SSN married name change request denied

[mitch612 5]

Hi Everybody,

My wife came to the US on a k1 visa, i94 valid until November 13th.

We applied for SSN pretty quickly and received the card under her maiden name. We were married on September 24th and received certified marriage certificate that includes her new married name.

Today she went in to the social security office to request name change. She brought i94, passport w/ k1 visa, social security card (maiden name), and the certified marriage certificate (original).

After waiting in line for a few hours, the employee denied her the name change, stating that she needs to wait for the green card. I was not there (she went with a family member).

Is this true? Or was this employee misinformed?

Related, should I return to try again with her? Is it worth trying again? I'd love to get her a state ID, open a bank account for her, let her start studying for the drivers exam. But I don't know how that all works if the card is under her maiden name.

I appreciate your advice..

Edited October 21, 2016 by mitch612

[p-ana 933]

Hi Everybody,

My wife came to the US on a k1 visa, i94 valid until November 13th.

We applied for SSN pretty quickly and received the card under her maiden name. We were married on September 24th and received certified marriage certificate that includes her new married name.

Today she went in to the social security office to request name change. She brought i94, passport w/ k1 visa, social security card (maiden name), and the certified marriage certificate (original).

After waiting in line for a few hours, the employee denied her the name change, stating that she needs to wait for the green card. I was not there (she went with a family member).

Is this true? Or was this employee misinformed?

Related, should I return to try again with her? Is it worth trying again? I'd love to get her a state ID, open a bank account for her, let her start studying for the drivers exam. But I don't know how that all works if the card is under her maiden name.

I appreciate your advice..

This is talked about all the time around here. Many of The social security administration offices ask for a government issued form of identification with the new married name in order to make the name change in the card. Your wife will need to wait for her EAD or green card in her married name to go back the the ss office and have her card changed

Edit: many places will take the marriage certificate as proof of name change, so you can try your luck and go to the bank. Call first and see what each place tells you

Edited October 21, 2016 by p-ana

[Lemonslice 4,544]

Related, should I return to try again with her? Is it worth trying again? I'd love to get her a state ID, open a bank account for her, let her start studying for the drivers exam. But I don't know how that all works if the card is under her maiden name.

I appreciate your advice..

Your wife can do those things in her maiden name if they don't want to put her married name with your marriage certificate. It is still better to get started than to delay... it will help her get her new life started. You can always have the name changed later.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Lemonslice

[mitch612 5]

Thank you both. I think I'll see if we can do state ID and bank with what we have. If that's fine for now, then there's no urgency to the ssn update and we'll just do that when the ead arrives/gc arrive.

[Stevephoto 224]

This happened to us too. The name hadn't changed in "the system" or some such nonsense. We went back a day or two later, spoke to a supervisor (I think--it was over three years ago) and somehow the proper name appeared and we got Joan's new card before her EAD. (Now, DMV was a different story!) FWIW The second day we went we got to SSA at 8:00 in the morning and had only a short wait.

[mitch612 5]

This happened to us too. The name hadn't changed in "the system" or some such nonsense. We went back a day or two later, spoke to a supervisor (I think--it was over three years ago) and somehow the proper name appeared and we got Joan's new card before her EAD. (Now, DMV was a different story!) FWIW The second day we went we got to SSA at 8:00 in the morning and had only a short wait.

What happened at the DMV? Shouldn't it be easier with passport/i94 for primary, social security card for secondary, NOA2 for immigration proof, and marriage certificate for name change?

[p-ana 933]

The DMV is the worst. Even my us citizen husband had problems with them. They want your Ssn card to have the same exact name as your other documents you're presenting or else they won't do anything. My husband Ssn had his middle initial and not the whole name there and he had to go and change in order to the DMV accept it

[Stevephoto 224]

What happened at the DMV? Shouldn't it be easier with passport/i94 for primary, social security card for secondary, NOA2 for immigration proof, and marriage certificate for name change?

The DMV is the worst. Even my us citizen husband had problems with them. They want your Ssn card to have the same exact name as your other documents you're presenting or else they won't do anything. My husband Ssn had his middle initial and not the whole name there and he had to go and change in order to the DMV accept it

What p-ana said! I cannot answer your question. What you said is logical. Keep going back until they get it right.