When is my wife eligible to work?

[tfulcher 0]

Here's our current status: We were married in February 2015 and started the immigration process in May. We've been approved at each step and now her interview is scheduled at the Moscow embassy on 6/22/2016. Her son will be coming here with her.

At the same time, she's trying to get a transfer within her company so that she can work in the US when she gets here. She lived and worked in the US during two very brief periods in 2000 and 2001 while working as a camp counselor, so she has a Social Security card that still has her previous name on it. The reason we didn't start immigration until May after getting married in February is that we were waiting for the Russian government to get her name changed on her passport, so her immigration information was all submitted with my last name. From what I can gather from the Social Security department website, she is required to actually be here with valid immigration papers in order to submit for the name change on her card.

So, the question is - can she work as soon as she arrives with the green card and the Social Security card showing her previous name (along with providing paperwork showing that her name changed), or will we have to wait until Social Security gets her the new card with the updated name?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

She can work right away.

[tfulcher 0]

She can work right away.

Cool - I have a related question - her son now has a different last name, and it's a very Russian-sounding name. He has expressed interest in perhaps changing to take my last name also. He's 18 years old and will be 19 in July. Is this something that we can do after they arrive while they're on the 2 year conditional period?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Cool - I have a related question - her son now has a different last name, and it's a very Russian-sounding name. He has expressed interest in perhaps changing to take my last name also. He's 18 years old and will be 19 in July. Is this something that we can do after they arrive while they're on the 2 year conditional period?

You can do a legal name change but I don't know the specifics. I also don't know the rules for adoption; but he seems a little old for that.

However, I do know that he can get a free name change when he becomes a US Citizen. That'll be a few years, though.

[Boiler 45,525]

Name change is State specific.