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

[Diane and Chris 651]

It depends on how far along you are in the process of obtaining the visa in hand. If you start now, you should be able to have your name changed in about 6 weeks time. I did research Washington state and you will have to change your name legally first before you two marry. Then your fiancé can change his name to your new name when you two marry with no problems at all. Then you both can file the AOS with your new names. I think it will be easier to do it before rather than later as far as USCIS is concerned. Just speaking from personal experience. Good luck!  

[mcdull 474]

19 hours 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!

deed poll

[northwest-boys 17]

12 hours ago, Diane and Chris said:

It depends on how far along you are in the process of obtaining the visa in hand. If you start now, you should be able to have your name changed in about 6 weeks time. I did research Washington state and you will have to change your name legally first before you two marry. Then your fiancé can change his name to your new name when you two marry with no problems at all. Then you both can file the AOS with your new names. I think it will be easier to do it before rather than later as far as USCIS is concerned. Just speaking from personal experience. Good luck!  

Yeah, it sounds like this is what we will be doing. 

 

My sister actually went through a name change with the court several weeks ago so she filled me in on the process here as well.  She went in first thing in the morning, got a court time for later that day, and walked out in a few hours with everything she needed to take to SS, DOL, etc.!

 

Out of curiosity, it sounds like you changed your name before your fiance had his K-1 interview at the embassy. Did you send him copies of the court documents for your name change, or did it just not come up until you applied for the AOS?

 

Thank you so much for your help!

[Diane and Chris 651]

4 minutes ago, northwest-boys said:

Yeah, it sounds like this is what we will be doing. 

 

My sister actually went through a name change with the court several weeks ago so she filled me in on the process here as well.  She went in first thing in the morning, got a court time for later that day, and walked out in a few hours with everything she needed to take to SS, DOL, etc.!

 

Out of curiosity, it sounds like you changed your name before your fiance had his K-1 interview at the embassy. Did you send him copies of the court documents for your name change, or did it just not come up until you applied for the AOS?

 

Thank you so much for your help!

He did have the paperwork just in case. It did not come up. All of the original paperwork we kept as it was submitted. I did not re-do the support document or any additional paperwork. When is the interview scheduled?  

[northwest-boys 17]

1 minute ago, Diane and Chris said:

He did have the paperwork just in case. It did not come up. All of the original paperwork we kept as it was submitted. I did not re-do the support document or any additional paperwork. When is the interview scheduled?  

October 26th!

 

And that's great to hear. This is exactly how I was hoping we could handle it.

[JenD 180]

23 hours 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!

My fiancé and I both changed our names to a new, hyphenated name. We were able to do it through the marriage license in Los Angeles county - I guess it would depend on which county issues your license.  My husband then used his new name on the AOS, and since you include the marriage license anyway, the legal proof of name change was included.