Changing name due to marriage

[lovinglive 24]

My wife and I were married last year, conducted AOS and then applied for her green card. We never had her name changed as has been the custom on marriage in the US and most countries.  It would have made an already difficult process even more difficult and we just couldn't deal with it at that time.

 

 We've been asked a few times by others in the our family about this.  My guess is that it would be a fairly simple legal process to have name changed.  Has anyone experienced this?  Is it a fairly straightforward process?

 

I'm more concerned with how difficult it may be to have her name changed on all of her documents in her home country, including passport, national ID, etc.  Her original country has a problem with bureaucracy and making things difficult when it comes to paperwork.

[M+K IL 102]

One option is to wait until naturalization in 3-5 years. That's what we are doing

 

Our country also does not recognize dual citizenship anyway so we won't need to deal with its bureaucracy - if your wife wants to keep both passports then that might be trickier, I'm not sure what would happen if the names are mismatched. Probably OK too, so that might be an easier route - just have the changed name in US documents, but only change when naturalizing

[lovinglive 24]

11 hours ago, M+K IL said:

One option is to wait until naturalization in 3-5 years. That's what we are doing

 

Our country also does not recognize dual citizenship anyway so we won't need to deal with its bureaucracy - if your wife wants to keep both passports then that might be trickier, I'm not sure what would happen if the names are mismatched. Probably OK too, so that might be an easier route - just have the changed name in US documents, but only change when naturalizing

Thanks for your reply, we probably won't have the change in name match up to the naturalization ceremony.

 

So I guess it's just a matter of following the normal legal process to have her name changed.

 

Honestly, I'm not even sure if it is possible to change my wife's name in her home country.  I'm not sure they have a process for that.

[M+K IL 102]

9 hours ago, lovinglive said:

Thanks for your reply, we probably won't have the change in name match up to the naturalization ceremony.

 

So I guess it's just a matter of following the normal legal process to have her name changed.

 

Honestly, I'm not even sure if it is possible to change my wife's name in her home country.  I'm not sure they have a process for that.

Ah. In that case... as long as she just wants to use your surname, I think the marriage certificate itself is proof of name change and she is free to use her married name in the US.

 

And I think even flying with passport and PR saying different names is OK with that marriage certificate - so more things to carry but that should work.

 

Good luck!