Beneficiary (male) changing last name

[emma24 161]

So this is more of a hypothetical question rather than something we definitely want to do.

 

My fiance is thinking about changing his last name once he is in the US. His name is currently two separate words (ex. Mc Coy) and he would like to combine them into one (ex. McCoy). I would like to take his last name after our marriage so what would be the best course of action to change his name once he's in the US and before we get married. Is it worth the hassle?? 

[ineedadisplayname 443]

3 minutes ago, emma24 said:

So this is more of a hypothetical question rather than something we definitely want to do.

 

My fiance is thinking about changing his last name once he is in the US. His name is currently two separate words (ex. Mc Coy) and he would like to combine them into one (ex. McCoy). I would like to take his last name after our marriage so what would be the best course of action to change his name once he's in the US and before we get married. Is it worth the hassle?? 

Maybe change it back home before the interview if there is enough time?

 

Once in the USA he will need court order to change it and then get married so you can take his new last name on the marridge certificate. 

Not sure how long all of this would take but probably if he really wants it he should do it before USCIS issues him EAD, GC etc because changing those will take forever

[Sarah G 166]

My understanding is that when you marry you can change your name to anything you want, so you may be able to both rewrite your names as you want them on your marriage license. I'm not 100% certain but it could be something to look into. 

[emma24 161]

2 minutes ago, ineedadisplayname said:

Maybe change it back home before the interview if there is enough time?

 

Once in the USA he will need court order to change it and then get married so you can take his new last name on the marridge certificate. 

Not sure how long all of this would take but probably if he really wants it he should do it before USCIS issues him EAD, GC etc because changing those will take forever

Yeah, I am just concerned about time really. He doesn't care how his name is spelled. He just thinks it would be easier for him in the US to have a traditional one word last name. 

3 minutes ago, Sarah G said:

My understanding is that when you marry you can change your name to anything you want, so you may be able to both rewrite your names as you want them on your marriage license. I'm not 100% certain but it could be something to look into. 

I didn't even think about that! I'll definitely look into that! Would make it easier on us for sure if that's the case.

[ineedadisplayname 443]

5 minutes ago, Sarah G said:

My understanding is that when you marry you can change your name to anything you want, so you may be able to both rewrite your names as you want them on your marriage license. I'm not 100% certain but it could be something to look into. 

Definitely worth a try, but I think a lot of it depends on the state they are going to live in + I am pretty sure there are rules about it, so probably you can't do anything you want.

[USS_Voyager 1,971]

6 minutes ago, emma24 said:

My fiance is thinking about changing his last name once he is in the US.

Every state/municipality/jurisdiction has a form/petition for you to change your name legally. You just have to find that out, fill the form, pay the fee. It'll probably have to go through a review process to make sure nothing too crazy is being proposed ( You wouldn't believe the number of people who wants to change their name to Satan, or Adolf Hitler,.... )

 

9 minutes ago, emma24 said:

I would like to take his last name after our marriage so what would be the best course of action to change his name once he's in the US and before we get married

You change your name once you get married. The marriage certificate is the proof that you can take his last name. 

 

10 minutes ago, emma24 said:

Is it worth the hassle?? 

No, why on Earth you'd want to do that. It'll take so much paperwork, hassles, trips to the many different places (SSN, banks, driver license, ... ). I don't understand why people has to change their name? Why can you just keep the name you have, and just introduce yourself as whatever you want to be called. "Hi my name is Li-Xi Yang, but I go by Andrew. Please call me Andrew, Andrew Yang"

[emma24 161]

37 minutes ago, USS_Voyager said:

No, why on Earth you'd want to do that. It'll take so much paperwork, hassles, trips to the many different places (SSN, banks, driver license, ... ). I don't understand why people has to change their name? Why can you just keep the name you have, and just introduce yourself as whatever you want to be called. "Hi my name is Li-Xi Yang, but I go by Andrew. Please call me Andrew, Andrew Yang"

Well I was really wondering if there was a place where doing it would make the most sense (like a form we could file along with something else). So if we can really just place his new last name on our marriage license and then change his ss card and passport then that would be ideal!

[arken 4,197]

55 minutes ago, Sarah G said:

My understanding is that when you marry you can change your name to anything you want, so you may be able to both rewrite your names as you want them on your marriage license. I'm not 100% certain but it could be something to look into. 

That’s only for the last name if one spouse is taking another spouse’s last name. If changing the first name, regardless of marriage, i believe one has to go through legal name change process.

[emma24 161]

15 minutes ago, arken said:

That’s only for the last name if one spouse is taking another spouse’s last name. If changing the first name, regardless of marriage, i believe one has to go through legal name change process.

we'd only want to change our last names.

[arken 4,197]

17 minutes ago, emma24 said:

we'd only want to change our last names.

But he will be changing his last name on his own which would probably require him to go thru the court process.

[Mollie09 1,543]

On a federal level, there are only certain name changes that can happen as a result of marriage, and they all involve changing to the spouse's last name or combining last names (regardless of gender). All other changes need to be processed locally as a legal name change.

 

I would have his name change processed before immigration if at all possible.

[emma24 161]

7 minutes ago, arken said:

But he will be changing his last name on his own which would probably require him to go thru the court process.

I see. I am just going to phone my courthouse where we will apply for our marriage license and ask. Isn't going to hurt!

[debbiedoo 2,339]

You can casually GO by any name or spelling you want to. I used my maiden name for YEARS after i left my ex. My name was not changed legally. The only thing my legal (married name) was on were my ID/ banking/ utilities/ financial/ tax information. Basically legal or credit things. At work i went by my maiden name (my pay check was in my married name, people learned i was the same person). With friends and social media, I went by my maiden name (which caused an interesting delay one time for my husband, then fiance, as he was crossing the border and my name didnt come up in their records, until he remembered it wasnt my legal name, then he had problems spelling it LMAO - all was well in the end though lolol)

 

With something as minor as a space in between letters, its not going to make a difference. For legal docs, just include the space.

[JT4/25 38]

We had that issue too.  The legal government documents are all correct.  Our last name has a space too...Di XXXX.  However, many organizations on their own, including banks....decided that the Di was our middle name.  ugh.  Once our daughter started school...I just made it DiXXXX one word.  Now, I just write it that way.  It has never been a problem in 15 years married.

Edited December 3, 2019 by JT4/25

[emma24 161]

44 minutes ago, JT4/25 said:

We had that issue too.  The legal government documents are all correct.  Our last name has a space too...Di XXXX.  However, many organizations on their own, including banks....decided that the Di was our middle name.  ugh.  Once our daughter started school...I just made it DiXXXX one word.  Now, I just write it that way.  It has never been a problem in 15 years married.

That's what I am concerned about here in the US. Many organizations may not recognize a two word last name but I suppose we will deal with that when the time comes. We decided to not change it as it would be a big headache to get him a new Norwegian passport once he is in the US.