should she change her name on marriage certificate

[EricStephan 0]

Hi folks,

My Fiancee and I are going to get our Marriage License today. We live in California. In California one has the option to change their name to that of their spouse at that time. Does anyone know if this is true for immigrants? Does changing the name make things more complicated at all further down the road during AOS. It seems like if she changes her name now then her passport won't match her social security card, driver's license, green card, etc.? Should we just go ahead and change her name today? We are thinking about using both names with a hyphen

Thanks,

Eric

[Inky 1,111]

Then you just bring your marriage certificate when you travel because your name doesn't match the passport. Simple.

If she intends on using her married name then she should use it. Being an immigrant makes no difference with "name change rules" As soon as you are married you may take your husbands last name and apply for your documents with the married last name using the marriage certificate.

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Yes, it holds true for immigrants.

Yes, her passport won't match other documents. It wasn't a hassle for me to change my passport, however. But I do not know how it would be to change a Thailand passport.

It's cheapest and easiest to change your name upon marriage. If changing it later, there are often fees to be paid.

[EricStephan 0]

Thanks, you guys are awesome!

[joonphon 7]

If she wants to wait, she can change her name when she applies for US citizenship. No big deal.

[ThaiStyleUSA 1]

Changing her name is not a problem. I think it makes a lot easier when you have to do paper work in the process. My wife still has her Thai passport in her maiden name. When we go to Thailand, she just bring her Green Card, that way we don't have to bring our marriage certificate everywhere we go.

[missicy 87]

It seems like if she changes her name now then her passport won't match her social security card, driver's license, green card, etc.? Should we just go ahead and change her name today? We are thinking about using both names with a hyphen

She can use her married name when she applies for AOS and her Green Card will be in her married name. Then she can easily change her name on SSN (or apply for one if she doesn't have it yet) and apply for driver's license and everything else in married name.