Changing name due to marriage in NJ after green card issued

[Orangesapples 1,954]

1 hour ago, LanF said:

I received my GC after K1 process but didn’t change my name at the time. I didn’t know what I was doing.

You don't have to change your name. I didn't and I'm happy with that. Maybe your husband could change his

Edited January 5, 2021 by Orangesapples

[Mollie09 1,543]

12 minutes ago, LanF said:

Which state did you file for your name change?

 

My marriage certificate was issued before my green card issued date. Is this time frame order an important consideration to DMV?

 

I went to local social security office before DMV and had no problem changing my last name. However, when I showed this lady at DMV my green card, marriage certificate and driver license, she said I had to change my name on green card first. I don’t feel I should trust her for this important matter of my life!

This was in MA.

From the NJ MVC it sounds like you just need a name change document, so I would try again (https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/drivertopics/namechange.htm)

 

[Crazy Cat 42,209]

1 minute ago, Orangesapples said:

You don't have to change your name. I didn't and I'm happy with that. Maybe your husband could change his

My wife didn't change her name...saved a lot of time and effort...it has caused zero issues.  We are perfectly happy about it, too.

[Mollie09 1,543]

1 minute ago, Orangesapples said:

You don't have to change your name. I didn't and I'm happy with that. Maybe your husband could change his

We both changed ours and honestly I love it!

[LanF 4]

51 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

What is your local office relative to an N400 application?

As I resides in NJ, I think this will be the one, if I file for N400. I hope i don’t have to go this road. 🤞🏻

 

USCIS Newark Field Office

970 Broad St #2506, Newark, NJ 07102

 

[LanF 4]

7 minutes ago, Mollie09 said:

This was in MA.

From the NJ MVC it sounds like you just need a name change document, so I would try again (https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/drivertopics/namechange.htm)

 

Thank you for the wonderful information! You give me hope! I definitely will try again!

[LanF 4]

16 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

You don't have to change your name. I didn't and I'm happy with that. Maybe your husband could change his

My husband is fine which either last name I have. However,  I have to change it for my career purposes as no one knows how to say my name. People keep asking me how I pronounce my name. After so many efforts, they are still not confident saying it. So I can imagine if some clients would like to refer me to others, they will have a hard time and I just don’t want that to happen.

Edited January 5, 2021 by LanF

[Orangesapples 1,954]

7 minutes ago, LanF said:

My husband is fine which whatever name I have. I have to change it for my career purposes. No one knows how to say my last name!

 Same with mine, both first and last, but I just give people a nickname I use anyway and it's fine. People can learn how to pronounce a name, I never thought of changing my identity in order to please others. I often encounter names at work I don't know how to pronounce as well and I eventually learn. 

 

Also, you could go by a name professionally that's not your legal name

Edited January 5, 2021 by Orangesapples

[LanF 4]

22 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

My wife didn't change her name...saved a lot of time and effort...it has caused zero issues.  We are perfectly happy about it, too.

I understand. If it wasn’t for my career purposes, I probably wouldn’t try so hard to do it either. Marriage is not about the name and my husband and I both fully understand it and respect each other’s decision.

[LanF 4]

10 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

 Also, you could go by a name professionally that's not your legal name

Regarding real estate law, unfortunately I have to practice with my legal name.

[ineedadisplayname 503]

3 hours ago, LanF said:

I got married through K1 process. After I got married, I didn’t change my name when I applied for green card. I obviously didn’t know what i was doing at the time! :((( 

I assume it is too late now, but why it is so important to change your last name? Sorry to ask it but was curios. Especially combined with all this immigration bureaucracy and it is hardly a proof of anything regarding immigration and bona fide marriage.

The only real case I could imagine that you might pass the first filter when somebody looks at your resume when applying for a job, but unless you don't have an accent it won't help too much if they don't want to hire native speakers.

 

As per DMV it depends a lot on your state. I was not able to do anything at the DMV without an EAD or GC so I assume if it doesn't have your new name on the GC they won't change it. As a funny story on the Missouri website it says that you can apply for a drivers license with the NOA1 of I-485 but that is not true anymore and they just don't update it on their website. So DMV is always a mess.  Also saw some ppl getting DLs valid until their GC, but in MO they issue it for 6 years with a GC, so at least I don't need to worry when my GC expires and need to do ROC

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by ineedadisplayname

[Ayrton 965]

12 hours ago, LanF said:

Which state did you file for your name change?

 

My marriage certificate was issued before my green card issued date. Is this time frame order an important consideration to DMV?

 

I went to local social security office before DMV and had no problem changing my last name. However, when I showed this lady at DMV my green card, marriage certificate and driver license, she said I had to change my name on green card first. I don’t feel I should trust her for this important matter of my life!

The issue is most likely the dates.

 

Since the green card was issued after the marriage certificate, they use the green card as proof of legal name.

 

I'm going through something similar. I changed my name during the AOS process in the court. Even though I notified USCIS and told the officer at the interview I changed my name, they still issued the GC with the old name. So I filed a I-90 after receiving the card. 

 

I'm going to the DMV in NYC in a couple weeks to try to exchange my out of state driver's license, which has the old name. So to avoid issues I got a stamp in my passport that prove status. So since my Court Order will have a later date than the passport, I believe they will accept everything.

 

So I would say try to get a stamp in your passport, and use that as proof of status.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Ayrton

[LanF 4]

UPDATE!!! GREAT NEWS!!!

I went back to DMV in Freehold, NJ again today (01/06/2021) and finally got my last name changed.

I found a legitimate document from the state website that helped support my case. (see the link below)

https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/pdf/license/ident_ver_posterpint.pdf

 

Based on the document, I only needed to provide my marriage certificate plus 6-point documents (driver license-4 points, SSC-1 point and bank statement-1point), which I had.

I went there at 6am and had everything done at 8:30am.

 

Note:

They did ask me for my green card and birth certificate, but this time I told them I didn't bring those with me and that I already had 6-point documents so they just let me go.

 

 

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!!!🤗

[LanF 4]

11 hours ago, Ayrton said:

The issue is most likely the dates.

 

Since the green card was issued after the marriage certificate, they use the green card as proof of legal name.

 

I'm going through something similar. I changed my name during the AOS process in the court. Even though I notified USCIS and told the officer at the interview I changed my name, they still issued the GC with the old name. So I filed a I-90 after receiving the card. 

 

I'm going to the DMV in NYC in a couple weeks to try to exchange my out of state driver's license, which has the old name. So to avoid issues I got a stamp in my passport that prove status. So since my Court Order will have a later date than the passport, I believe they will accept everything.

 

So I would say try to get a stamp in your passport, and use that as proof of status.

GOOD LUCK!!! KEEP US POSTED!!!🤗