Court ordered name change BEFORE or AFTER submitting I-485? (merged)

[Villanelle 4,122]

14 hours ago, Hassan Raza said:

My wife (who came on a fiance visa, married within 90 days), and I want to apply for AOS. But we want to change her middle name, which requires a court order to do so. This process requires proof of residency as part of the documents, that she lives with me in my home in NY.

 

The problem is that she's still here on a fiance visa and although she lives with my at my home in NY, we have no utility bills or anything to show that she lives here. She doesn't have a driver's license either because we wanted to change her name first and THEN apply for everything (AOS, driver's license, EAD, SSN) so that her name can be correct on all the documents just once. Nothing is on her name and I can't even open a bank account because they require a driver's license as well.

 

The only thing I can think of is ordering something from Amazon on her name, or sending a mail to our own home with her name on it. But I doubt these will be considered seriously.

 

Any ideas on what I can do? Thanks!

You are making lots of headaches by trying to do it this way.... 

 

I did go back and read your other thread on this (the mods may want to merge them) and it seems like she has about 1 month left of her K right? If so at this point she is most likely NOT going to be able to get a SSN until she gets her EAD. This is because first SSA requires you have at least 2 weeks left on your K to process your SSN application, and second, SSA is having a variety of issues right now verifying people with DHS. I dont know if you researched SSNs but the cliff notes version is SSA will only give you a SS card with the name you have on file with immigration. This is usually an issue for women who come on the K and marry and want to change their last name to their husbands. So for immigration her name is the name on her visa/passport/i94/etc. It will be shown as such until its changed. When does it change? Well if you send the AOS package and fill it out using the new married last name and file for the EAD 765 in your package- when they process the EAD it will update her name in their system accordingly.  Its important to do things in the proper order.

 

So for example. Mary Anne Smith. Her K visa was issued as Mary Anne Smith. She married John Jones and wants to use his last name. That is a name change allowed to occur because of the marriage. (as you know there are limits to what you can change based on marriage depending where you live). However SSA will only issue her a card in the name Mary Anne Smith because that is the name on file for her with immigration and they can only do so in the 90 days her visa is valid. As posted they require a min of 2 weeks left on her K. If there is not enough time left or her verification does not come back in time they will not issue her a SSN. There is a limited window to get a SSN as a K and it seems unlikely you are going to be able to get the SSN right now... So she fills out her AOS package using the name Mary Anne Jones. Once the EAD is issued as Mary Anne Jones she can get a SSN as Mary Anne Jones and subsequently a DL with the same name. Again this is state dependent but most states require you to have a SSN to get a DL and they will only issue the DL in the name that is on the SS card. (If you had gotten the SS card prior some DMVs will require you to update SSA first). Once she has an EAD and SSN (both showing her as Mary Anne Jones) she can go to the local court and apply for a name change to Mary John Jones. She will have proof of address at that time (mail from USCIS or SSA). She will then mail (using a tracking number) a certified court copy of the name change to the service center she mailed her AOS package to. Ideally they get it and issue the GC in the proper name and when they do she can update her SS card. IF they fail to update her name and issue the GC in the old name you will have to file the i90 to get a card with the correct name on it. Depending on the specifics of the failure (if a failure occurs) you may be able to claim it was their error and get the fee for the i90 refunded or not have to pay when submitting it initially. Thats a problem for the future which may never come to fruition.  Now if by some miracle her AOS process moves quickly she may be approved and issued a GC before you do the local name change or before you are able to send it to them. In that case you will have to pay for the i90. 

 

It is generally OK to have mismatching documents. I know it can make people uneasy but its very common for people to have mismatching documents for a variety of reasons. As long as you have a paper trail of how all the mismatched stuff matches up you will be fine. For travel you simply bring your marriage certificate or name change order with your passport if the passport still shows the old name. It can take a while to update everything when you change your name and as I said it all has to be done in the proper order as some agencies require you to show you updated other agencies first. The general order of this is 1-immigration, 2 SSA, 3 DMVs, employers, banks, etc. 

 

 

[Hassan Raza 3]

13 hours ago, Villanelle said:

You are making lots of headaches by trying to do it this way.... 

 

I did go back and read your other thread on this (the mods may want to merge them) and it seems like she has about 1 month left of her K right? If so at this point she is most likely NOT going to be able to get a SSN until she gets her EAD. This is because first SSA requires you have at least 2 weeks left on your K to process your SSN application, and second, SSA is having a variety of issues right now verifying people with DHS. I dont know if you researched SSNs but the cliff notes version is SSA will only give you a SS card with the name you have on file with immigration. This is usually an issue for women who come on the K and marry and want to change their last name to their husbands. So for immigration her name is the name on her visa/passport/i94/etc. It will be shown as such until its changed. When does it change? Well if you send the AOS package and fill it out using the new married last name and file for the EAD 765 in your package- when they process the EAD it will update her name in their system accordingly.  Its important to do things in the proper order.

 

So for example. Mary Anne Smith. Her K visa was issued as Mary Anne Smith. She married John Jones and wants to use his last name. That is a name change allowed to occur because of the marriage. (as you know there are limits to what you can change based on marriage depending where you live). However SSA will only issue her a card in the name Mary Anne Smith because that is the name on file for her with immigration and they can only do so in the 90 days her visa is valid. As posted they require a min of 2 weeks left on her K. If there is not enough time left or her verification does not come back in time they will not issue her a SSN. There is a limited window to get a SSN as a K and it seems unlikely you are going to be able to get the SSN right now... So she fills out her AOS package using the name Mary Anne Jones. Once the EAD is issued as Mary Anne Jones she can get a SSN as Mary Anne Jones and subsequently a DL with the same name. Again this is state dependent but most states require you to have a SSN to get a DL and they will only issue the DL in the name that is on the SS card. (If you had gotten the SS card prior some DMVs will require you to update SSA first). Once she has an EAD and SSN (both showing her as Mary Anne Jones) she can go to the local court and apply for a name change to Mary John Jones. She will have proof of address at that time (mail from USCIS or SSA). She will then mail (using a tracking number) a certified court copy of the name change to the service center she mailed her AOS package to. Ideally they get it and issue the GC in the proper name and when they do she can update her SS card. IF they fail to update her name and issue the GC in the old name you will have to file the i90 to get a card with the correct name on it. Depending on the specifics of the failure (if a failure occurs) you may be able to claim it was their error and get the fee for the i90 refunded or not have to pay when submitting it initially. Thats a problem for the future which may never come to fruition.  Now if by some miracle her AOS process moves quickly she may be approved and issued a GC before you do the local name change or before you are able to send it to them. In that case you will have to pay for the i90. 

 

It is generally OK to have mismatching documents. I know it can make people uneasy but its very common for people to have mismatching documents for a variety of reasons. As long as you have a paper trail of how all the mismatched stuff matches up you will be fine. For travel you simply bring your marriage certificate or name change order with your passport if the passport still shows the old name. It can take a while to update everything when you change your name and as I said it all has to be done in the proper order as some agencies require you to show you updated other agencies first. The general order of this is 1-immigration, 2 SSA, 3 DMVs, employers, banks, etc. 

 

 

Hey, thanks for the detailed response! I have been losing my mind trying to figure this out and only delaying the AOS process because of this.

 

It's unfortunate I can't get her SSN now. There's about 3.5 weeks until the fiance visa expires. I thought she can only get the SSN after applying for the EAD with the I-485. I didn't know I can get it for her earlier. I was planning to submit the I-485, EAD form, and advanced parole all at once. 

 

This is slightly unrelated, but do I need to submit proof of bona fide relationship with my AOS? Or can I just bring that with me to the green card interview?

[Hassan Raza 3]

So permission was granted to have my wife change her middle name legally. But the entire process to do so until we get the official court order will not be completed until at least 3-4 weeks from now.

 

Is it ok for us to use her new name (the one we asked the court to change our name to) on her I-485 application? I can write in the comments section that the court order for the new name is pending, and I can send a copy of the final court order to the lockbox whenever it is ready. Is that allowed?

 

Thanks!

[Hassan Raza 3]

So our request to have her name changed was granted. However, the process takes time. I will receive an unofficial court order in the mail within a week. Then I contact the publication company to have it published. I don't know how long that will take (they didn't answer the phone when I called to ask). Then I receive an affidavit of publication. Then I send that affidavit of publication to the county clerk. Then the county clerk will send me the certified official court order in the mail which is used to offically/legally use her name.

 

The AOS I-485 form states in Part 1 to write "Your current legal name". I'm a bit afraid to use her new name here without the certified official court order.

 

What do you guys think?

[Hassan Raza 3]

If I delay sending my AOS application past the 90 day mark after she entered the country, perhaps 1-2 weeks after the 3 month mark, is it a big deal? She will be staying "unlawfully", but what are the consequences of delaying by 1-2 weeks after that? If it's not a big deal, I can wait till everything's done with the name and then submit AOS.

[Ayrton 965]

6 hours ago, Hassan Raza said:

So our request to have her name changed was granted. However, the process takes time. I will receive an unofficial court order in the mail within a week. Then I contact the publication company to have it published. I don't know how long that will take (they didn't answer the phone when I called to ask). Then I receive an affidavit of publication. Then I send that affidavit of publication to the county clerk. Then the county clerk will send me the certified official court order in the mail which is used to offically/legally use her name.

 

The AOS I-485 form states in Part 1 to write "Your current legal name". I'm a bit afraid to use her new name here without the certified official court order.

 

What do you guys think?

You have to send a photocopy of the official court order. It's only official when it's published. The last page of my court order was a copy of the newspaper publication.

 

You can start filling out the stuff with the new name and add the old name as other names used. When you get the official one, you photocopy it and add it to the file and send it.

 

Technically after 90 days she's out of status. Waiting 2 weeks might not be a big deal as long as she doesn't do anything wrong to get deportable or pass by a checkpoint.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Im going to link your other thread here and ask if the mods want to merge them since you are posting the same comments in both. Its just to keep the forums clean from duplicate content and it makes it easier for people to follow what is going on. 

 

You have a few choices on what to do right now. 1. You can wait for the official name change decree and send it with the AOS package. This does mean waiting to mail the package. As others have said waiting is not that big of a deal. You will be getting in line later (so longer wait time) but once in line your papers will be complete so the process should move forward with no issue. 2. You can send the AOS now w/o the official decree but need to be careful on how you fill it out so that is it not rejected as 'they dont know who you are' vs 'we know who you are and are RFEing for a name change because you did not include such' which can cause a delay in the process. An RFE being generated can take a while and you get 87 days to respond. Once you do respond they allow 30-90 days (usually 60) for them to get your response and process it. So I dont know. Seems like it would be less of a delay to wait and send it completed then to send it now for a place in line and be slowed down later for the RFE process. If you are going to send it incomplete I would suggest you fill it out with the name she is going to be using (the one you asked for in the court) and make sure you include listing all her other names used in the appropriate fields. You can then send copies of the papers you filed with the court and the publication affidavit as your 'proof of name change' even though we all know its not going to be good enough- and then let them RFE you and tell you that its not. 

 

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As for your other question- she can not get the SSN until the EAD is actually issued. For SSA you need to have a valid reason/status to get a SSN, they dont just issue SSNs to anyone who wants one. You need to show you are eligible to work, if you need a number for tax purposes (not employment purposes) you can get an ITIN to file. You can find information on that topic in the tax subforum. Most people are unaware but the K visa does allow you to get an EAD- hence why SSA can issue SSNs to K holders. However in reality a K holder will never get an EAD based on the K because the K is only valid for 90 days and it takes longer the 90 days to get the EAD issued. Does that make sense? So SSA looks at their list and says a valid K can get work authorization (for those 90 days) so we can give them a SSN. It doesnt matter if they have the EAD based on the K or not because they wont.  Again as I said before SSA also requires you to have a min of 2 weeks left on your K to process your application for a number and currently there are issues with DHS verification and many many people are 'timing out'- they did apply for the SSN as a K in a timely fashion however the delay has now caused them to time out- they dont have enough time for the processing needed still or the K is no longer valid. Once the K is no longer valid (after 90 days) you no longer have a status that allows them to give you a SSN. When you file the AOS package you are not given any status. You are placed in what is called a period of authorized stay. That means in simple terms they know who you are, they know you are here, they know you are waiting for your petition to be processed. You have no legal status but you are allowed to be here. So after the 90 days you have no status. Once you file the AOS and get a NOA issued you are in a period of authorized stay. If there is any time between the 90 days expiring and the AOS being filed as explained in the other thread you are not going to be 'in trouble', no one is going to come looking for you. But if you do encounter ICE (at a checkpoint- usually near borders) and they discover you have no status and are not in a period of auth stay they can detain you until you show proof of filing/being in auth stay. Honestly ICE has bigger fish to fry and are not very concerned about a spouse of a USC who hasnt filed their AOS package yet but yes, there is a small chance you can be the 'unlucky' one who is detained. Never say never but at the same time you shouldnt let irrational fears of things that have a very low likely hood of occurring rule your life. Going back to SSA- once the K expires you are not able to get a SSN issued UNTIL you have the EAD in hand. The EAD does not give you any 'legal status of residency' (you are still consider by immigration as one in a period of auth stay) but it does give you status as an EAD holder which is recognized by SSA as being one who can get a SSN and by DMVs as one who is able to obtain a DL. The NOA for the EAD is meaningless, you will need the actual EAD card so whatever is printed on the EAD card is the name SSA will issue your SSN in.  

[Ontarkie 14,221]

~~Duplicate threads merged. Please do not start more than one thread for the same or related question~~

[JonSeattle 202]

I would wait a week and take a look at the unofficial decree. If it looks passable, I would send in the AOS with that. You never know what other issue might come up where you could find out about it sooner by sending the AOS, and you can send in the official document if they ask for it.