name change on green card. too late?

[ni4na 0]

Not certain this is the correct topic area. Sorry.

My wife's green card was approved and been mailed to our US address just fine. However, we didn't realize she could have put her name with my last name on the green card application. E.g., she is Hanako Yamamoto. My last name is Doe. She wanted to change her name for life in the US to Hanako Doe, but we didn't realize we were just supposed to write that on the green card application, so now she is still Hanako Yamamoto.
To do a green card name change, you have to fill out the form and pay the fees (I-90). One of the required documentation is evidence of legal name change. OUR QUESTION: since we have only the koseki as documentation indicating our marriage, should it be enough for the I-90 green card name change? Relatedly, could we file the I-90 as an error made by USCIS, since the documentation we could provide would be identical?

[geowrian 22,338]

You can try to reach out to USCIS and see f they can update the name prior to issuing the card. Once the card is issued, you would need to get a replacement for the new name via an I-90.

 

There was no error made by USCIS...the I-485 was submitted with her maiden name so the card will be properly issued in that name (assuming you can't get it fixed beforehand). As such, you would have to pay the fee.

[ni4na 0]

Thank you. Since her name on our marriage certificate is her maiden name and will remain so (because in Japan, she married me, a foreign national, so she does not automatically or easily take on my last name), can we presume they will accept our marriage certificate as documentation for this name change? The unspoken rule, we learned the hard way, is that we could have just gone ahead and put her desired name change on the green card application.

[arken 4,197]

Yes, copy of marriage certificate wll be enough for your wife to apply for a replacement GC with new name (your surname). You need to pay the full fee for i90.

 

It is also true that you could have put her new name in the initial GC application and they would have sent her GC with new name. Now it’s just a matter of money and time. 

 

If she got conditional GC, she can also change her name during i751 for free, in two years or during citizenship applucation later on.

 

 

 

 

[ni4na 0]

Thank you!