Hi All! I'm gearing up to embark on the immigration process and filing out the beloved I-130 by way of DCF.

Just going over the basics, the first of what I'm sure will become many questions came up. My wife and I were legally Married in early 2006 in Mexico, but because we still haven't yet done our big, ceremonial 'Church Wedding,' and for other reasons, she typically still goes by her maiden name which is what's on her Mexican passport and is what she still uses for most official documentation.

In Mexico they use both last names (making a total of 4; e.g. Jose Roberto Flores Garcia), but being all American I encourage her to just go with the three (thus dropping her maiden name out of the picture) once we're 'officially married' and she begins to apply for US documents here such as her US drivers license, SSN etc..

So my question is, on the I-130, since it is important to be consistent in everything we file and will be very important when filing for documents once shes here, should I go ahead and put her down as with MY last name? Or should we go with what she's used in the past? (in the past when I filed for her, I used her maiden name. But since the I-130 is a petiton for a relative I'm kinda confused on this one).

Sorry that it's kind of a goofball question, but it's worth the peace of mind

I think that now is the time for chose if she wants to adopt a married name. You can file the I130 as she can that her name will appear in her GC or documents in USA. Because in USA I realized that it's very common to adopt the married name automatically, but still is her choice is she wants to keep her maiden name or her married name.
Good luck

The visa must be issued to the person NAMED on the passport.
She needs to make sure she has her passport and supporting ID in her married name if they are going to use it for her Visa/Green Card. The visa must be issued to the person NAMED on the passport.

Thanks to Both you Guys!

'Dylans Wife,' yours is really sound advice... It hadn't even occurred to me, but both her Drivers License and Passport have recently expired. Actually, her Drivers Liscense has been expired for awhile, but anyway now would be a great time for her to make the name switch for when she goes to renew both of those documents.

I'm a little concerned about that though because she does have a B1 Tourist Visa in her now-expired passport and we were told that when she gets her new passport she would travel with both of them so that she has both a current passport and visa. It could get a little hairy if she has two different names on each passport / visa, however in filing the I-130 she'll probably lose the B1 anyway.

Any thoughts on that? If the process is going to draw out for many months even in filing via DCF I would most certainly want her to have the ability to travel up to the states with me while it was processing. I've heard various things about this, but my gut tells me that they don't typically let people do that. I could raise hell with senate and my congressman were that case, it has worked wonders in the past, but (not to go too far off topic) does anybody know how that would work?

Thanks

They will consider the new passport with her new name. I have 2 passports, the first one with my maiden name which is no longer valid and the new one with my married name, which is the one they will consider to issue my visa.

Good luck!