Form I-130 inquiry (maiden name or surname of husband)

[JoanB 0]

My husband is about to fill out the Form I-130 to petition me, do I need to change my maiden name in my passport first before my husband can start filing the Form I-130? I have a passport right now but it has my maiden name and it's valid until 2019.

[SabRob 154]

2 minutes ago, JoanB said:

My husband is about to fill out the Form I-130 to petition me, do I need to change my maiden name in my passport first before my husband can start filing the Form I-130? I have a passport right now but it has my maiden name and it's valid until 2019.

No, your husband can fill in the I-130 using your married name. Your marriage certificate serves as a legal name change document. This will also be the name on your Green Card.

 

When you get to the NVC phase you will need to fill out a form called DS-260. The name on this form needs to match your passport exactly, so use your maiden name when doing that. 

 

Good luck!

[JoanB 0]

7 minutes ago, SabRob said:

No, your husband can fill in the I-130 using your married name. Your marriage certificate serves as a legal name change document. This will also be the name on your Green Card.

 

When you get to the NVC phase you will need to fill out a form called DS-260. The name on this form needs to match your passport exactly, so use your maiden name when doing that. 

 

Good luck!

From what I read from the other threads it's ok for him to file it under my married name. What we're worried about is item No. 47 in Form I-130, where it asks for the Passport Number of the beneficiary(me).  If he's filing it under my married name then the passport number we should put in item no. 47 should be the passport number of my new passport which is in my married name(which I don't have yet). My passport is still in my maiden name and I haven't changed my name yet in my passport cause the appointment I got is on September, but we want to file the petition soon so we can be with each other soonest. 

[SabRob 154]

9 minutes ago, JoanB said:

From what I read from the other threads it's ok for him to file it under my married name. What we're worried about is item No. 47 in Form I-130, where it asks for the Passport Number of the beneficiary(me).  If he's filing it under my married name then the passport number we should put in item no. 47 should be the passport number of my new passport which is in my married name(which I don't have yet). My passport is still in my maiden name and I haven't changed my name yet in my passport cause the appointment I got is on September, but we want to file the petition soon so we can be with each other soonest. 

It doesn't matter which name is on the passport as long as you send in your marriage certificate, which you need to as proof that you are, indeed, married. My husband filed for me using my married name as per advice from our lawyer, and we used the passport number from my passport which is still in my maiden name. Our petition was approved a little over 2 months ago. 

 

If you're REALLY worried about it, you can go ahead and change the name in your passport but if you have a US tourist visa, you might need to change that one as well since it has to match your passport. (not sure about this piece of information, but if you change your passport you will get a new passport number and the current tourist visa has the old passport number on in which might render it invalid.) It's not worth the time and money if you ask me. 

[Happyfamily03 29]

Just follow your passport

[JoanB 0]

2 hours ago, SabRob said:

It doesn't matter which name is on the passport as long as you send in your marriage certificate, which you need to as proof that you are, indeed, married. My husband filed for me using my married name as per advice from our lawyer, and we used the passport number from my passport which is still in my maiden name. Our petition was approved a little over 2 months ago. 

 

If you're REALLY worried about it, you can go ahead and change the name in your passport but if you have a US tourist visa, you might need to change that one as well since it has to match your passport. (not sure about this piece of information, but if you change your passport you will get a new passport number and the current tourist visa has the old passport number on in which might render it invalid.) It's not worth the time and money if you ask me. 

So I guess it's ok to file the Form I-130 with my married name and use my passport number from my passport which is still in my maiden name. Am I right that's what you did? Did you still change your surname in your passport after getting approved? You said the name on the passport must match the name to be placed in DS-260 when we're already in the NVC phase.

[SabRob 154]

Just now, JoanB said:

So I guess it's ok to file the Form I-130 with my married name and use my passport number from my passport which is still in my maiden name. Am I right that's what you did? Did you still change your surname in your passport after getting approved? You said the name on the passport must match the name to be placed in DS-260 when we're already in the NVC phase.

Yes, that's what I did. I didn't change the surname in my passport after getting approved, I just filled the DS-260 using my maiden name. The way the lawyer explained it to me is that I can put in either name on the I-130 - this will be the name that will be on the Green Card. The reason I used my maiden name on the DS-260 is that the NVC specifically says that the name on this application must match the name on my passport. USCIS forwarded our petition to the NVC under my married name so they have me under that name, but they will still know it's me on the DS-260 because we also sent them our marriage certificate which acts as proof of name change. 

 

Really, it's not an issue. Don't worry about it. 

[JoanB 0]

13 minutes ago, SabRob said:

Yes, that's what I did. I didn't change the surname in my passport after getting approved, I just filled the DS-260 using my maiden name. The way the lawyer explained it to me is that I can put in either name on the I-130 - this will be the name that will be on the Green Card. The reason I used my maiden name on the DS-260 is that the NVC specifically says that the name on this application must match the name on my passport. USCIS forwarded our petition to the NVC under my married name so they have me under that name, but they will still know it's me on the DS-260 because we also sent them our marriage certificate which acts as proof of name change. 

 

Really, it's not an issue. Don't worry about it. 

That's good to hear! Because if we wait for my new passport first before my husband file the petition, the process won't start earlier than September. We want to work on it ASAP so we don't have to be apart longer. By the way, how long did it take before your I-130 got approved from the day you filed it? 

[SabRob 154]

8 minutes ago, JoanB said:

That's good to hear! Because if we wait for my new passport first before my husband file the petition, the process won't start earlier than September. We want to work on it ASAP so we don't have to be apart longer. By the way, how long did it take before your I-130 got approved from the day you filed it? 

I am totally with you on the working on it ASAP. We filed it on 10/24/2016 and received confirmation that it was approved on 04/01/2017, so about 5 months. Some people have a longer wait, some a shorter wait...from what I understand it depends on which country the beneficiary is from, some members are saying that it also depends on how long it takes for USCIS to do background checks. The standard wait time seems to be around 5-6 months. 

[JoanB 0]

34 minutes ago, SabRob said:

I am totally with you on the working on it ASAP. We filed it on 10/24/2016 and received confirmation that it was approved on 04/01/2017, so about 5 months. Some people have a longer wait, some a shorter wait...from what I understand it depends on which country the beneficiary is from, some members are saying that it also depends on how long it takes for USCIS to do background checks. The standard wait time seems to be around 5-6 months. 

Congratulations to the approval of your petition! Thanks for all the help regarding my queries. Appreciate it a lot! I forgot to ask, so it's going to be your married name in the green card? Since that's what you used in Form I-130, right?

[SabRob 154]

Yep, my Green Card is going to be in my married name.

 

You are very welcome. Good luck with your petition and let me know if you have any other questions, I'm always willing to help if I can. It's going to be a rather long and stressful journey. This forum has sort of been my best friend ever since we started the process, it's very resourceful and people are always willing to help and most of all, they understand what you're going through. 

[Ryan H 3,813]

***Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures***

 

**Moderator hat off**

 

10 hours ago, SabRob said:

Yep, my Green Card is going to be in my married name.

 

Who told you that?  According to your timeline, you have not yet had an interview and if that's the case you may be in for a big disappointment.

 

OP, visas are only issued by Embassies and Consulates and they are only issued in the name that is in the passport.  Additionally, the green card is issued by the name that is on the visa.  Whatever some attorney or some USCIS/NVC phone operator says means nothing.

[SabRob 154]

6 hours ago, Ryan H said:

***Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures***

 

**Moderator hat off**

 

 

Who told you that?  According to your timeline, you have not yet had an interview and if that's the case you may be in for a big disappointment.

 

OP, visas are only issued by Embassies and Consulates and they are only issued in the name that is in the passport.  Additionally, the green card is issued by the name that is on the visa.  Whatever some attorney or some USCIS/NVC phone operator says means nothing.

The information you have isn't correct. If you have a name changing document such as a marriage certificate they will issue your visa/green card in your married name. The only downside is that you have to have your marriage certificate with you whenever you travel. This isn't really a downside for me since my passport expires in summer of 2018 anyway. 

 

I have asked my attorney about this and know other people who had different names from their passport on their GC or visa and had to travel with their marriage certificates for a while. 

[Bfree3 132]

From what I've read and asked from others and researched online countless times.I filled in I-130 with my new married name and used current passport number with my maiden name. The ds-260 requires the exact name in your passport which will be your maiden name,so your green card will be in your maiden name. To change that after the fact will be some $400 and any additional charges. I'm still in the early stages but have already changed my license to my married name, I'm still traveling to see my husband so will put in for new passport when we are closer to the nvc stage. Usually if your visa is in the old passport and you have a new one, the passport office staples them together. Your visa is still valid. My passport is also valid for another eight years I just got it in 2014 but it's cheaper to get a new passport than to change the name on green card at a later date. Just my opinion. Please keep reading, I'm on my phone so I can't send the link that I read on uscis site but it does tell you clearly that the current name in passport will be used for gc.

[SabRob 154]

1 hour ago, Bfree3 said:

From what I've read and asked from others and researched online countless times.I filled in I-130 with my new married name and used current passport number with my maiden name. The ds-260 requires the exact name in your passport which will be your maiden name,so your green card will be in your maiden name. To change that after the fact will be some $400 and any additional charges. I'm still in the early stages but have already changed my license to my married name, I'm still traveling to see my husband so will put in for new passport when we are closer to the nvc stage. Usually if your visa is in the old passport and you have a new one, the passport office staples them together. Your visa is still valid. My passport is also valid for another eight years I just got it in 2014 but it's cheaper to get a new passport than to change the name on green card at a later date. Just my opinion. Please keep reading, I'm on my phone so I can't send the link that I read on uscis site but it does tell you clearly that the current name in passport will be used for gc.

If you research it online you will find all sorts of responses. The general idea is that you can use your married name (only if you wish to do so) on any document as long as you provide a copy of your marriage certificate. I have been over this with my lawyer twice (once when filling in the I-130 and the other time when we filled in the DS-260) and she told me to use whichever name I want to use. You can even ask the consulate to process your visa application under your married name even if your passport is still in your maiden name, but you will have to carry that certified copy of your marriage certificate with you at all times when travelling until all of your documents have the same name on them. 

 

Hopefully I will have my interview later this summer and I will be able to tell you about my experience regarding this issue.