use of married name for Social Security (split topic)

[Siddsgal 80]

I sure wish there was a way! My name change application, ( im the USC ) for social security was denied because Homeland Security didn’t like or couldn’t prove the legitimacy of our Indian marriage certificate. We were married under the Special Marriage Act.  
We now are having to submit witness statements and photos of our wedding to try to prove our wedding actually really happened and that my husband is legit. Otherwise we will have to wait till my hubby gets here and we have our “real” wedding before I can legally use my married name. 
If you find out any sorta way to register it here I’d love to know! 

[Siddsgal 80]

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Agreed - no reason - or means - to register a marriage that happened elsewhere. Married is married.

If read my comment you will see that for some of us, social security isn’t accepting our Indian marriage license to change last name. So there’s a reason for a few of us lol

[geowrian 22,338]

10 minutes ago, Siddsgal said:

I sure wish there was a way! My name change application, ( im the USC ) for social security was denied because Homeland Security didn’t like or couldn’t prove the legitimacy of our Indian marriage certificate. We were married under the Special Marriage Act.  
We now are having to submit witness statements and photos of our wedding to try to prove our wedding actually really happened and that my husband is legit. Otherwise we will have to wait till my hubby gets here and we have our “real” wedding before I can legally use my married name. 
If you find out any sorta way to register it here I’d love to know! 

is this the document you presented? This is the one they are looking for, per the reciprocity website (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/India.html)

If they refused to accept that, then they made a mistake. SSA is known to do so with immigration fairly regularly.

 

Quote

Marriage Certificates

Available

Fees:  Varies by authority.

Document Name:  Marriage Certificate.

Issuing Authority: Religious authorities and the offices of the Government Registrar of Marriages, which are located in the headquarters of each district.

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Varies substantially.

Issuing Authority Personnel Title: Different for each state and religious authority that conducts the marriage.

Registration Criteria: Prior to 2006, marriages by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, or Sikhs were not required to be registered, but may have been voluntarily registered under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955. As of 2006, it is mandatory to register all marriages. In India, a marriage can either be registered under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 or under the Special Marriage Act of 1954.  For marriages registered at government offices under the Special Marriage Act, the certificate will be issued by the Registrar only if the bride and groom personally appear before the official and pay the required fee. For other marriages that are required to be registered with government authorities under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, registration criteria vary by authority.

Procedure for Obtaining:  Varies for each authority.

Certified Copies Available: There are no certified copies available.

Alternate Documents: See comments section.

Exceptions: None

Comments: Hindu Marriage Act is applicable to Hindus, whereas the Special Marriage Act is applicable to all citizens of India irrespective of their religion. Please note that marriages by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, or Sikhs may be voluntarily registered under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.

A marriage certificate issued by a Christian church needs to be registered in the office of The Registrar of Marriages.  The registration authority varies from state to state.

If the parties are married in an Islamic religious ceremony, the certificate issued by the religious authority (such as a Nikah Nama contract issued by the mosque, or a marriage certificate issued by the Waqf Board) is sufficient proof of the marriage, and an additional registration with government authorities is not necessary/mandatory. A document known as a “Marriage Agreement” or “Deed of Marriage” to live as man and wife (under the Registration Act of 1908) is not sufficient confirmation of a marriage.  Such a document does not confer legal marital status under the law. The minimum age for a marriage to be legal is 18 for females and 21 for males.

Same-sex marriages are illegal in India.

 

Your "real" wedding was in India. I believe you are referring to a celebration.

You can use your married name at any time. The SSA has no control over that. They control the name associated with an SSN, and sometimes that is also used for a state ID or DL, but they don't control somebody's legal name.

[Siddsgal 80]

11 minutes ago, geowrian said:

is this the document you presented? This is the one they are looking for, per the reciprocity website (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/India.html)

If they refused to accept that, then they made a mistake. SSA is known to do so with immigration fairly regularly.

 

 

Your "real" wedding was in India. I believe you are referring to a celebration.

You can use your married name at any time. The SSA has no control over that. They control the name associated with an SSN, and sometimes that is also used for a state ID or DL, but they don't control somebody's legal name.

Thank you for such a helpful response!! 
I submitted our original Marriage Certificate, the exact one we received from marriage register where we got married,  to SS office right after getting back from India, still had my luggage with me cuz it’s really important to me to be able to have my hubby’s last name, one small way I can feel like I have a part of him with me here I guess. 
I called SS after a month cuz I started receiving my insurance documents with my married last name but hadn’t received my SS card. I was told my application was at homeland security cuz it’s their job to validate the marriage and my spouse. Few weeks later I received this in the mail. 

[geowrian 22,338]

37 minutes ago, Siddsgal said:

Thank you for such a helpful response!! 
I submitted our original Marriage Certificate, the exact one we received from marriage register where we got married,  to SS office right after getting back from India, still had my luggage with me cuz it’s really important to me to be able to have my hubby’s last name, one small way I can feel like I have a part of him with me here I guess. 
I called SS after a month cuz I started receiving my insurance documents with my married last name but hadn’t received my SS card. I was told my application was at homeland security cuz it’s their job to validate the marriage and my spouse. Few weeks later I received this in the mail.

Thanks for the info!

That's interesting that they said it was with DHS as it really should not matter for a US citizen. They don't need to verify your status. I think somebody just didn't have a clue what to do.

Also interesting that they said "...married in the US as well". As noted, you cannot actually/legally marry in the US if you are already married. See what happens when you apply for a marriage license stating that you are already married...I'm confident the court clerk would give a confused look.

 

Here are the relevant POMS sections, which is the policy manual for the SSA. They cover pretty much everything, like any bureaucracy.

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0110212050 (The link to this was broken on their website, but I was able to pull it still)

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0110212055

I was unable to find anything in the referenced GN 00307.000 about India (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200307000).

 

Other possible references (probably not helpful....this is more of the internal procedures of what the SSA is supposed to do):

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200305020

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200312001

 

If you have the proper document as noted in the reciprocity schedule, it might not hurt to try again..including a printout of that website. Or to appeal that decision (including a copy of the certificate again).

 

Best wishes.

[arken 4,197]

As said, SS offices do make mistakes. At this time i believe its worth giving them what they are asking for.  Can you provide a written statement from your husband regarding the marriage to them? That shouldn’t be a lot to provide. They aren’t saying your marriage has to be registered in the US, they are simply saying provide either of those requested. I guess providing that would be the fastest way to resolve the issue.

[Siddsgal 80]

27 minutes ago, arken said:

As said, SS offices do make mistakes. At this time i believe its worth giving them what they are asking for.  Can you provide a written statement from your husband regarding the marriage to them? That shouldn’t be a lot to provide. They aren’t saying your marriage has to be registered in the US, they are simply saying provide either of those requested. I guess providing that would be the fastest way to resolve the issue.

Yep! I have all 3 of our official wedding witness’s sworn statements ( their names and signatures are on our marriage certificate) and we had lotta pictures taken too cuz my hubby’s family was there and those people sure do like taking pictures lol. 
I just need to get to a printer to print everything off before mailing to SS again. 
I appreciate your responses! Feel like I’ve highjacked this thread so I’m gonna be quiet now lol. Thanks again!!

[Cg2008 16]

@Siddsgal no worries ! We all have questions with processes ! It seems never ending haha something always happens 🥴

[Siddsgal 80]

4 minutes ago, Cg2008 said:

@Siddsgal no worries ! We all have questions with processes ! It seems never ending haha something always happens 🥴

I can’t wait till we finally can have a timeline and officially start this process, making bona fida documents is overwhelming me lol. 

[Siddsgal 80]

22 hours ago, geowrian said:

is this the document you presented? This is the one they are looking for, per the reciprocity website (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/India.html)

If they refused to accept that, then they made a mistake. SSA is known to do so with immigration fairly regularly.

 

 

Your "real" wedding was in India. I believe you are referring to a celebration.

You can use your married name at any time. The SSA has no control over that. They control the name associated with an SSN, and sometimes that is also used for a state ID or DL, but they don't control somebody's legal name.

Hi! I had a question about using my married name. So can I submit our CR1 application with my married name or should I still use the name that’s on my social security card and all my other documents? 

[Cg2008 16]

@Siddsgal so i changed my last name after I submitted the application because I didn’t know I could legally change my name here. I went into the social security office and took our marriage certificate, application for name change, driver’s license and birth certificate (just Incase). She only asked for the application, ID, and certificate. She then talked about the wedding and asked if I had pics and I showed her from my phone (but I think that was just to see our Indian wedding not a process). And that was it. Since it’s giving you an option of an interview, I would physically go in with all the documents you have. Trust me, when you go through this process there are going to be a lot of no’s because a lot of people do not know the immigration system. After I got my social I went to the DMV and they told me my marriage did not count as real because they didn’t recognize my certificate and the Mumbai stamp. Took me 3 times going in and talking to the manager to get my name changed on my drivers license. Finally they realized after calling people who knew. Even now my husband is in the US and everything we are doing like social security, DMV...has to all be double verified because they can’t find him in the system at first (and the Yes box on the ds260 on whether you want the social to arrive without paper work doesn’t work..we waited a month and nothing came so we had to go in the office) ....so ya it’s a continuous struggle, but since everything is legit ..they can’t say no ..it’s just frustrating.

 

but back to your question ,   apply under your current name on your social and ID and then once it’s changed , you submit copies to USCIS through mail to show them the name changes and they update it. Try to do it before it moves to the NVC stage. Sorry for writing so much. Let me know if you have any questions through message also...my husband was approved in November ...good luck

Edited January 3, 2020 by Cg2008

[Siddsgal 80]

7 minutes ago, Cg2008 said:

@Siddsgal so i changed my last name after I submitted the application because I didn’t know I could legally change my name here. I went into the social security office and took our marriage certificate, application for name change, driver’s license and birth certificate (just Incase). She only asked for the application, ID, and certificate. She then talked about the wedding and asked if I had pics and I showed her from my phone (but I think that was just to see our Indian wedding not a process). And that was it. Since it’s giving you an option of an interview, I would physically go in with all the documents you have. Trust me, when you go through this process there are going to be a lot of no’s because a lot of people do not know the immigration system. After I got my social I went to the DMV and they told me my marriage did not count as real because they didn’t recognize my certificate and the Mumbai stamp. Took me 3 times going in and talking to the manager to get my name changed on my drivers license. Finally they realized after calling people who knew. Even now my husband is in the US and everything we are doing like social security, DMV...has to all be double verified because they can’t find him in the system at first (and the Yes box on the ds260 on whether you want the social to arrive without paper work doesn’t work..we waited a month and nothing came so we had to go in the office) ....so ya it’s a continuous struggle, but since everything is legit ..they can’t say no ..it’s just frustrating.

 

but back to your question ,   apply under your current name on your social and ID and then once it’s changed , you submit copies to USCIS through mail to show them the name changes and they update it. Try to do it before it moves to the NVC stage. Sorry for writing so much. Let me know if you have any questions through message also...my husband was approved in November ...good luck

It will probably take me a few mins to write out my response to your AWESOME message so I wanna quick tell you thank you so much for all the info!!!!! And please don’t ever apologize for long answers, mine are usually always long too lol. I’ll go back and respond to your message now hehehe

[Ryan H 3,819]

***Post and subsequent replies split from unrelated thread; please start your own thread with your own questions instead of hijacking threads started by other members.***

[Siddsgal 80]

On 1/3/2020 at 2:28 PM, arken said:

As said, SS offices do make mistakes. At this time i believe its worth giving them what they are asking for.  Can you provide a written statement from your husband regarding the marriage to them? That shouldn’t be a lot to provide. They aren’t saying your marriage has to be registered in the US, they are simply saying provide either of those requested. I guess providing that would be the fastest way to resolve the issue.

Just a follow up to my posts, mailed all the proof my Social Security office that’s only an hour away from me asked for, including our original marriage certificate which they also requested before I mailed package, first class and insured. And...... our package has now been lost in the mail system, USPS has searched for it twice with no luck. So as of now we don’t have our original Indian marriage certificate anymore. It’s one problem after another with our documents.