319(b) & Name Change @ Washington Field Office in Fairfax VA

[jesarmie 2]

To name change or not? That is the question.

My wife is filing for her citizenship under 319b as I am a govt contractor working abroad. We are about to schedule our interview and the VA field office sent us a letter stating that legal name changes must be processed in a judicial ceremony at the Alexandria VA or Washington DC court house, and at the present time, court ceremonies are being scheduled in approximately 3 months. However, in this same letter it also states to bring to the interview:

A copy of your travel itinerary to reflect a departure from the U.S. within 45 days of your interview en route to the location where your spouse is working in their qualifying employment for your 319(b) filing

Currently my wife is in VA while I am working abroad, and I want to visit home when my wife does her oath taking. So if we do decide to do the name change, it seems to be a logistical nightmare. IF we do a name change I'm predicting it will play out as such:

1. Purchase wife's plane ticket scheduled to depart within 45 days of interview
2. Conduct & Pass Interview
3. Wait for name change/oath taking ceremony in court house. Could be as soon as 1 month or as long as 4 months. This would probably occur past the date of plane ticket, so I would have to rebook the plane ticket.
4. Finally get her passport and be back together abroad

If we have her interview in October, according to their approximation, doing a name change will re-unite us abroad around January 2015.

However, if we don't do a name change, if what people say about the Fairfax VA location is true, she would probably have the oath taking ceremony same day of her interview, and passport in hand before this month is over and reunited abroad in a matter of weeks.

Now, if someone could please enlighten me on the purpose of a court order name change. There are only 3 main things that my wife would need a name change court order for: USA passport, Social Security, and VA driver's license.

For the passport, according to the travel.state.gov website, a marriage certificate could be used as a name change document (http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/correction.html#Changes), and if we do it within 1 year, there will be no passport or processing fees. We could probably even do this abroad at the local consulate.

The Social Security website (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm) says that a certified copy of a marriage document would work, but we got married abroad so not sure how that would pan out. But, if she has her USA passport with her name changed, that itself should be enough evidence to process her name change on her Social Security.

As for the VA driver's license, a marriage certificate should suffice as well (https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/general/#records/update_add.asp)

Could anyone give any good reason that we should do a name change as part of my wife's naturalization process? I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Thanks in advanced!

[Lenchick 133]

To name change or not? That is the question.

My wife is filing for her citizenship under 319b as I am a govt contractor working abroad. We are about to schedule our interview and the VA field office sent us a letter stating that legal name changes must be processed in a judicial ceremony at the Alexandria VA or Washington DC court house, and at the present time, court ceremonies are being scheduled in approximately 3 months. However, in this same letter it also states to bring to the interview:

A copy of your travel itinerary to reflect a departure from the U.S. within 45 days of your interview en route to the location where your spouse is working in their qualifying employment for your 319(b) filing

Currently my wife is in VA while I am working abroad, and I want to visit home when my wife does her oath taking. So if we do decide to do the name change, it seems to be a logistical nightmare. IF we do a name change I'm predicting it will play out as such:

1. Purchase wife's plane ticket scheduled to depart within 45 days of interview
2. Conduct & Pass Interview
3. Wait for name change/oath taking ceremony in court house. Could be as soon as 1 month or as long as 4 months. This would probably occur past the date of plane ticket, so I would have to rebook the plane ticket.
4. Finally get her passport and be back together abroad

If we have her interview in October, according to their approximation, doing a name change will re-unite us abroad around January 2015.

However, if we don't do a name change, if what people say about the Fairfax VA location is true, she would probably have the oath taking ceremony same day of her interview, and passport in hand before this month is over and reunited abroad in a matter of weeks.

Now, if someone could please enlighten me on the purpose of a court order name change. There are only 3 main things that my wife would need a name change court order for: USA passport, Social Security, and VA driver's license.

For the passport, according to the travel.state.gov website, a marriage certificate could be used as a name change document (http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/correction.html#Changes), and if we do it within 1 year, there will be no passport or processing fees. We could probably even do this abroad at the local consulate.

The Social Security website (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm) says that a certified copy of a marriage document would work, but we got married abroad so not sure how that would pan out. But, if she has her USA passport with her name changed, that itself should be enough evidence to process her name change on her Social Security.

As for the VA driver's license, a marriage certificate should suffice as well (https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/general/#records/update_add.asp)

Could anyone give any good reason that we should do a name change as part of my wife's naturalization process? I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Thanks in advanced!

Hi Jesarmie! How did it work out for you with the name change? I am going to apply under the same section 319b soon and plan to change my name. My first name, not exactly completely change but to change how it was falsely translated. Anyway would be happy to hear how it went for you. I would not be able to wait longer than a week though.

[TBoneTX 45,319]

The OP hasn't logged on to VJ since March, so getting a reply is doubtful. Perhaps send him a personal message to see if he responds.