Name Change after international marriage

[Ghanayemsgirl 0]

Okay so here is the deal, my husband and I got married in Jordan 6 years ago, in those 6 years I have yet to officially change my last name, there always seemed more important things for us to focus on, paperwork for him to be a permanent resident, and then for the N-400, our careers, establishing his credit, etc. But we are now ready this year to have children together, before we do that I want to do my official name change. So advice from anyone else who has changed their name after an international marriage would be greatly appreciated. DO I just need my marriage certificate? (It's translated and stamped) or is there something else they need to prove our marriage was legal and binding? 

[Kat&Jon 85]

I just updated my name after our marriage. I know that ours was here in the states, but the Social Security Office has the same rules. You need to bring your old Social Security Card with your original name on it, a  copy of your marriage certificate (which you have), the application for a new social security card found here: https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ss-5.pdf  and they asked me for one other identity item so I just gave them my passport which had my old name in it.

 

I do know that you MUST change your name with the SSA BEFORE you change your driver's license. It takes 24 to 48 hours to update in the system before you can get your Driver's License. If you can make an appointment because the wait can be bad. I also heard that Mondays tend to be the worst for the SSA office wait times so I would go a different day if possible!

 

Hope this helps! Good luck and I hope you don't have a long wait! Also, that link I gave to the form shows what is required for the name change on it so make sure you have that. It was pretty easy!

[Ghanayemsgirl 0]

Thank you so much for the info! It's greatly appreciated!