ID's establishing identity of non US citizen with married name when all previous papers are in maiden name

[DAAG 1]

we finally got through all the trials and tribulations of getting my filipina fiancee to the USA, and getting married, against insurmountable odds, but now when victory seems ours, just as we begin the long process of adjusting status, we are running into blank walls in attempting to establish Janes new identity, by means of getting ID cards in her new last name. After an unexpected long struggle delaying with almost immobilizing homesickness, and getting married, we had only 1 month left of Janes 90 days. on her I-94. we believed the best thing we could do is get married as soon as possible and start adjustment of status. But, here is where our new problems began. at the local Social Security office we were told Jane could have easily gotten a social security number/card prior to our marriage, but now could not get one until she has new authorization to work, simply because we got married. Jane doesn't drive yet so we went to D M V to get a State ID, and were told we need an official letter to Jane at our address, and that the best way to do this is to submit a change of address at the Post Office, but Jane pointed out that USCIS would track any change of address and require her to submit a change of address to them also, and explain why she was changing from some other place in USA when she was to come directly here in the first place, and the Post Office refused to take a change of address from her Philippine address to her current address. I added Jane's name to my city utility bill, but was told the new bill showing her name wont be printed to August, and Jane's I-94 expires 29 July.

The end result of all this is all of Jane's current ID's are from the Philippines in her Maiden Name, and we seem unable to establish her new name on any sort of ID card, in any reasonable amount of time, and the end date of her I-94 continues to march ever closer, now being down to only 19 days. She would like to go to work to help with expenses and to help her mother at home, but now has no work authorization. we were never told she had work authorization on arrival, but the local social security office said she did, according to some computer record of her file they had, that they would not tell us the source of. according to that office,getting married ended a work authorization we never knew existed, and thus Jane's ability to get a social security number. When the lady there also told us she believed Jane would revert from K-1 to K-3 at marriage, and that her I-94 would be canceled at marriage, we decided listening to her would be a mistake. Her family suggested Jane keep her Maiden name to avoid all these hassles, but to me that seems a bit extreme, to be forced by official red tape to not give Jane My last name. Does anyone have knowledge of how we can get ID's in Jane's new married name, in spite of all the resistance to us doing so, and if doing so will cause us any headaches in the future, considering all her papers to date have been in her maiden name? -Daag

[Scott and Mhay 57]

Get married and then the marriage certificate will be proof of name change.

From what I see, you are already married right? She is here in the US now correct? The expiration of her I-94 means nothing right now..she will just go out of status and you dont necessarily have to have the adjustment of status filed before the I-94 expires. You could wait until the day it expires to marry (although I wouldnt do that).

The lady at the social security office is mistaken. Your wife can still get a social security number in her married name and work if you had enough time...right now it is too short...(I forget the magic number of days left before the expiration of the I-94 and still be able to get a SSN) She could technically work until her I-94 expires, but without a SSN, it wouldnt be legal.

Why do you need IDs for the AOS? You will just have to wait for the work authorization or greecard to arrive before you can get a SSN...

Edited July 10, 2011 by Scott and Mhay

[Messybrownhair 251]

You got a loopy ssa employee. Technically you should still be able to get a ss number if you have 14 days left. Or just file for Aos asap and with the ead or GC you should be able to get ids.

You got a loopy ssa employee. Technically you should still be able to get a ss number if you have 14 days left. Or just file for Aos asap and with the ead or GC you should be able to get ids. remember that a k1 does not have work authorization. You need to apply for an ead and i485 to work..

[milimelo 4,196]

She is not authorized to work until she has EAD card in her hands - requires filing for AOS as it would be waste of money to file for EAD only as it expires when her I-94 expires.

Have someone send her regular letter to your address using her new married name, what seems to be the big deal here? Letter takes 2 days to arrive.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Nothing better than a greencard or a new EAD card in her married name. Just fill out the AOS paperwork in her new married name... voila!

She was never authorized to work. A SSN does not give work authorization by itself, so don't worry about that "lost opportunity" because it was never there. The SS Office employee you talked to was extremely misinformed, which is typical unfortunately.

You are still eligible for a SSN (but you'd have to get it right away - need 14 days left on the I-94). If you don't get it now - no matter, you don't need a SSN to file for AOS. Check out he travel and work during immigration forum and posts by member "IQuit" for evidence of their own policies to bring when you request the SSN. Make sure to talk to a supervisor and be prepared to educate them with your evidence.

You don't need to send any evidence of your marriage with your AOS packet - just the marriage certificate. You already showed them evidence of your relationship at the K-1 interview.

So all is not lost - in fact, everything is fine. Just fill out her AOS paperwork and send it off!

Edited July 10, 2011 by Harpa Timsah

[Anh map 2,098]

You are adding lots of needless drama to your circumstances. It's time to educate yourselves about your lives. The Guides and forums here on VJ are great tools.

The work authorization will happen when she receives the EAD and/or green card. Sooner you get that process started, the sooner it will happen. It's going to be a few months.

As far as the name, she can call herself by her married name. You've got a certified copy of your marriage certificate to show the name change. As far as state ID, SSN, you will need to wait until she has the proper documentation. If you book travel. etc. use the maiden name.

[happyblessedme 12]

we finally got through all the trials and tribulations of getting my filipina fiancee to the USA, and getting married, against insurmountable odds, but now when victory seems ours, just as we begin the long process of adjusting status, we are running into blank walls in attempting to establish Janes new identity, by means of getting ID cards in her new last name. After an unexpected long struggle delaying with almost immobilizing homesickness, and getting married, we had only 1 month left of Janes 90 days. on her I-94. we believed the best thing we could do is get married as soon as possible and start adjustment of status. But, here is where our new problems began. at the local Social Security office we were told Jane could have easily gotten a social security number/card prior to our marriage, but now could not get one until she has new authorization to work, simply because we got married. Jane doesn't drive yet so we went to D M V to get a State ID, and were told we need an official letter to Jane at our address, and that the best way to do this is to submit a change of address at the Post Office, but Jane pointed out that USCIS would track any change of address and require her to submit a change of address to them also, and explain why she was changing from some other place in USA when she was to come directly here in the first place, and the Post Office refused to take a change of address from her Philippine address to her current address. I added Jane's name to my city utility bill, but was told the new bill showing her name wont be printed to August, and Jane's I-94 expires 29 July.

The end result of all this is all of Jane's current ID's are from the Philippines in her Maiden Name, and we seem unable to establish her new name on any sort of ID card, in any reasonable amount of time, and the end date of her I-94 continues to march ever closer, now being down to only 19 days. She would like to go to work to help with expenses and to help her mother at home, but now has no work authorization. we were never told she had work authorization on arrival, but the local social security office said she did, according to some computer record of her file they had, that they would not tell us the source of. according to that office,getting married ended a work authorization we never knew existed, and thus Jane's ability to get a social security number. When the lady there also told us she believed Jane would revert from K-1 to K-3 at marriage, and that her I-94 would be canceled at marriage, we decided listening to her would be a mistake. Her family suggested Jane keep her Maiden name to avoid all these hassles, but to me that seems a bit extreme, to be forced by official red tape to not give Jane My last name. Does anyone have knowledge of how we can get ID's in Jane's new married name, in spite of all the resistance to us doing so, and if doing so will cause us any headaches in the future, considering all her papers to date have been in her maiden name? -Daag

As soon as u have the marriage certificate u can start using the married name in all legal documents. That's what i did and sometimes the employees don't know what they are talking about. It happened to me and i had to argue with the employee and yes i was right.

It is better for u to get her state ID before her I-94 expires. I used my married name in all my paper as soon as i got my marriage certificate and had no problem.

[JoyDee 21]

go back and talk to a supervisor at social security. my hubs i94 was stamped authorized to work and they do see the poe info when they pull up your A# at Social security. in any case, try again. sounds fishy.

or you can just adjust status without a SSN

[VanessaTony 3,567]

go back and talk to a supervisor at social security. my hubs i94 was stamped authorized to work and they do see the poe info when they pull up your A# at Social security. in any case, try again. sounds fishy.

or you can just adjust status without a SSN

I hope you're aware that the stamp your husband had on his I-94 did NOT give him permission to work. It isn't valid for employment so working without an actual EAD card or GC means he was working illegally.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Everyone else has outlined it but basically:

- There is no deadline for AOS so don't worry about that

- Her name is easily changed to yours simply by writing her new last name on the AOS documents, her EAD and GC and all that will arrive in her married name.

- Once she gets her EAD/GC she can get a SSN, and therefore state ID

- She'll get an NOA1 when she does her AOS, keep the envelope from that so that when she gets her EAD about 60 days later she can get her DL with the EAD and the NOA1 one letter (proving the 30 days address thing).

There's an AOS thread in my signature with the required doc list.

[DAAG 1]

thanks everyone for your help and support. yes the lady was loopy, and We were having a terrible day where it was 110 degrees the car A/C quit and everything we did turned to caca. got my wife a mil dependent ID a few days later, and was told by the Sgt doing the ID my wife needed a social security number to be able to use the medical benefits she was entitled to. looked that up on army website, and found on social security website a rule detailing just those exact circumstances, and saying you can get ssn under those circumstances, printed both, took that and the ID with NO for medical authorization to ss office, only to be confronted by a second lady who refused to give one based on those circumstances clearly allowed by the rule I copied off the Social security website. This lady said that DEERS, the large database, solely for keeping track of military dependents eligibility for Tricare, that I've been using for 45 years or what ever part of 45 years its existed, had nothing to do with military medical care insurance, and that my ID, referred to by the medical profession as my tricare card, and my wife's military dependent ID, often called her DEERS card or tricare card, had nothing to do with either DEERS or Tricare. but while she was lounging in lala land, she decided in her infinite wisdom there was no reason not to give my wife the ss number anyway, if the time wasn't too short. she decided out of nowhere 10 days was the cut off, so seeing we had about 16 days left i agreed, and she ran everything through and said we'd have the card in 2 weeks. So she wouldn't do it for the correct valid reason that it was needed for my wife to get military medical insurance, which shes entitled to as my wife, but wouldn't be allowed to use without a social security card due to a statement in the law on dependent ID's that ssn must be disclosed to get medical care. but she found her own reason to do the right thing anyway. the lady in DMV is still stonewalling us, but we have will now have two official government ID's in the correct name, as well as 4 in her maiden name, so I'd say were in good shape now. Maybe its all those years in the military, and all those times hearing you need two forms of picture ID, and Jane's desire to use my last name and her new one, seeming to make us closer, in spite of her homesickness, that drove me to keep a full court press on,till she had 2 forms of pix ID in her actual new name. Jane was the daughter of a family in government work in her home country and always had 3 or 4 good valid forms of ID,that many people there never in their lives have, and felt lost when on our wedding day all her ID's passport and everything were now no longer in her name, and after spending most of my adult life as a military man active and retired, watching countless people as she no doubt did trying to cash checks with no acceptable forms of ID, i understand that. we could both invision some point in the process where she'd be asked to prove her identity, and for the first time in her life, have no way to really do so. and having those uncooperative ladies in SS and DMV look down their noses at us and skeptically peruse her papers, and tell us she couldn't have any ID because she'd be leaving the US in just a few days, when we'd just told them what was really happening, was humiliating and infuriating, not to mention scary and gave us a view into the future with no one believing her when she'd try to show her ID, where she was always trusted by everyone before she came to my country. I don't want her to feel it's hostile to her. It may be true that she wouldn't need ID's for a while but her mother is in bad health in her home country, and traveling there may well be in her near future, and her own health would suffer with no access to medical care to which she is entitled. If we can get a handle on some of these very normal things, that uninformed thoughtless employees in a system that's supposed to help people, wanted to deny us, for no valid reason, our lives can begin to return to normal. We've both had large life changing stress causing events in our lives recently, me losing my job her losing her whole way of life, and we both feel a need for the world to make a little better sense. she feels so out of place and disconnected here, gaining back her identity, will help, and I love her so much i want to make everything right for her again. I want to grab the globe and rotate it back around to where she feels normal and happy, at home again, in our home, like we both felt in hers, not like an alien on a foreign planet, where even her identity is always in question.

Edited July 16, 2011 by DAAG