Married, time to adjust status, but have a name question?

[SkruDe 311]

Hello.

 

My fiance and I got married Oct 19th.  Her I-94 expires Nov. 12th, and we want to file before that Nov. 12th date.

 

When we got our marriage license and when we got married at the court, at no point did we fill out how my wife's name was going to be.  And as I started the I-485 process, the very first question, her name.... is already an issue because I don't know what her "Legal Name" is now?  We never chose it?

 

What do I do?  We live in Ohio.  Is there a separate name change process we need to do first before filing I-485 forms?  Do we even have time for that???

 

Thank you!

[trudi 1,317]

Fill out the forms in the name she is going to use

[SkruDe 311]

2 hours ago, trudi said:

Fill out the forms in the name she is going to use

So because of the immigration process, on the I-485 Adjustment of Status, name changing is treated slightly differently?  More flexibility?

 

She want's to drop her first name and use her existing middle name as her first name.  Then use her existing last name as middle name.  Then take my last name as her last name.  Possible to just fill forms out like that?

[geowrian 22,337]

8 minutes ago, SkruDe said:

So because of the immigration process, on the I-485 Adjustment of Status, name changing is treated slightly differently?  More flexibility?

 

She want's to drop her first name and use her existing middle name as her first name.  Then use her existing last name as middle name.  Then take my last name as her last name.  Possible to just fill forms out like that?

That kind of name change is very likely not permitted via marriage. You can change your legal name through marriage and the rules on what is allowed or not vary by state, but I would be very surprised if changing a first name in any way was permitted that way. You would need a court order to change the name that way first.

Edited October 23, 2017 by geowrian

[SkruDe 311]

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

That kind of name change is very likely not permitted via marriage. You can change your legal name through marriage and the rules on what is allowed or not vary by state, but I would be very surprised if changing a first name in any way was permitted that way. You would need a court order to change the name that way first.

I was thinking along the same lines.

She is from Colombia, and in Colombia she has (2) legal last names, like most Hispanic cultures do.  So in the United States, it looks like she is going to have to drop both last names, and take mine.

 

And since the name changing process requires a court order and a hearing, which we don't have time for, it looks like she can't change her name until after she gets her green card?  Which throws a huge curveball into the equation because then she would need a new greencard with new name.  So that doesn't seem likely.

 

Basically she hates her first name and wants to drop it, but looks like she's stuck with it till she becomes a citizen?

[geowrian 22,337]

5 minutes ago, SkruDe said:

I was thinking along the same lines.

She is from Colombia, and in Colombia she has (2) legal last names, like most Hispanic cultures do.  So in the United States, it looks like she is going to have to drop both last names, and take mine.

 

And since the name changing process requires a court order and a hearing, which we don't have time for, it looks like she can't change her name until after she gets her green card?  Which throws a huge curveball into the equation because then she would need a new greencard with new name.  So that doesn't seem likely.

 

Basically she hates her first name and wants to drop it, but looks like she's stuck with it till she becomes a citizen?

Yeah, the rules for name changes in the US are different. I would suggest looking up what's permitted via marriage in your state...some states are more flexible than others. But the first name piece is (at best) unlikely.

 

Once a valid name change is decided, she can just use that in daily life, and use that on the AOS paperwork. Many times just the marriage certificate is enough to show the name change, but sometimes places want to see the EAD or green card as an identity document with the new name.

[SkruDe 311]

3 hours ago, geowrian said:

Yeah, the rules for name changes in the US are different. I would suggest looking up what's permitted via marriage in your state...some states are more flexible than others. But the first name piece is (at best) unlikely.

 

Once a valid name change is decided, she can just use that in daily life, and use that on the AOS paperwork. Many times just the marriage certificate is enough to show the name change, but sometimes places want to see the EAD or green card as an identity document with the new name.

I have another question for you.

 

We haven't requested the certified copies of our marriage certificate yet, since we just got married the 19th.  Today's been only the second business day since we married.  So I was going to wait to call the probate court by the end of this week to see if the records are in.  But my question is, will the marriage certificate show her name with my last name?  Or do marriage certificates show the names both as original names before marriage?

[geowrian 22,337]

6 minutes ago, SkruDe said:

We haven't requested the certified copies of our marriage certificate yet, since we just got married the 19th.  Today's been only the second business day since we married.  So I was going to wait to call the probate court by the end of this week to see if the records are in.  But my question is, will the marriage certificate show her name with my last name?  Or do marriage certificates show the names both as original names before marriage?

(Belated) Congrats! I forgot to mention this originally.

 

Unfortunately, exactly what they include on the marriage certificate varies by state, so I can't say for sure. I know my state, PA, only lists the original names of both individuals. My wife then just started using her married name (showing the marriage certificate as evidence where requested), and applied for AOS in the married name. Her SSN and driver's license (once she takes the test) will have her married name...although getting the SSA to acknowledge the name change without an EAD yet took 3 tries.

Edited October 23, 2017 by geowrian

[SkruDe 311]

2 minutes ago, geowrian said:

(Belated) Congrats! I forgot to mention this originally.

 

Unfortunately, exactly what they include on the marriage certificate varies by state, so I can't say for sure. I know my state, PA, only lists the original names of both individuals. My wife then just started using her married name (showing the marriage certificate as evidence where requested), and applied for AOS in the married name. Her SSN and driver's license (once she takes the test) will have her married name...although getting the SSA to acknowledge the name change without an EAD yet took 3 tries.

Ahh Thank you.

 

So the SS name change doesn't need to wait till Green Card.  You can go do it when you receive the EAD?

[geowrian 22,337]

4 minutes ago, SkruDe said:

So the SS name change doesn't need to wait till Green Card.  You can go do it when you receive the EAD?

You may be able to do it with just the marriage certificate. Sometimes they want to see the EAD and/or I-485's NOA1. It should be a standard process everywhere, but unfortunately it's a mixed bag. Once you get the EAD, you can use that for the SS name change. In both cases, the card will be restricted ("DHS Authorized Required" message on it).

 

Once you get the green card, you can get a new, unrestricted card. Or if the name on the card isn't important to you, you can just wait for the green card and take care of the name change at that time.