Fiance' and I want to pick a new last name together - Help!

[northwest-boys 17]

Hopefully this is in the correct forum, I apologize if not.

 

My fiance' and I are currently going through the K-1 Visa process. My fiance' is going to have his medical exam and interview with the embassy soon, but we are trying to get a head start on preparing for the next steps!

 

We had talked about it and liked the idea of choosing a new last name together, not using either of our current last names. I've researched the process of changing a last name for the beneficiary via the marriage license, but I also believe that only applies if he wants to change his last name to whatever mine is at the time of completing the marriage license.

 

Would the best way to go about it be for me to legally change my name prior to us getting married? Or are there some other options we're not thinking of? We would truly appreciate the help!

[geowrian 22,335]

Only option would be via a court order. The process for that varies based on state/country/city where you would have it performed.

 

6 minutes ago, northwest-boys said:

I've researched the process of changing a last name for the beneficiary via the marriage license, but I also believe that only applies if he wants to change his last name to whatever mine is at the time of completing the marriage license. 

Correct. Various forms of name changes are permitted due to marriage, but changing of one's last name (except possibly a hyphenation of both last names, which is allowed in some states) is not one supported by any state that I know of or heard of.

[northwest-boys 17]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

Only option would be via a court order. The process for that varies based on state/country/city where you would have it performed.

 

Correct. Various forms of name changes are permitted due to marriage, but changing of one's last name (except possibly a hyphenation of both last names, which is allowed in some states) is not one supported by any state that I know of or heard of.

My only concern then is that me changing my last name now could have some affect on the visa process. Can I simply send my fiance' a copy of the court order after the name change for him to take with him, or would it be best to wait until after the K-1 is finalized?

[Naes 12,205]

11 minutes ago, northwest-boys said:

Hopefully this is in the correct forum, I apologize if not.

 

My fiance' and I are currently going through the K-1 Visa process. My fiance' is going to have his medical exam and interview with the embassy soon, but we are trying to get a head start on preparing for the next steps!

 

We had talked about it and liked the idea of choosing a new last name together, not using either of our current last names. I've researched the process of changing a last name for the beneficiary via the marriage license, but I also believe that only applies if he wants to change his last name to whatever mine is at the time of completing the marriage license.

 

Would the best way to go about it be for me to legally change my name prior to us getting married? Or are there some other options we're not thinking of? We would truly appreciate the help!

We both changed our last names via marriage license. But I don’t know the details or regulations on it. So maybe asking your country clerk directly may be a good idea?

[northwest-boys 17]

6 minutes ago, Naes said:

We both changed our last names via marriage license. But I don’t know the details or regulations on it. So maybe asking your country clerk directly may be a good idea?

You just wrote a new last name for both of you on the license? I was under the impression that wasn't an option.

[Naes 12,205]

11 minutes ago, northwest-boys said:

You just wrote a new last name for both of you on the license? I was under the impression that wasn't an option.

Yes we did. I believe it was ok as long as it was the same new last name for both of you.

[yuna628 9,527]

To officially and legally change one's name usually requires going before the court. https://statelaws.findlaw.com/washington-law/how-to-change-your-name-in-washington.html If the name change is for personal reasons, it's going to require a petition through the court system. Here's some official guidance for WA: https://depts.washington.edu/qcenter/wordpress/legal-name-change-in-wa-state/ 

[Naes 12,205]

Yeah, Our change was probably possible due to the California state name change regulations...

[northwest-boys 17]

7 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

To officially and legally change one's name usually requires going before the court. https://statelaws.findlaw.com/washington-law/how-to-change-your-name-in-washington.html If the name change is for personal reasons, it's going to require a petition through the court system. Here's some official guidance for WA: https://depts.washington.edu/qcenter/wordpress/legal-name-change-in-wa-state/ 

Thanks! I'd already found both of these resources, I'm not too confused about the actual process of me doing it. More just worried about how it interacts with our K-1 visa and the AOS.

[Naes 12,205]

2 minutes ago, northwest-boys said:

Thanks! I'd already found both of these resources, I'm not too confused about the actual process of me doing it. More just worried about how it interacts with our K-1 visa and the AOS.

We weren’t sure if they would let us have the name we needed too. So I checked court name changes first (it was too expensive for my taste  ) 

 

In our case we didn’t want the extra trouble for k1. So we were going to wait until after I get the k1 to change his official name. (This is before we learnt we can both just change it with the license) 

 

my suggestion would be after k1 is granted before the wedding.

 

do not forget to add your legal name change documents with the AOS papers though. As it won’t be through the license you would probably need to add the court papers too.

[northwest-boys 17]

4 minutes ago, Naes said:

We weren’t sure if they would let us have the name we needed too. So I checked court name changes first (it was too expensive for my taste  ) 

 

In our case we didn’t want the extra trouble for k1. So we were going to wait until after I get the k1 to change his official name. (This is before we learnt we can both just change it with the license) 

 

my suggestion would be after k1 is granted before the wedding.

 

do not forget to add your legal name change documents with the AOS papers though. As it won’t be through the license you would probably need to add the court papers too.

Yeah I think this might be our best option, after the K-1 is issued but before the wedding. Thank you! Helps to get other people to back up your ideas haha.

[Naes 12,205]

1 minute ago, northwest-boys said:

Helps to get other people to back up your ideas haha.

I know that feeling

 

Good luck!

[Diane and Chris 651]

After we filed for K-1, I (the petitioner) legally changed my name to my maiden name via court order. It wasn’t too difficult and I did it myself. When we got married, my husband changed his name to my last name. We then filed for AOS and both filled in the paperwork with our new last name. We included my court order, our marriage certificate, and his new social security card and driver license. We never had a problem at all. We just received his green card yesterday with his correct name. It has been a long journey, but, well worth it. Good luck to you two. Stay strong and patient!  

[Lemonslice 4,549]

Really depends on the state, you can pick up any name after marriage in Massachusetts - Example, Mary Smith and John White could become Mary and John Taylor. 

 

[TNJ17 1,329]

I would advise waiting to do this in the future. The only way to do this is to apply for it in the courts. This isn’t something that’s done in just a few weeks. It takes a while to do it. You don’t wanna wait to file for AOS because you’re waiting a name change that you can put off a while. The sooner you apply for AOS the better because it’s taking longer and longer for it each week that goes by. You might be waiting a long time to change your name and you won’t be able to get married or file AOS until you do according to your plan.