i-751 ROC maiden name question

[skyline385 6]

Hello,

 

I am filling my ROC with my wife and was hoping to get some input on how to proceed with evidence, particularly with respect to her maiden name in some of the evidence. We got married in December 2019 and we changed her last name in Q1 2021. So I have some concerns regarding her name changing midway through the evidence. I plan to write a cover letter explaining it but was looking for some input from the excellent community here as well. Following are the documents we plan on submitting, I would really appreciate it if the kind folks here can offer me suggestions on it.

 

I have also read the ROC guide on VJ and it was extremely helpful, most of my evidence below was prepared from reading the guide and the multiple posts on this forum from folks before me.

 

1. 2.5 years of Checking and Savings account statements (one for every quarter so 10 of each, total 20). This is where the name change happens from her maiden name to my last name about a third of the way into the statements. I was able to procure the application we submitted to the bank for her name change and plan to include it, however the application does not mention her maiden name anywhere. Will this be fine or do I need to include anything else with it?

2. 4 x AMEX credit card statements (1 for each half of the year) showing purchases both from her and me under our card, I only included 4 because I am already submitting 20 Banking statements. If more are needed, I can add them.

3. High Yield Savings account statement which we opened 3 months ago showing the full duration.

4. 2 X FPL Electric bill, one from last month and the other from June 2021. Here too, I only added 2 statements as I think it should be enough in lieu of all the evidence above. If more are needed, I can add them.

5. 2 X Tax returns filled jointly for the year 2020 and 2021.

6. Apartment Lease for current year starting in Jan 22. With all the bank statements showing the same address, I figured just the current year lease would be enough?

7. Both our car licenses for the state of Florida. Honestly not sure if this needed?

8. Latest Car insurance for two of our cars and Renters insurance.

9. Latest mobile bill along with a printout of the page showing the leased phone for my wife with payment completed.

10. Printout of my 401K and Life Insurance Benefits summary, I can only get a single page summary here which lists my enrollment and my wife as the primary beneficiary. 

11. 12-16 photos total from our trips around the US and to Canada & India.

 

I have marked my concerns in red above, please let me know your thoughts on them and If I need to add anything else in here. Thank you in advance for your help!

Edited October 13, 2022 by skyline385

[SalishSea 17,928]

I don't think the name change is an issue at all.  The standard name change document is the marriage certificate, which they clearly will have.

 

I still have my maiden name on my driver's license and bank stuff, just because I've been too lazy to change it.  Passport too (mostly because it was then Covid, and there was no reason to renew early, since I knew I wouldn't be needing it).  

 

 

[skyline385 6]

14 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

I don't think the name change is an issue at all.  The standard name change document is the marriage certificate, which they clearly will have.

 

I still have my maiden name on my driver's license and bank stuff, just because I've been too lazy to change it.  Passport too (mostly because it was then Covid, and there was no reason to renew early, since I knew I wouldn't be needing it).  

 

 

Thanks for confirming! Do you have any recommendations for the evidence I am submitting?

[OldUser 6,886]

@skyline385 I cannot quote this enough:

 

• Evidence of the relationship:
  • Submit copies of documents indicating that the marriage upon which you were granted status was entered in good faith and was not for the purpose of circumventing immigration laws. Submit copies of as many documents as you can to establish this fact, to demonstrate the circumstances of the relationship from the date of the marriage to the present date;

 

So, depending on the IO they may give you RFE if they understand the quote above literally.

 

I've seen people doing quarterly statements and approved OK. That's maybe alright.

 

However, be more consistent with electric bills and lease copies. One here and one there may trigger RFE.

 

Also, include copies of driver licenses.

 

Again, the instructions say "as much as you can".

 

Is this a matter of saving some $$? How risk tolerant are you? I think it boils down to that.

 

Good luck!

[OldUser 6,886]

Also, not to be annoying... You said you married in 2019. Did you file 2019 taxes jointly? Because you should, even if you married on December 31st 2019.

 

If you filed single, maybe you can refile and include that. There's a chance you get some additional tax refund for that year because of higher deductable for married people.

 

[skyline385 6]

23 minutes ago, OldUser said:

@skyline385 I cannot quote this enough:

 

• Evidence of the relationship:
  • Submit copies of documents indicating that the marriage upon which you were granted status was entered in good faith and was not for the purpose of circumventing immigration laws. Submit copies of as many documents as you can to establish this fact, to demonstrate the circumstances of the relationship from the date of the marriage to the present date;

 

So, depending on the IO they may give you RFE if they understand the quote above literally.

 

I've seen people doing quarterly statements and approved OK. That's maybe alright.

 

However, be more consistent with electric bills and lease copies. One here and one there may trigger RFE.

 

Also, include copies of driver licenses.

 

Again, the instructions say "as much as you can".

 

Is this a matter of saving some $$? How risk tolerant are you? I think it boils down to that.

 

Good luck!

Its not a matter of $$ but rather trying to not send too much unnecessary stuff that's it. I figured quarterly bank accounts of both savings and checking account would be enough for proof of finance and residence.

 

Regarding the electric bill, I added my wife to it in Q1 2021 after her name change so I can only send it from there.

 

Regarding the lease, the 2020 one uses her old name and so did the 2021 since they didn't let us renew in the middle of it. We changed it for the 2022 lease so it wont show the name change until the current lease.

 

Both of these could cause confusion regarding the name change thats why I am trying to avoid sending unnecessary stuff which wouldn't help my case.

Edited October 13, 2022 by skyline385

[OldUser 6,886]

@skyline385 It's only my amateur opinion, but including leases for 2020 and 2021 is crucial. This is key evidence of you living together through those years.

As long as you include name change evidence, it should strengthen the case.

[skyline385 6]

13 minutes ago, OldUser said:

@skyline385 It's only my amateur opinion, but including leases for 2020 and 2021 is crucial. This is key evidence of you living together through those years.

As long as you include name change evidence, it should strengthen the case.

When you say "include name change evidence", what would that be? I am including the form for changing name on our bank accounts along with the statements but does that qualify as name change evidence for other items? I am not so sure on this...

 

We do have both of her SSN cards (one with the maiden name and other with the married name), would these be enough for the name change evidence if we include them?

Edited October 13, 2022 by skyline385

[OldUser 6,886]

@skyline385 from what I understood, the new name is not on marriage certificate, because it wasn't changed then? Didn't you have to go through court to change the name if it wasn't changed when getting married? Sorry, I am not experienced in this question.

[skyline385 6]

4 minutes ago, OldUser said:

@skyline385 from what I understood, the new name is not on marriage certificate, because it wasn't changed then? Didn't you have to go through court to change the name if it wasn't changed when getting married? Sorry, I am not experienced in this question.

The name on the marriage certificate is still her old one. We were able to change her name on the SSN by submitting the application along with the marriage certificate and then once we had the SSN updated, we got everything else slowly updated.  

[OldUser 6,886]

@skyline385 the new SS card sounds reasonable to me as a proof. Maybe search the forums, there were dedicated topics around changing name when filing I-751. See what others did.

[skyline385 6]

14 minutes ago, OldUser said:

@skyline385 the new SS card sounds reasonable to me as a proof. Maybe search the forums, there were dedicated topics around changing name when filing I-751. See what others did.

I already tried that actually, came across some posts about name change but couldn't find one which had both names on the evidence. I too think that providing both SS cards should serve as reasonable proof in my case.

[SalishSea 17,928]

3 hours ago, skyline385 said:

Its not a matter of $$ but rather trying to not send too much unnecessary stuff that's it. I figured quarterly bank accounts of both savings and checking account would be enough for proof of finance and residence.

 

Regarding the electric bill, I added my wife to it in Q1 2021 after her name change so I can only send it from there.

 

Regarding the lease, the 2020 one uses her old name and so did the 2021 since they didn't let us renew in the middle of it. We changed it for the 2022 lease so it wont show the name change until the current lease.

 

Both of these could cause confusion regarding the name change thats why I am trying to avoid sending unnecessary stuff which wouldn't help my case.

You are overthinking the name change thing.  It's much more important to go back in time and show evidence from the date of the marriage, regardless of which surname it shows for her.  USCIS is dumb, but they're not so dumb that they can't work out she is the same person.

[SalishSea 17,928]

2 hours ago, OldUser said:

@skyline385 the new SS card sounds reasonable to me as a proof. Maybe search the forums, there were dedicated topics around changing name when filing I-751. See what others did.

We sent a copy of my new SS card, as well as my updated state of Washington Registered Nursing license.

[Rocio0010 5,579]

You're overthinking the name change issue. With the marriage certificate and the SSN card application, they can put 2+2 together. If you are still worried, I would include a one- line note on the cover letter saying "notice that some of the evidence is under the petitioner's maiden name (xxxx) because we were not able to update her name change in all our documents". Period. Keep it simple. I would not include the application for name change for the bank -that's just adding unnecesary documents.

Focus instead on the necessary documents.

 

As @OldUser has asked, what happened to the 2019 taxes? That's crucial evidence.

Send the old leases too -proof of residence since the time of marriage is also crucial. With the one line that you will write on the cover letter, they will be able to connect the dots. 

The evidence you send them should cover the whole period you were married.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Rocio0010