Name Change at Naturalization Headache

[Jay1122 2]

Hey All,

 

My wife was naturalized back in October of 2024, at the time they agent asked my wife if she wanted to change her name and she said yes. Just for background, my wife never changed her name when we got married and since then she wanted to so she took this opportunity. The whole day was exciting, but now we are dealing with this name change issue and getting a driver's license.

 

What happened was that my wife's driver's license expired on October 1st, and because she didn't have her appointment until the week after, we had to let it expire. Fast-forward and we've been trying for a month to log on to her SSA account with no luck. It wants her to validate her identity with ID.Me, but every time we go through the process, it just says we cannot validate your ID but never gives you another option.

 

A friend of ours who was naturalized about two months before my wife, told us that she changed her name too and she just walked into the local SSA office without an appointment and got what she needed to get done. Since the online method wasn't working, we decided to try this that week, well not to my surprise we got there, there was a room full of people waiting and they had giant signs that said you cannot see someone if you don't schedule an appointment you cannot see someone. The security guard was kind enough to tell us that we had to go online to www.ssa.gov/ssn-app and fill out the application. Well the issue is that they asked in the application what documentation do you have proving your name change. They list : 1. Court Order 2. Amended Birth Cert 3. Marriage Cert

and there is no other option or option to select a naturalization certificate which is what she has.

 

Has anyone had this issue and if they did what did you do? The issue is we have to get the SSA updated card before we can get the DL renewed.

[Lil bear 4,293]

30 minutes ago, Jay1122 said:

Hey All,

 

My wife was naturalized back in October of 2024, at the time they agent asked my wife if she wanted to change her name and she said yes. Just for background, my wife never changed her name when we got married and since then she wanted to so she took this opportunity. The whole day was exciting, but now we are dealing with this name change issue and getting a driver's license.

 

What happened was that my wife's driver's license expired on October 1st, and because she didn't have her appointment until the week after, we had to let it expire. Fast-forward and we've been trying for a month to log on to her SSA account with no luck. It wants her to validate her identity with ID.Me, but every time we go through the process, it just says we cannot validate your ID but never gives you another option.

 

A friend of ours who was naturalized about two months before my wife, told us that she changed her name too and she just walked into the local SSA office without an appointment and got what she needed to get done. Since the online method wasn't working, we decided to try this that week, well not to my surprise we got there, there was a room full of people waiting and they had giant signs that said you cannot see someone if you don't schedule an appointment you cannot see someone. The security guard was kind enough to tell us that we had to go online to www.ssa.gov/ssn-app and fill out the application. Well the issue is that they asked in the application what documentation do you have proving your name change. They list : 1. Court Order 2. Amended Birth Cert 3. Marriage Cert

and there is no other option or option to select a naturalization certificate which is what she has.

 

Has anyone had this issue and if they did what did you do? The issue is we have to get the SSA updated card before we can get the DL renewed.

Marriage certificate. It will give the link between maiden name and spouses last name. It could always be used to change the name on her SS card. Take the naturalization certificate as it is evidence of citizenship and legal use of the now last name   Then go to renew the drivers licence with all the documentation 

[Jay1122 2]

14 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Marriage certificate. It will give the link between maiden name and spouses last name. It could always be used to change the name on her SS card. Take the naturalization certificate as it is evidence of citizenship and legal use of the now last name   Then go to renew the drivers licence with all the documentation 

 

Thanks, @Lil bear so you you are saying we can select marriage certificate on the SSA application even though on our marriage certificate it only shows her maiden name? Let me also say that the last name she choose is not the same last name as I have exactly. Its our two last names together, this is what we've named our children as well.

 

The DMV told us we had to get eveything updated with the SSA including a new card before we could renew her DL.

Edited 16 hours ago by Jay1122
additions

[Lil bear 4,293]

18 minutes ago, Jay1122 said:

 

Thanks, @Lil bear so you you are saying we can select marriage certificate on the SSA application even though on our marriage certificate it only shows her maiden name? Let me also say that the last name she choose is not the same last name as I have exactly. Its our two last names together, this is what we've named our children as well.

 

The DMV told us we had to get eveything updated with the SSA including a new card before we could renew her DL.

At the citizenship ceremony….  Were you also given a one page court document verifying name changed ? 

Edited 16 hours ago by Lil bear

[Jay1122 2]

10 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

At the citizenship ceremony….  Were you also given a one page court document verifying name changed ? 

@Lil bearnope, just the naturalization cert

[OldUser 7,272]

1 minute ago, Jay1122 said:

@Lil bearnope, just the naturalization cert

But it shows your new name?

[Jay1122 2]

3 minutes ago, OldUser said:

But it shows your new name?

@OldUsercorrect

[Lil bear 4,293]

6 minutes ago, Jay1122 said:

@Lil bearnope, just the naturalization cert

Mmm. My understanding is that there should have been a seperate paper that was signed by the judge and is the official court document. Where did she take her oath? Reach out to the clerk of that court and explain briefly her name change/oath ceremony and date etc and ask how to get a certified copy of the court issued name change document. 
You could also try the SSA with the marriage certificate and citizenship certificate … nothing lost if they push back. Checking the marriage certificate box will at least get you an interview and face to face. 

[Jay1122 2]

8 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Mmm. My understanding is that there should have been a seperate paper that was signed by the judge and is the official court document. Where did she take her oath? Reach out to the clerk of that court and explain briefly her name change/oath ceremony and date etc and ask how to get a certified copy of the court issued name change document. 
You could also try the SSA with the marriage certificate and citizenship certificate … nothing lost if they push back. Checking the marriage certificate box will at least get you an interview and face to face. 

Ok thanks, @Lil bearya this is the oddest thing. Our friend who I mentioned in my post changed her name too and she just did it with SSA and didn't have a court order from what I know.

[Jay1122 2]

Thanks all!

[Ontarkie 14,394]

1 hour ago, Lil bear said:

Mmm. My understanding is that there should have been a seperate paper that was signed by the judge and is the official court document. Where did she take her oath? Reach out to the clerk of that court and explain briefly her name change/oath ceremony and date etc and ask how to get a certified copy of the court issued name change document. 
You could also try the SSA with the marriage certificate and citizenship certificate … nothing lost if they push back. Checking the marriage certificate box will at least get you an interview and face to face. 

It's because she assumed her married name. It is not an official name change that needs a judge to sign off on.  That is why she just has the certificate in the married name. Even if it is a combo of the two names.

[Ontarkie 14,394]

Use the marriage certificate as the proof needed to make the update for SSN. It does not matter that the name on it is her maiden name or that she is using a combo of names. 

[top_secret 2,482]

Social Security will want to see the Naturalization Certificate.  That is pretty much the final word with them.  If the naturalization certificate came AFTER the marriage certificate then they are no longer interested in the marriage certificate.  There is no online option.  Either you checked the box on the N-400 to have USCIS handle it (and it worked?) or else you must go in person.  Depending on the office you may or may not need an appointment.  We recently dealt with this exact topic with Social Security and at least our local office was as bad as any indiferent, almost hostile, government office I have dealt with in years.  They make USCIS look like saints.

[Scandi 4,178]

The marriage certificate is all she needs to update her name with SSA, she could've done that years ago, or 6 months ago, or whenever she wanted to after your wedding.

The name change document that she got when she naturalized (form N-662) is signed by a federal judge, you can cross "court order" in the application. USCIS cannot change someone's name, it has to go through court, hence it's a court order. Form N-662 is the the name change document.