N400 Name Change Evidence question

[Bryan and An 23]

We're filing An's N-400 application online, and it asks if she has ever used another name. Since she's Vietnamese, we had the fairly common situation where her first and middle names got switched upon her immigration (due to the way the names appear on Vietnamese documents). So until she got her green card, she just went by her middle name followed by her first name for official purposes such as adding her to my bank accounts, enrolling in school, state ID card, etc. Then, when she applied for her green card, all she had to do was put the name she wanted to go by on the application, so she switched back to her first then middle name at the time. That's how her green card came, and she was able to use that to then change everything over to her real name. 

 

Of course, on the application, we put that she had also gone by Middle First Last. When we get to the document upload section, it asks for "the legal document that formally changed your name." There wasn't really a legal document, she just switched it on her green card application. I tried to just not upload anything for this section, but it throws up a warning - "You should provide evidence. If you do not provide evidence, your application processing may be delayed." 

 

What should we do here? Just leave it empty anyway? I'm baffled as far as what we could upload there that would show what they're asking. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[igoyougoduke 1,676]

Did she get a court order to switch names ? There is no process to change or flip names at Green card stage. You are not allowed to change names at AOS stage 

[Bryan and An 23]

8 minutes ago, James120383 said:

Did she get a court order to switch names ? There is no process to change or flip names at Green card stage. You are not allowed to change names at AOS stage 

No, she didn't get a court order. I asked on these forums what we should do about her names getting reversed when she got here, and multiple people said the easiest thing to do would be just to wait until she applied for AOS at which time it would be possible. And it was; I just put her first name and middle names as they should have been (before they got reversed) on the application, and further down on the I-485 where it said "Provide your name exactly as it appears on your Form I-94," we of course put it in the reverse order as it appeared on that document. When the green card came, it had it exactly as she wanted it. I was told by several people that they know things get switched around on the visa sometimes depending on the country, so they will put it as you want it on the green card. 

[WandY 430]

We had the same name-order issue. She used name on GC for N-400. It doesn't matter which order you want, just use the one on the GC and that is your evidence. In the U.S. it doesn't really matter which name you use (except for some official documents). If you want to make a name permanent, you can petition the court and explain the situation. It's actually an easy thing to do, especially when you are not trying to change a SSN. Just like when women change their name to husband's name and back again after divorce - the name change is in the actual divorce dissolution filings. I've seen several name-changes (including foreigners simplifying their names) go through county court without any problems. Really, it's very simple.

[Bryan and An 23]

1 hour ago, WandY said:

We had the same name-order issue. She used name on GC for N-400. It doesn't matter which order you want, just use the one on the GC and that is your evidence. In the U.S. it doesn't really matter which name you use (except for some official documents). If you want to make a name permanent, you can petition the court and explain the situation. It's actually an easy thing to do, especially when you are not trying to change a SSN. Just like when women change their name to husband's name and back again after divorce - the name change is in the actual divorce dissolution filings. I've seen several name-changes (including foreigners simplifying their names) go through county court without any problems. Really, it's very simple.

Awesome, that's what I thought. So for the N-400 application, use the name on the GC (which is the name she wants), under "other names used" put the Middle Middle First Last (since it appears that way on some old bank statements and such that we're using as evidence, and we put it on the ROC application under other names used), then just don't upload anything else where it asks for forms related to name change (since we've already uploaded the GC)? Sound about right? Thanks!

 

ETA: Also, I see that you're also in the St. Louis area - do you know if they do naturalization interviews at that same federal building in St. Louis where they do the AOS interviews? Had a super nice guy and great experience there for the AOS interview. 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Bryan and An