Getting Married after getting citizenship

[MNB5314 5]

I'll be having my oath ceremony soon (probably by end of September). Also, me and my fiance are planning to get married this October. I'm changing my last name to my fiance's last name and have my maiden name as my new middle name when we get married.

 

Because of my plans of name change and change of status (single to married), I plan on not applying for US passport until after I get married and not immediately after the oath ceremony. Is this the right way to do this? Has anybody went through the same situation as me?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

 

 

[Frage 67]

Hi you can apply for a passport whenever you want. So if you want to wait until after the name change you'll be perfectly fine. Do you have any travel plans soon? If not, get married, change your name and apply for your passport. Congratulations on getting citizenship and married soon! 

[Going through 5,668]

6 minutes ago, MNB5314 said:

 I plan on not applying for US passport until after I get married and not immediately after the oath ceremony. Is this the right way to do this?

It seems the easiest way since you are in line for your oath ceremony already.

 

When you apply for the passport, along with your naturalization certificate include a photocopy of your marriage certificate to show the legal name change as you want it to appear on your passport.

[MNB5314 5]

2 minutes ago, Frage said:

Hi you can apply for a passport whenever you want. So if you want to wait until after the name change you'll be perfectly fine. Do you have any travel plans soon? If not, get married, change your name and apply for your passport. Congratulations on getting citizenship and married soon! 

Thank you! I don't have any travel plans soon and probably not until everything gets settled. 😊 

[MNB5314 5]

2 minutes ago, Going through said:

It seems the easiest way since you are in line for your oath ceremony already.

 

When you apply for the passport, along with your naturalization certificate include a photocopy of your marriage certificate to show the legal name change as you want it to appear on your passport.

Thank you for your response. Yes, I really want to finish the citizenship process before getting married. I don't need to apply to have my name change on my naturalization certificate?

[Going through 5,668]

4 minutes ago, MNB5314 said:

Thank you for your response. Yes, I really want to finish the citizenship process before getting married. I don't need to apply to have my name change on my naturalization certificate?

No, not if you didn't declare it during your interview.  The naturalization certificate will only be useful once in your life---when applying for a passport, or if you have children born abroad afterwards to prove their citizenship.  After that, you can use your passport (with your new legal name on it) as proof of citizenship where needed.

 

If you want to get a new naturalization certificate later on with the new legal name you would have to go through USCIS to apply for one, but you won't really need it.  And it's not cheap, either.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Going through

[Pennycat 880]

Potentially silly question: but I was under the impression that naturalization was sort of a one-time free name change to anything you like. Like, you can rename yourself Sunshine Frecklebottom if you so choose. Could you simply naturalize with your fiance's last name *before* the wedding (not traditional but, eh,) and save yourself the paperwork and fees?

[MNB5314 5]

31 minutes ago, Going through said:

No, not if you didn't declare it during your interview.  The naturalization certificate will only be useful once in your life---when applying for a passport, or if you have children born abroad afterwards to prove their citizenship.  After that, you can use your passport (with your new legal name on it) as proof of citizenship where needed.

 

If you want to get a new naturalization certificate later on with the new legal name you would have to go through USCIS to apply for one, but you won't really need it.  And it's not cheap, either.

Great! Thanks!

[MNB5314 5]

14 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

Potentially silly question: but I was under the impression that naturalization was sort of a one-time free name change to anything you like. Like, you can rename yourself Sunshine Frecklebottom if you so choose. Could you simply naturalize with your fiance's last name *before* the wedding (not traditional but, eh,) and save yourself the paperwork and fees?

I thought about this before, but I think this is more complicated in my opinion? I don't know. Lol! 

[IPv6Freely 64]

20 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

Potentially silly question: but I was under the impression that naturalization was sort of a one-time free name change to anything you like. Like, you can rename yourself Sunshine Frecklebottom if you so choose. Could you simply naturalize with your fiance's last name *before* the wedding (not traditional but, eh,) and save yourself the paperwork and fees?

Absolutely! But you would have had to do that as part of your N400 application, not just before the oath ceremony. So in that particular case it doesn't work, but in general yes I would do the name change during naturalization rather than later. 

[MNB5314 5]

5 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

Absolutely! But you would have had to do that as part of your N400 application, not just before the oath ceremony. So in that particular case it doesn't work, but in general yes I would do the name change during naturalization rather than later. 

Also, we weren't expecting that it would be this quick for them to process my application. I didn't expect to get interviewed until after our planned wedding, but I went end of August. 

 

Oh well, probably should've changed in during naturalization application. 

 

Wouldn't it be weird though had I changed my name and then later on apply for marriage license with our names having same last names already? 

Edited September 7, 2017 by MNB5314

[Pennycat 880]

6 minutes ago, MNB5314 said:

I thought about this before, but I think this is more complicated in my opinion? I don't know. Lol! 

Apparently (see @IPv6Freely's comment below) it's simpler but you'd have had to applied with that name on your N-400  

 

So you'll have to get married, change SSN card and DL and then apply for passport, I think is the order of events. As long as you're not traveling anywhere soon, that's ok too.

[IPv6Freely 64]

Just now, MNB5314 said:

Also, we weren't expecting that it would be this quick for them to process my application. I didn't expect to get interviewed until after our planned wedding, but I went end of August. 

 

Oh well, probably should've changed in during naturalization application. 

It's not a huge deal. Just means your certificate will have your maiden name (who cares) and you'll have to do the name change just like everyone else who does a traditional marriage

[MNB5314 5]

4 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

Apparently (see @IPv6Freely's comment below) it's simpler but you'd have had to applied with that name on your N-400  

 

So you'll have to get married, change SSN card and DL and then apply for passport, I think is the order of events. As long as you're not traveling anywhere soon, that's ok too.

Yes you're right that I have to change SSN card before anything else. Not travelling anywhere soon so I should be good. Thank you!😊 

[MNB5314 5]

5 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

It's not a huge deal. Just means your certificate will have your maiden name (who cares) and you'll have to do the name change just like everyone else who does a traditional marriage

Yes, I guess I have to do it the long route. 😬 Wish I posted this question way before I applied. Oh well! Thank you!