My wife and I filed her paperwork using her Maiden name up to this point (I-130), and the next document we send in will be the IV Fee Bill and the DS-230 Part 1.
I did a search on VJ to see how to handle the dilemma of Maiden Name vs. Married Name, mainly because she must submit a copy of her passort with the DS-230. So that raised the question which name should she get her passport in?
As a result of the search, I read over many of the previous posts/responses to this dilemma (including my own post I had asked previously).
Most of us are not as sharp at this process like aussiewench and simple_male to have had the confidence and foresight to use the wife's married name in all documents in the first place.
This is the way we have decided to approach this at this point:
1. My wife will get her passport in her New Married name (she will need to take her marriage documents).
2. I will fill out the DS-230 with her New Married name.
NOTE: Initially, I was going to use her Old Maiden name for the DS-230. I was afraid that the NVC might get confused and, God forbid, delay the process further.
But then I noticed that the DS-230 SPECIFICALLY takes the name change into account.
Line #1 asks for the "Family Name" (i.e. we'll put the NEW Married name here).
Line # 2 states "If married woman, give maiden name", so we can put the Old Maiden name here which eliminates any confusion.
The answer was right there all along, but I (and apparently many others) overlooked it.
This question gets asked repeatedly, so I hope this clears up confusion for others!
Additional search phrases to make VJ post search easier: Name Change, Change Name, which name for passport, which name for ds-230
