Hi,

I recently got my K1 visa approved. I will be travelling to US to marry my fiance in a month. I would like to change my last name since its a bit long as well as its my dad's 1st name, (In our tradition we have our father's first name as our last name). So is there any way of doing this during the marriage as well as not affect the paper work for AOS.

If this is not possible, is it mandatory that my fiancee need to change her last name to my last name? can we wait until AOS process is done?
or
can my fiance change her last name to my first name?

Thanks

You may wish to have your fiancee check out the rules changing someone's name in her State.

No, there is no requirement for her to change her last name to yours if she chooses not to. Many woman chose to keep their maiden names and it is easier all around on paperwork . She is only allowed to take your last name through marriage, though - no other name. Those are her only options - to keep her own name or to take your name - or to do a hyphenated combination of the two names. If she wishes to take a different legal name she must go through a legal name change process.

If you wish to change your name, it also isn't something you can do through marriage - although she may wish to check with her State to see if it is allowed if you wanted to take her last name upon marriage. It probably isn't. If you wish to have a totally different last name, you will almost definitely need to go through a legal process to change your name as well.

You may wish to do this before the AOS and then you can include the court documents as part of the application. Your permanent residency is issued in your legal name only.

California just had a court case where a guy wanted to change his name to his wife's last name, so it's legal there now.

Similar laws are already in effect in six other states: Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota.

http://wcco.com/watercooler/Husband.Wife.Legal.2.717009.html