I'm an F1 student and I plan to move to a J1 at the end of the year. My visa has expired but I maintain my status since I am registered full time student.
I changed my name from "Firstname middlename lastname" to "firstname middlename". This change is not a consequence of marriage, I just didn't like my old last name and I don't publish with it. I went through the process for my home country and got a new passport. When I tried to change it as SSN, they said I first have to notify USCIS. I made an appointment with the Sacramento office and the officer did not know what to do. He suggested I go to San Francisco since they would have a better idea. I can't imagine the process is any different from a pre-green card woman changing her name as a consequence of marriage. Could anyone tell me how to do this? Information on how much this would cost is also appreciated.
I plan to go to the SF office when I get a chance but for the time being, I would like to get a better idea of what this entails.
On one forum, someone noted that he just had a border control agent at an airport fix this. There were no other details.
Once I get it changed on the I-94, I can change it at SSN and then everywhere else. many thanks!