name change for my fiance

[workaholic 0]

Hello All,

Need your advice.. my fiance will be coming here.. and we are planning to get married within weeks of her arrival.

Few questions.. does she need to get a new passport with her new family name.. or can she use the same passport with her maiden name , with K1 visa stamped... i'm not sure what needs to be done its confusing... as I fear that the embassy here, may take away her old passport (with K1 visa) and issue a new one.. pls help

[Inky 1,111]

You can use passport with maiden name if you want to. You just have to bring your marriage certificate with you everywhere you travel internationally to match the married name on your green card or other IDs.

You would apply for a new passport with the correct name if you want to have married name in the passport. Most countrys allow you to get the previous canceled passport back that still contains the visa in it.

[Dave&Roza 748]

Do not worry about having the K-1 Visa as it is no longer valid once your fiancee enters the USA. It is a ONE ENTRY visa only. Once used it is not valid. The I-94 is what most immigration people look at once in the USA for lawfuly entry. As a K-1 visa holder you have until the I-94 expires to get married. Once married you no longer have to worry about the I-94 expiring (other than that is what most immigration people use and it can cause you problems if you have not filed for AOS).

As stated about, you will use the maiden name for international travel as the government issued ID must match the name on the ticket--i.e. fiancee's passport. The GC is used to gain re-entry to the USA. Having a marriage certificate is the easiest way to prove the name change between the passport and GC or your fiancee could keep her maiden name to naturalization so the names on the documents match,

Good luck,

Dave