US Immigration from Canada

Hi everyone,

I m from Canada and got married in New York State. When we applied for the marriage license, I had the option to change both my surname and middle name. I chose to take my husband s last name and move my maiden name to a second middle name. So I went from Sarah Jane Doe to Sarah Jane Doe Smith.

All of our I-130 paperwork is under that name. I thought I d just update my documents once I got home while we wait on consular processing, but it turns out in my province you can only assume a new last name after marriage. To change a middle name, you need a full legal name change, which also alters your birth certificate to show the new name as if it were your birth name. That feels odd to me, since I wasn t born with my husband s last name, and I'm not sure if it would cause any problems. You do get a certificate of name change, but that would be the only record of my actual birth name.

If I don t go through with a legal name change in Canada, all my ID will stay in my maiden name (unless I assume only the last name, which still won't match our marriage certificate). My lawyer said I might be able to adjust my name at the consulate interview, but usually they only allow last name changes. Now I m not sure if I should try to change it in the US after I get my green card, just do the legal name change in Canada, or if there is any other option available. The legal name change process takes quite a while in my province, so I need to make a decision sooner rather than later.

I feel pretty overwhelmed and honestly a bit foolish. Has anyone else dealt with something like this? I d really love to go by Sarah Jane Doe Smith, but I m not sure what the smartest path forward is, or if I should just go ahead and do the legal name change.

Appreciate any advice or words of wisdom!

Since my appointment is going to be on the 29th should I study the 2025 version of the civics test or the previous version?

Hello everyone. First post so apologies if I didn t follow steps.

Sponsor, my wife is living in Canada with me (beneficiary) since late 2023. We got DQ ed in March. We submitted 2023 US tax returns for her and it was all accepted. She had made enough in the first half of the year.

Now we are prepping for the interview in Montreal in October. My wife worked in Canada only for only 3 months that year and filed her 2024 US taxes and noted the foreign earned income. However, that income is lower than the required threshold.

Our lawyer is saying she, the sponsor, can show her Canadian income from 2025 current year (she made more than enough to satisfy the threshold) by showing the paystubs, and an employment letter. But her employment will cease to exist when I, the beneficiary, gets approved. When we told this to our lawyer, the lawyer says they can use my (the beneficiary s ) income as an additional income to satisfy. The thing is, I, the beneficiary, only have a contingent offer letter from my current employer (US employer but I am contracted through a middle party Canadian company, so I don t technically work for the US employer yet until I am in US) that I will be starting with them after I am approved and get my spousal visa.

So our lawyer is basically insisting that my spouse s 2025 Canadian paystubs plus my, beneficiary s, contingent offer letter from the US employer should be able to satisfy the consulate ?

We want to be safe and A) inform the consulate that we re adding a joint sponsor and B) add documents for a joint sponsor ( my spouse s father) under the additional information section in CEAC before the interview.

Thoughts ? Are we overthinking or wouldn t having a joint sponsor documents be the safer option before the interview?

Sorry for the long post but thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! Looking for some opinions/ anyone with experience with this seemingly gray area..

I will be entering via k1 visa at the end of September. My physical last day is in a few days, but the official last day according to the schedule is actually in October. I work for a place that offers a yearly 'mental health week' where you can choose to book a whole week off and get paid; it is treated as a PTO. My job cannot be done remotely (think Restaurant), so technically when I enter the States, I will be still an employee, but I will not be performing any work (taking that mental health week). My paycheck would include days after my entry (those PTO days).

Would that be considered unauthorized work? I worry that during AOS it will look suspicious that I-94 shows September entry but last day of work is in October. Or should I treat my last day at work as my last physically-worked day?
What do you guys think? Am I overthinking or should I ask for my official last day to be before departure?

Thank you in advance!

We're almost there! This is a space for those filing the N-400 in September 2025 to feel a sense of community as we navigate the final immigration hurdle.

Married for 22 years to USC, but living in Canada.

Relocated to US in 2022-2023.

Mailed the N-400 (3-yr) on 9/8/2025

USPS confirmed it arrived on 9/12/2025

Waiting...