Um, blerg...change name on marriage license screw up AOS?

[twowls 217]

We're getting our marriage license Wednesday and they say you can go ahead and fill in your planned married names...should we do this to get the ball rolling, or will it make things more complicated in terms of AOS? It must, right? Should we put our old names on the license and get through AOS and stuff and THEN deal with the name change separately when we can focus on it without the added entanglements?

Seems simpler to keep the status quo for the time being, but might it conversely ease the name change process to put our new names on the license? Does the fact we're in an immigration process cancel out any potential ease-factor?

What did other people do? Thanks!

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Mary Ann Jones is marrying John Jay Smith

Somewhere on the marriage license you should be able to list the wife as

Mary Ann Smith or even Mary Jones Smith if she chooses to take her husbands name.

When Mary applies for AOS she should apply in the same name she has chosen to go by as a married woman. So if it's Mary Jones Smith, she should fill out every AOS/EAD/AP form in that name. Anywhere it says "other names used" she will put Mary Ann Smith.

AOS is like starting over. Use the name you want on your green card, employment records, bank account, new credit cards, etc. They are looking at you fresh, and don't really care a thing about your K1 file except that you got a visa. They will see your marriage certificate included in the AOS file and they'll "get it" that the Mary Smith in the passport photocopy is now Mary Jones because she got married.

Pick your name when you get the license and stick with it. Much easier. Changing a GC is expensive.

[twowls 217]

Mary Ann Jones is marrying John Jay Smith

Somewhere on the marriage license you should be able to list the wife as

Mary Ann Smith or even Mary Jones Smith if she chooses to take her husbands name.

When Mary applies for AOS she should apply in the same name she has chosen to go by as a married woman. So if it's Mary Jones Smith, she should fill out every AOS/EAD/AP form in that name. Anywhere it says "other names used" she will put Mary Ann Smith.

AOS is like starting over. Use the name you want on your green card, employment records, bank account, new credit cards, etc. They are looking at you fresh, and don't really care a thing about your K1 file except that you got a visa. They will see your marriage certificate included in the AOS file and they'll "get it" that the Mary Smith in the passport photocopy is now Mary Jones because she got married.

Pick your name when you get the license and stick with it. Much easier. Changing a GC is expensive.

I think this makes lots of sense, but Mr. Owl is perplexed. In your second paragraph, when you say, "So if it's Mary Jones Smith, she should fill out every AOS/EAD/AP form in that name. Anywhere it says "other names used" she will put Mary Ann Smith" --you've transposed the wrong one where you meant Mary Ann Jones. Yes? Otherwise I get what you're laying down.

He's still asking, and I am, when we apply for AOS, will they not say, "Here, show us your ID," and we'll show them, and it won't match and they'll hate us? We're foggy and I think a little dull.

But so far your careful play by play is helping... Hmph...

Here's us: Kathryn Stull marrying Richard Chamberlain. We want to be Kathryn Napier-Graham and Richard Napier-Graham (our middle names). We write that on the license and then when filling out paperwork for AOS (which I haven't researched sufficiently yet, sorry) we go with those presumed new names and the Man will understand and accommodate that? It works best to do that because changing GC is expensive and yucky? Thanks, really.

[engineer21 51]

When I went to get our marriage license, it says: my maiden name, my husband's name and also name I will be using after marriage.

I filed AOS using my new married name. In other names used I put down my maiden name.

When I went to my biometrics, they asked for ID, I gave them my Driver's License, which is in maiden name and showed them a certified copy of my marriage certificate. They had no problems with it

Edited June 21, 2010 by engineer21

[twowls 217]

Okay, makes sense. Thanks everyone. I guess we'll find out if there's a place for the male beneficiary's "maiden" name...since we're both changing.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Yes I did transpose the names. BUT you are going a little further with the changing of names. You aren't just changing to Mr. Owls surname. The USCIS deals with that all the time. Mr. Owl wants to change his name and I'm not sure if a marriage license/certificate accommodates that. If one was taking the other's surname, the above works. But inventing a whole new hyphenated surname might have to be done through court. You could ask at the county clerk's office at your county courthouse if a brand new surname can be created via the marriage license or ask them to advise you where you would file papers to have a court ordered name change done for Mr. Owl (is he the USC?) Anyway it will be confusing to USCIS, but can probably be explained with cover letters or information attached to the Affidavit of support explaining why the names are different on the tax forms or bank accounts being submitted as evidence. The USC doesn't actually provide any ID. It's all about the immigrant---passport, I-94, visa, etc.

[twowls 217]

Yes I did transpose the names. BUT you are going a little further with the changing of names. You aren't just changing to Mr. Owls surname. The USCIS deals with that all the time. Mr. Owl wants to change his name and I'm not sure if a marriage license/certificate accommodates that. If one was taking the other's surname, the above works. But inventing a whole new hyphenated surname might have to be done through court. You could ask at the county clerk's office at your county courthouse if a brand new surname can be created via the marriage license or ask them to advise you where you would file papers to have a court ordered name change done for Mr. Owl (is he the USC?) Anyway it will be confusing to USCIS, but can probably be explained with cover letters or information attached to the Affidavit of support explaining why the names are different on the tax forms or bank accounts being submitted as evidence. The USC doesn't actually provide any ID. It's all about the immigrant---passport, I-94, visa, etc.

Ah, yes. It is a slightly different animal, yeah. And Mr. Owl is the immigrant, so it's unusual in a lot of ways--he's not the traditional "maiden" etc. Well, we'll just see what they say at the county clerk's, what the form for the license allows us to do. Simplicity is important to us so maybe we'll end up waiting and tackling it later. We can survive without our new hippie Mr. and Mrs. Twinkleberry-Jenkins names for a while, I'm sure.

Thanks again.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Well you are creating a challenge to yourselves just to get new hippie names. You will be explaining with documentation the rest of your lives, why his birth certificate is in a different name. When he goes to get a new British passport, they might wonder what in the heck is going on. And the normal "what are trying to hide/cover up" suspician from some camps might rear its head. Surely you have a better chance of having an AOS interview where most K1s seem to get a GC straight from the CSC. But this is the "land of the free and the home of the brave" so go for it. I think if he can get the GC in the new Owlie-Wowlie name, then work his way through social security, driving license, bank accounts without starting with one name, then going to change them, it might be easier. I dunno. Certainly a challenge, but I can see you think outside the box, so good luck to ya.