When can i change my name with the Social Security Adrimistration?

[Marion Defoyer 13]

Hi,

 

I currently have my AOS pending, we just got the i-797 notice of action saying that both of our i-130 and i-130a were received. I wondered, can i use these documents to update my number with the Social Security Administration?

[arken 4,197]

9 minutes ago, Marion Defoyer said:

Hi,

 

I currently have my AOS pending, we just got the i-797 notice of action saying that both of our i-130 and i-130a were received. I wondered, can i use these documents to update my number with the Social Security Administration?

You need EAD or GC showing your new name to be able to update on SS card.

Edited June 9, 2021 by arken

[AJ2019 58]

disregard, answered above.

Edited June 9, 2021 by AJ2019

[Crazy Cat 41,884]

45 minutes ago, Marion Defoyer said:

Hi,

 

I currently have my AOS pending, we just got the i-797 notice of action saying that both of our i-130 and i-130a were received. I wondered, can i use these documents to update my number with the Social Security Administration?

No.  You are not authorized to work with your SSN until you receive either a Green Card or an EAD.  

[Ayrton 965]

1 hour ago, arken said:

You need EAD or GC showing your new name to be able to update on SS card.

That's actually not true. If the marriage certificate was issued after whatever visa/immigration document they had was issued, the marriage certificate is enough. I changed my name with just the court order even though the name on my EAD was still the old one (i changed my name after my EAD was issued and before GC was approved).

 

"The only time you may process an SSN application in a name that does not agree with the name shown on the immigration document is if the person legally changed his or her name after the immigration document is issued. In these situations, the legal name is the name shown on the evidence of the name change. For information on evidence of a name change, see RM 10212.010."

 

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.NSF/lnx/0110212001

 

A lot of offices will say the opposite, I was only able to get it changed after I sent a copy of the instructions to them.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Ayrton

[arken 4,197]

41 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

That's actually not true. If the marriage certificate was issued after whatever visa/immigration document they had was issued, the marriage certificate is enough. I changed my name with just the court order even though the name on my EAD was still the old one (i changed my name after my EAD was issued and before GC was approved).

 

"The only time you may process an SSN application in a name that does not agree with the name shown on the immigration document is if the person legally changed his or her name after the immigration document is issued. In these situations, the legal name is the name shown on the evidence of the name change. For information on evidence of a name change, see RM 10212.010."

 

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.NSF/lnx/0110212001

 

A lot of offices will say the opposite, I was only able to get it changed after I sent a copy of the instructions to them.

What's not true? My suggestion is applicable to OP. What are you suggesting OP to do then?

[Ayrton 965]

10 hours ago, arken said:

What's not true? My suggestion is applicable to OP. What are you suggesting OP to do then?

It's not true that you need to have EAD or GC with the new name to change the name on the green card. Marriage certificate is enough.

[arken 4,197]

2 hours ago, Ayrton said:

It's not true that you need to have EAD or GC with the new name to change the name on the green card. Marriage certificate is enough.

Good luck with that for people living with pending AOS/EAD/AP. Marriage certificate would have been issued before the EAD or GC in this case so by your own logic, EAD or GC needs to have the new name. Your case is irrelevant to OP, you changed your name thru court order (not related to last name change thru marriage) after EAD was issued which is not the case with the OP.

[Ayrton 965]

3 hours ago, arken said:

Good luck with that for people living with pending AOS/EAD/AP. Marriage certificate would have been issued before the EAD or GC in this case so by your own logic, EAD or GC needs to have the new name. Your case is irrelevant to OP, you changed your name thru court order (not related to last name change thru marriage) after EAD was issued which is not the case with the OP.

For this purpose, they are same, court order or marriage certificate. They are both official name change documents and can be used to update the name on the SSC.

 

For example, if a K1 gets their SSC with maiden name within their valid I-94, gets married, they can go back the next day to change the name on the card with just the marriage certificate. An officer might say they need to have at least an EAD or GC with the new name, but like I said, that's not true.

 

For having a SSC issued, you must prove 2 main points: name and status. You might think that they are always the same, since your proof of status might also prove your name, but that's not always the case. You can have a proof of status with a different name, as long as your name change document was issued after this proof of status.

 

In my case, my proof of status was my EAD with the old name. And my proof of name was my name change order.

 

In OPs case, their proof of status is whatever visa they were holding that allowed them to obtain a SSN (student/work, etc). And proof of name will be the marriage certificate, since it was most likely issued afterwards.

 

The only thing that would prevent them to obtain a new SSC is that if they are now out of status. So they can't prove status to the SSA. But for the name part, marriage certificate is enough.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Ayrton

[Crazy Cat 41,884]

I misread the question.  I thought the update was to remove the limitation for work.....my mistake...

[Demise 1,287]

19 hours ago, arken said:

You need EAD or GC showing your new name to be able to update on SS card.

I mean you can use a marriage certificate or court order to do a name change with SSA, but you still need a valid proof of employment authorization (EAD, GC, or some kind of work authorized visa with a valid I-94) so they'll print you the card. The proof can be under old name.

 

That being said, at this point with the office closures still going on despite other parts of the government claiming "The pandemic is over guys, get the hell back to work" the easiest way to get an updated card these days would be to request a new card via I-765 if you're in US and doing AOS or via the DS-260 application if you're doing consular processing.

 

Otherwise you can submit SS-5 and originals of documents by mail and they are supposed to return them to you but do you really trust the post office to not misplace something really important?

Edited June 10, 2021 by Demise

[arken 4,197]

1 hour ago, Ayrton said:

For this purpose, they are same, court order or marriage certificate. They are both official name change documents and can be used to update the name on the SSC.

 

For example, if a K1 gets their SSC with maiden name within their valid I-94, gets married, they can go back the next day to change the name on the card with just the marriage certificate. An officer might say they need to have at least an EAD or GC with the new name, but like I said, that's not true.

 

For having a SSC issued, you must prove 2 main points: name and status. You might think that they are always the same, since your proof of status might also prove your name, but that's not always the case. You can have a proof of status with a different name, as long as your name change document was issued after this proof of status.

 

In my case, my proof of status was my EAD with the old name. And my proof of name was my name change order.

 

In OPs case, their proof of status is whatever visa they were holding that allowed them to obtain a SSN (student/work, etc). And proof of name will be the marriage certificate, since it was most likely issued afterwards.

 

The only thing that would prevent them to obtain a new SSC is that if they are now out of status. So they can't prove status to the SSA. But for the name part, marriage certificate is enough.

 

 

Lots of if's and assumptions here. I'll stop here not to overcrowd the post for general discussion. My response is applicable to OP's questions. No comment on responses based on assumptions about OP's immigration history.

[Sarge2155 4,587]

My wife K-1, got her SSN using her I-94 and other required documents (all in her maiden name mind you) after we married we went back with the marriage certificate and they told us no dice we had to have the EAD or GC. I think it depends on the office and then the employee inside that office! Whether or not it's true or authorized it depends on the office and employee!

Once we got the GC it was cool no hassles!

[JeanneAdil 6,510]

1 hour ago, Sarge2155 said:

My wife K-1, got her SSN using her I-94 and other required documents (all in her maiden name mind you) after we married we went back with the marriage certificate and they told us no dice we had to have the EAD or GC. I think it depends on the office and then the employee inside that office! Whether or not it's true or authorized it depends on the office and employee!

Once we got the GC it was cool no hassles!

yeah,  when a USC marries another USC we change our last name

the EAD is for work not name change 

So,  is this for real?

or wrong SS worker / one tried to tell me i couldn't get a SS # for my IR1 spouse we went to check on the status (1 week after he arrived / it came 2 weeks after POE

[Ayrton 965]

2 hours ago, Sarge2155 said:

My wife K-1, got her SSN using her I-94 and other required documents (all in her maiden name mind you) after we married we went back with the marriage certificate and they told us no dice we had to have the EAD or GC. I think it depends on the office and then the employee inside that office! Whether or not it's true or authorized it depends on the office and employee!

Once we got the GC it was cool no hassles!

Like I said, the officers don't know their own rules. They denied me the first time, and the second time I sent a copy of the policy and I received the card within 2 weeks.