No surname on passport: IR-1

[jagsfl 14]

Hey VJ!

 

My wife just had her interview today. YAY. Almost finished. She'll have an IR-1 visa soon.

 

However, since her name on her passport and her birth certificate do not match, she was told that she has to switch one of them to match the other. Her passport has her full name, and Birth certificate only has her first name.

She does not want to switch the name on birth certificate to be full name because it's a major pain, she has to go through many hoops to get that finished. So we're thinking about switching her passport name to just have her first name. We've done some research and have seen that there will be no issue with her entering the U.S. with just first name on passport, but when it comes to her getting a drivers license, social security number, etc, there will be problems. So what we're looking to do is switch her passport name here in Indonesia, and when she enters the U.S. change it again.

 

I've also seen that when she enters the U.S. with IR-1 visa, that she is considered a permanent resident right away. I've read that if you're a permanent resident, that you can go to the county clerk office and change the passport name.

 

Ok so my questions are: 

- Will she be able to change the passport name "Right Away" without having official green card yet...but only having her I-551 stamp for Legal Permanent Resident? 

- Will there be any complications later on with her B.C. and Passport having two different names?

 

Basically, we're wanting to please the folks at the consultant so she can get her visa, but also don't want to have a problem later down the road. The reason why we won't just change the birth certificate is because she would have to change all her other documentation in Indonesia, go to courthouse and get B.C. name change approved and other things - it'll just be a pain/drawn out process.

 

Thank you

Edited January 29, 2021 by jagsfl

[pushbrk 12,881]

Her passport is issued and controlled by Indonesia, so NO, she cannot change her passport name with a County Clerk in the USA.  If she changes her passport name, that will be the name on the visa, passport, and green card.  She can "legally"  change her name through the applicable local process or change it legally and free when she naturalizes anytime after three years as a permanent resident still married to you.  If not still married to you, she can change after 5 years of residency.

Another solution would be to change her passport name to a married name.

 

Note that these are issues that could have been identified and dealt with months ago.

Edited January 29, 2021 by pushbrk

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

13 minutes ago, jagsfl said:

I've read that if you're a permanent resident, that you can go to the county clerk office and change the passport name.

Where did you read this?  It is Absolutely false.  Only her country can change or issue passports.

[aratamorne 164]

Is the passport issued in your wife's married name?  Would it not be easier to have the passport issued in her married name so it matches the marriage certificate rather than her birth certificate?  Then you would not have to change anything at a later date, since it would all match her married name already.

 

 

[pushbrk 12,881]

7 hours ago, aratamorne said:

Is the passport issued in your wife's married name?  Would it not be easier to have the passport issued in her married name so it matches the marriage certificate rather than her birth certificate?  Then you would not have to change anything at a later date, since it would all match her married name already.

 

 

If she intends to use a "married name", I agree this would be the most efficient thing to do, PROVIDED her name on the marriage certificate matches the name on the birth certificate.  My best guess is it doesn't.

[JKLSemicolon 413]

I agree with what pushbrk and aratamorne said about using the marriage certificate as the basis for a name change if possible.

 

You say that changing the birth certificate would be complicated, but I'm not sure if what you proposed is any easier.

 

Changing the name on her Indonesian passport once in the U.S. would probably be done at one of these consulates (but you'd have to contact them to verify that):

 

https://www.embassyofindonesia.org/index.php/2016/01/24/list-of-consulates-general-of-the-republic-of-indonesia-in-the-united-states-of-america/

 

Maybe you were thinking about doing a legal name change at the County Clerk's office and then using that as a basis for making the name changes elsewhere? I'm not sure what the requirements would be in your local jurisdiction but note that in that case you would have many moving pieces to deal with:

1. Changing the name with the County Clerk (or whatever local authority handles this)
2. Changing the name on the passport (and there could be additional requirements for that, not sure)
3. Changing the name on the Permanent Resident Card (see below)
4. Changing the name on the SS card, etc.

Plus, keep in mind that the birth certificate still wouldn't match after all that.

 

This is what the instructions for Form I-90 say about documentation for name changes:

 

Quote

Item Number 4. Has your name legally changed since the issuance of your Permanent Resident Card? Select the appropriate box.If your name has changed since the issuance of your Permanent Resident Card, select “Yes” and proceed to Item Numbers 5.a. - 5.c. If your name was legally changed to another name, you must submit appropriate legal documents that reflect the name change (for example a registered copy of your marriage certificate, divorce decree, adoption decree, or other court- issued document showing your name was legally changed). Legal name change documents submitted as evidence of a name change must have been registered with the proper civil authority.

and

 

Quote

Item Number 2.e. My name or other biographic information has been legally changed since issuance of my existing card. Select this reason if your biographical information has changed since the issuance of your card. You may also select this reason if your card has incorrect data and the error was not caused by DHS. If your name has been legally changed to another name, you must submit appropriate legal documents that reflect the name change (for example, a registered copy of your marriage certificate, divorce decree, adoption decree, or other court-issued document showing your name was legally changed). A marriage certificate or court documents submitted as evidence of name change must have been registered with the proper civil authority. You must include the filing fee and biometric services fee with your application if filing using reason “2.e.”

 

The last sentence is bolded by me. Note that the fee would be $540 in this case.

 

As I learned after posting my own thread, we will likely have to pay and change my wife's name on the green card/SS card after she arrives to the U.S., but that's because her country does not change names on passports due to marriage. If there was a way to take care of the name issue before coming to the U.S., I certainly would.

 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by JKLSemicolon

[jagsfl 14]

@pushbrk @aratamorne @JKLSemicolon, Thank you all for your quick responses! I was completely misinformed so this all makes sense now.

 

- Her marriage certificate also only has her first name, so yes it does match her birth certificate name. However, as I mentioned earlier, we don't want to change the passport name to match the marriage certificate / birth certificate name, because she will run into issues with getting Drivers License, Social Security Card, etc. The U.S. wants more than just 1 name on those. That is unless, what I read online is completely wrong, and people have absolutely no problem with getting drivers license, S.S. card, etc with just first name. (I've read quite a bit of misinformation out there before on the interweb).

 

From the way it is looking, if only one name on passport does cause problems, we are just going to have to go through the process of name change here in Indonesia: change name on her birth certificate.  It's a long drawn out process, but we'll just have to run this final lap and get it done..

 

21 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Note that these are issues that could have been identified and dealt with months ago.

 

Yeah, they certainly could have been - I just didn't know 😕, obviously didn't prepare myself enough unfortunately. 

 

Since we're on that note... I have a couple questions for clarity for what's next.

I understand that it is best to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee after she is approved, and before we go to the U.S. In order to pay for it, I need the A Number and DOS.  Also, I've read that the social security card and green card will arrive a few weeks after she arrives to the states.

Questions:

 

- Is the A-Number and DOS mailed to her home with her passport at the same time? 

 

- I was told to go to go to https://my.uscis.gov/uscis-immigrant-fee once I receive the A-Number and DOS to pay for green card. Is this the same as filing Form I-485 / Application to Register or Adjust Status?  So after I go to that site and I pay for the green card, I won't have to fill out Form I-485?

 

- We don't plan to go to the U.S. for a few months.... does the Social Security Administration and Homeland Security know she has arrived in the U.S. as soon as she clears customs? Then we can just expect to wait for a few weeks and we'll receive mail from them two with the cards?

 

- Is there anything else that I need to do at this time? From what I'm aware of, once I take care of the above I am good to go!

 

I know this is a handful, so I Really appreciate your guys time in helping me.

Edited January 30, 2021 by jagsfl

[pushbrk 12,881]

Once she has the visa, you'll have everything you need to pay the new immigrant fee including instructions for doing so.

 

No, it's has nothing to do with adjusting status.  She'll never do that. Read the first sentence above carefully again.

 

Her passport name does not need to match her birth certificate if she's taking a married name.  If her birth certificate and marriage certificate only say "Mary" and based on marriage, she takes the name Mary Smith, then Mary Smith on the passport is no problem.  People using married names on passports never have birth names and current names that match.  Seriously, think about it a little.

 

Changing to Mary Smith will solve the Consulate's issue AND any other issue you are worried about.

[jagsfl 14]

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

Once she has the visa, you'll have everything you need to pay the new immigrant fee including instructions for doing so.

 

No, it's has nothing to do with adjusting status.  She'll never do that. Read the first sentence above carefully again.

 

Her passport name does not need to match her birth certificate if she's taking a married name.  If her birth certificate and marriage certificate only say "Mary" and based on marriage, she takes the name Mary Smith, then Mary Smith on the passport is no problem.  People using married names on passports never have birth names and current names that match.  Seriously, think about it a little.

 

Changing to Mary Smith will solve the Consulate's issue AND any other issue you are worried about.

Thanks!

Ok so if I'm understanding this correctly, the couple reps at the consulate is completely wrong? They told her specifically that her passport name needs to 100% match her birth certificate name.  I do completely agree with you, that there are tons of people who don't have matching passport/BC names.  It's either these two consulate employees are completely uninformed, or in Indonesia this is just how it has to be done. I'm going to do a little more digging to see if this is some weird Indonesia thing, and also on Monday AM we're going to call the consulate and ask into this further...

[pushbrk 12,881]

6 hours ago, jagsfl said:

Thanks!

Ok so if I'm understanding this correctly, the couple reps at the consulate is completely wrong? They told her specifically that her passport name needs to 100% match her birth certificate name.  I do completely agree with you, that there are tons of people who don't have matching passport/BC names.  It's either these two consulate employees are completely uninformed, or in Indonesia this is just how it has to be done. I'm going to do a little more digging to see if this is some weird Indonesia thing, and also on Monday AM we're going to call the consulate and ask into this further...

Check in the applicable regional forum here on VJ for the experiences of others from Indonesia.

[jagsfl 14]

19 hours ago, pushbrk said:

Check in the applicable regional forum here on VJ for the experiences of others from Indonesia.

Thank you for awareness, I went and asked within the regional forum. I did not know that was on here.

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

***Thread moved to the Asia: South regional discussion area.  Please do not start duplicate threads.  Thanks***

[jagsfl 14]

1 hour ago, Lucky Cat said:

***Thread moved to the Asia: South regional discussion area.  Please do not start duplicate threads.  Thanks***

Lucky Cat, could you please move it to the correct Asia section?  You added it to Asia: South, and it needs to be Asia: East and Pacific. And by the way, I made the new thread in Asia East and Pacific because it was much better explained in the new thread with what I needed to know.  Now people need to go through a lot of mumbo-jumbo within this one... but oh well. thanks

Edited January 31, 2021 by jagsfl

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

17 minutes ago, jagsfl said:

Lucky Cat, could you please move it to the correct Asia section?  You added it to Asia: South, and it needs to be Asia: East and Pacific. And by the way, I made the new thread in Asia East and Pacific because it was much better explained in the new thread with what I needed to know.  Now people need to go through a lot of mumbo-jumbo within this one... but oh well. thanks

I moved it to Asia: East and Pacific.  You can add to this thread here......posting multiple threads for the same subject makes it difficult to keep the answers together.  There is no mumbo-jumbo now that there is only ONE thread....

[jagsfl 14]

Does anybody have any more info on how we can go about fixing this issue?

 

Why is the consulate saying my wife's passport and birth certificate has to be a 100% match in her name, when I've seen plenty of others on here be fine without the names being a 100% match?