Different first name in marriage license/certificate vs other documents

[mjvc 32]

Hi everyone! I came here in the US last October under the K1 visa and we got our marriage license a few days after I arrived. I gave the clerk my passport as identification as she input all the information online. My first name on my passport is "MA" which is pronounced as "Maria" in my country. She asked and I said it's pronounced that way and then she input my first name in the system as "Maria". I asked my husband and told him all my legal documents are spelled as "Ma" (the clerk can hear our conversation) and he said that's okay and that they know better as it is their job. We recently checked and our marriage certificate is not yet available but I'm sure the certificate will also show "Maria" and not "Ma" which is what is in my passport and I-94. 

 

I'm now preparing all the documents for adjustment of status and I'm confused which first name to use. If I would use "Ma", will this be a problem since my name in our marriage certificate states "Maria"? I'm confused and I hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.

[Villanelle 4,122]

This is a weird situation. First you dont know what the marriage certificate will state as your name but it probably will say "Maria" since thats how they entered it. Also no one here can tell you whether USCIS will accept it unless you try- but Im going to assume based on what I know they will reject the marriage certificate as it does not state your legal name (and you have no name change documentation showing you changed from Ma to Maria) Youll probably get a generic RFE asking for YOUR marriage certificate because they are going to look at it as someone named Maria married your spouse and not you.

 

Personally I feel this was ignorance on the clerks part- they were trying to 'Americanize you' and they can not do that. They have no authority to change your legal name to something more western sounding/spelling. You should go back down to their office and request a supervisor if needed and see if they can edit their current paperwork to reflect your legal name. If they can not then you  have to see about getting married again under your legal name and depending when or if you need to do the ceremony again you may not meet the criteria of being married in the first 90 days so you would need to file the 130. 

[mjvc 32]

Thank you very much for your response Damara. Greatly appreciated. Sounds like this will be challenging. Hopefully everything will work out. Thanks again.

[audacieux89 256]

Hmm...does it say "MA" In your BC and passport? If yes, then I would think it should also say that on the MC. You can always have it ammended i think. Officers are very picky about those things especially if you are going to use the MC as proof for other applications like bank, ssa, dmv, etc (aside from the uscis applications). They will always ask for at least 2 sets of id.

 

This might become a problem in the future...

Edited December 4, 2017 by audacieux89

[mjvc 32]

On 12/4/2017 at 2:14 PM, audacieux89 said:

Hmm...does it say "MA" In your BC and passport? If yes, then I would think it should also say that on the MC. You can always have it ammended i think. Officers are very picky about those things especially if you are going to use the MC as proof for other applications like bank, ssa, dmv, etc (aside from the uscis applications). They will always ask for at least 2 sets of id.

 

This might become a problem in the future...

I know, right?! That's why I was worried about it. My BC and passport are both spelled as "MA". But the good news is that I already got my marriage certificate with the correct spelling of my name. I just asked the clerk if she could spell it as it was in my passport since this is how it is spelled in all my legal documents and she just did without any hesitations. Problem solved! Thank you for your response.