F1 to green card: change of last name

[macacrojas1992 0]

Hi guys, currently I have a F1 student visa (I'm from Chile) and I will be marrying my fiance tomorrow. I talked to the lady that works at the courthouse because I want to legally change my last name, and she told me the first thing I need to do is to contact immigration to change it. If I don't change it with immigration first, I can't change my last name on my driver's license or bank statements. How do I contact them? I tried looking at the USCIS website but that did not help me much. I tried to search on google but everybody says you have to go to the social security office first but I don't have a social because of my student visa.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration to General Immigration-Related Discussion.

[JimmyHou 611]

Hi guys, currently I have a F1 student visa (I'm from Chile) and I will be marrying my fiance tomorrow. I talked to the lady that works at the courthouse because I want to legally change my last name, and she told me the first thing I need to do is to contact immigration to change it. If I don't change it with immigration first, I can't change my last name on my driver's license or bank statements. How do I contact them? I tried looking at the USCIS website but that did not help me much. I tried to search on google but everybody says you have to go to the social security office first but I don't have a social because of my student visa.

USCIS cannot change the name on your F1 visa since visas are issued by the State Department, but they cna probably update your name in their system. I don't know if that will make any difference, because your visa will still have your old name on it.

The easiest thing to do would be to keep using your maiden name until you get your green card. What you can do, is request that your green card be printed with your new name on it when you apply for permanent residency.

If you don't want to do that you can try to go to the Social Security office and the DL office to see if they will issue your documents in your new name. Your marriage certificate is a legal name change document, and if it has your old and new names on it and if the old name matches the name on the F1, then you should be OK.

If that doesn't work, you can try to schedule an Infopass appointment at the nearest USCIS office (check their website) but i don't know if there's much they can do.

Also, being on an F1 doesn't mean you can't have an SSN.

[dhlunar 25]

What you first need to do is contact the Designated School Official (DSO) at your school to see if they can update SEVIS with your new name or what documents that they need.

In terms of a Social Security Number, do you currently work part time on-campus? If so then you should have applied for a Social Security Number. Ask your DSO regarding applying for a SSN.

I think what the person at the courthouse was saying in terms of contacting immigration first, is that most states and social security verify your information from immigration databases (SEVIS in your case) to see if your are eligible for the benefit.

[macacrojas1992 0]

Thank you for your response. I made an appointment with my school DSO and will see if she can update my last name with SEVIS. If she can, I'll start the process of getting a new passport with my new name, driving license, bank, etc. I thought about keeping my maiden name until I get the green card but I read somewhere that if I get the green card with my maiden name, I will have to fill another form and get a new green card, which means extra $400. I'm not sure if they will give me the green card with my husband's name if I ask for it. If it comes to that, when and to whom should I talk to? When we go to the interview?
And I do not have a SSN because I never worked on campus.