Changing last name when married - confused

[devusr 41]

So I (US Citizen) is marrying my fiance (Sri Lanka citizen) in Bahamas. This process is all new to us. After we are married, she wants to have my last name. She will move her current last name to the middle name (she currently has no middle name).

 

1) After marriage (or maybe it's part of the "marriage form we have to fill"), how does she take my last name? Is this something we declare before the marriage like a form? Do we declare it in Bahamas and Sri Lanka? I'm guessing the marriage certificate will have the new name.

2) When filing the spouse visa, do I enter my last name as her last name?

3) Will moving her current last name to the middle name confuse the spousal visa process?

[Prairiegirl3 67]

I changed my name in Canada when I got married before filing. You need to go through whatever name-change procedures the Sri Lanka government has in place to have her name changed legally. Here, I put my maiden name on the marriage certificate and then needed to bring my marriage certificate to my bank to have my bank card changed to my married name. Then I could bring those two pieces of evidence to my car insurer and have my last name changed on my drivers licence. Then I could send a copy of my licence in to get my name changed on my passport.  If you are getting married with a Bahaman marriage licence, then you can probably ask what the procedure is when you pick up the marriage licence. 

 

When filing the visa, you have to use her legal last name. So if you get all her documents changed to your last name, then yes, you use the married last name. But if you haven't gotten her documents legally changed then you'd have to fill the paperwork out using her maiden name. 

 

I don't think moving her current last name to her middle name will cause any problems. 

 

Hope this helps! 

[payxibka 10,045]

11 minutes ago, Prairiegirl3 said:

I changed my name in Canada when I got married before filing. You need to go through whatever name-change procedures the Sri Lanka government has in place to have her name changed legally. Here, I put my maiden name on the marriage certificate and then needed to bring my marriage certificate to my bank to have my bank card changed to my married name. Then I could bring those two pieces of evidence to my car insurer and have my last name changed on my drivers licence. Then I could send a copy of my licence in to get my name changed on my passport.  If you are getting married with a Bahaman marriage licence, then you can probably ask what the procedure is when you pick up the marriage licence. 

 

When filing the visa, you have to use her legal last name. So if you get all her documents changed to your last name, then yes, you use the married last name. But if you haven't gotten her documents legally changed then you'd have to fill the paperwork out using her maiden name. 

 

I don't think moving her current last name to her middle name will cause any problems. 

 

Hope this helps! 

Not Sri Lanka but the locale where the marriage took place.  In this situation it is Bahamas. 

 

If Bahamas allows a middle name change or adoption then it won't be a problem.  If they don't,  then it will be a problem 

Edited March 18, 2021 by payxibka

[devusr 41]

On 3/18/2021 at 7:34 PM, Prairiegirl3 said:

I changed my name in Canada when I got married before filing. You need to go through whatever name-change procedures the Sri Lanka government has in place to have her name changed legally. Here, I put my maiden name on the marriage certificate and then needed to bring my marriage certificate to my bank to have my bank card changed to my married name. Then I could bring those two pieces of evidence to my car insurer and have my last name changed on my drivers licence. Then I could send a copy of my licence in to get my name changed on my passport.  If you are getting married with a Bahaman marriage licence, then you can probably ask what the procedure is when you pick up the marriage licence. 

 

When filing the visa, you have to use her legal last name. So if you get all her documents changed to your last name, then yes, you use the married last name. But if you haven't gotten her documents legally changed then you'd have to fill the paperwork out using her maiden name. 

 

I don't think moving her current last name to her middle name will cause any problems. 

 

Hope this helps! 

 

Thanks for the reply. Question, did you meant to say "I put my married name on the marriage certificate" and not maiden name? Because if you put your maiden name (birth name), how did the bank change the name to the married name without "proof/certificate"?

[devusr 41]

I think we will keep her legal name even after we're married. Getting her legal name changed in Sri Lanka requires a lot of work and time.

[JKLSemicolon 413]

I'm not sure if your long-term plans are to live in the US (that is usually the purpose of the CR-1/IR-1), but another option is to have your wife wait to start using your last name until she is in the US. At that point the marriage certificate can serve as the proof of legal name change for most everything.

 

There are two caveats: first, the Permanent Resident Card (which is issued based on the name on the passport) costs $540 to change for this type of reason using Form I-90. And second, the idea you mentioned about moving your wife's maiden name to her middle name would involve additional steps beyond just presenting the marriage certificate. You would likely need to check with the local County Clerk's office wherever you end up living as far as how to do that.

 

This is not the ideal way of doing things because of the cost and additional work involved, but sometimes it's necessary. For example, in our case my wife will be using my last name in the US but we weren't able to change her passport (in Ecuador there is no practice of changing last names due to marriage), so we will need to file Form I-90 later on.

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by JKLSemicolon

[Prairiegirl3 67]

1 hour ago, devusr said:

 

Thanks for the reply. Question, did you meant to say "I put my married name on the marriage certificate" and not maiden name? Because if you put your maiden name (birth name), how did the bank change the name to the married name without "proof/certificate"?

I had the same confusion when I signed my certificate actually, but yes, I had to have my maiden name on the marriage certificate. Then the bank could see that I was indeed married to my husband and that gave them legal standing to change my last name to his in their system. 

 

1 hour ago, devusr said:

I think we will keep her legal name even after we're married. Getting her legal name changed in Sri Lanka requires a lot of work and time.

I'm confused. So are you no longer planning to have her change her name? Because I don't think you can have one legal name in one country and a different name in another country. 

[JKLSemicolon 413]

28 minutes ago, Prairiegirl3 said:

I'm confused. So are you no longer planning to have her change her name? Because I don't think you can have one legal name in one country and a different name in another country. 

 

You definitely can, it just can present complications when traveling. For example, in our case that I described, if in the future my wife has a Permanent Resident Card in her married name and passport in her maiden name, she would also need to carry a copy of the marriage certificate when traveling from Ecuador to the US.

 

Also, just following up on something I wrote earlier:

 

1 hour ago, JKLSemicolon said:

And second, the idea you mentioned about moving your wife's maiden name to her middle name would involve additional steps beyond just presenting the marriage certificate. You would likely need to check with the local County Clerk's office wherever you end up living as far as how to do that.

 

Looking into this more it seems that many states do allow moving the maiden name to the middle name through the marriage certificate only. You'd have to look up how that works for the specific place you'd be living, though.

Edited March 24, 2021 by JKLSemicolon

[Lemonslice 4,841]

2 hours ago, devusr said:

I think we will keep her legal name even after we're married. Getting her legal name changed in Sri Lanka requires a lot of work and time.

We both kept our names and it was the easiest thing ever (nothing to do, no confusion).  Best of luck.