Name change once in the U.S.?

[tkelt 11]

Hi everyone! not sure if this is the right forum, but you guys have been so helpful in my previous posts so I thought I would check here first!

So, my POE was August 3rd, and my fiancee and I are getting legally married on Friday at the courthouse! I intend on taking her last name, but I'm so confused about the name change process. Is it immediate? Do I need to do the name change before I get another SSN? everything has been so confusing since I got here! Do we need to tell the officiant marrying us that I would like to change my name?

We're in Wisconsin, if that matters.

Thank you!

[Dashinka 24,195]

First of all congrats on the upcoming wedding. The marriage certificate functions as a legal name change document regardless if it has a specific section stating the new name. Once you get married and have the certified marriage certificate, you can file the AOS forms with the new desired name showing your maiden name as a previous name and along with the marriage certificate, your AP/EAD and GC will show up with that desired name barring any USCIS mistakes. I recommend waiting on the new cards before going to the SSA to change the name there as they don't seem to have much of a clue regarding the K1 immigration policy.

Good Luck!