this point I think is better that you are getting the freaking document this is so frutrating I already wrote my congress man and have submitted a complaint thru the Uscis website won't stop until I get something

Seems we have the opposite situation. I did not ask for a name change but the officer who interviewed me (and approved me) said I did.. Wish they would make up their mind

[Paulettex 1]

So after contacting higher powers in austin... google can do wonders... my husband received a call from a lady willing to help should have an answer on monday... surprised that they called hopefully they will help us

[va.ma 16]

He can get his passport and present that to the dmv. I did that in California

[JimmyHou 611]

So after contacting higher powers in austin... google can do wonders... my husband received a call from a lady willing to help should have an answer on monday... surprised that they called hopefully they will help us

Great news. Fingers crossed!

[JimmyHou 611]

So after contacting higher powers in austin... google can do wonders... my husband received a call from a lady willing to help should have an answer on monday... surprised that they called hopefully they will help us

Did you have any luck with the folks in Austin?

I came across this today and thought it might help you:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/name-change-faq-29091-5.html

"If you have still a hard time getting an institution to accept your new name, you'll need to go to court and obtain a judge's order establishing your new name. It costs a few dollars in filing fees and will take a little time, but it's something you can easily handle on your own. Once you have a court order, you probably won't have any problem getting your new name accepted."