Social Security Card Name Change After Marriage Difficulties 2026 Before AOS

[J.M. 363]

2 hours ago, Aquabac said:

I'd like to read the full section and see which RM is referenced.

Learn what documents you will need to get a Social Security Card | SSA

 

Select the appropriate boxes on the left of the page and it will lead you right to what I posted.

[Aquabac 21]

4 hours ago, J.M. said:

Learn what documents you will need to get a Social Security Card | SSA

 

Select the appropriate boxes on the left of the page and it will lead you right to what I posted.

That is what you need to get a social security card.
Not what you need to make a name change.

 

[J.M. 363]

18 minutes ago, Aquabac said:

That is what you need to get a social security card.
Not what you need to make a name change.

If you would select the appropriate boxes as I suggested, you would see this:

Corrected Card for a Noncitizen Adult

If you change your name, become a U.S. citizen, or your immigration status or work authorization has changed, you need to tell Social Security so we can update our records and when necessary, issue a new card.

 

[Aquabac 21]

10 minutes ago, J.M. said:

If you would select the appropriate boxes as I suggested, you would see this:

Corrected Card for a Noncitizen Adult

If you change your name, become a U.S. citizen, or your immigration status or work authorization has changed, you need to tell Social Security so we can update our records and when necessary, issue a new card.

 

Thank you.
 I did not consider "correct" to be a name change.
Clicked on it and saw what you are referencing 

[J.M. 363]

It's a government website.  It is supposed to be difficult to find things, even if you know exactly what you are looking for.

[rbv_shard 73]

Feels like you are missing the forest for the trees.

 

You can open joint accounts, using your wife's married name, by providing a copy of the marriage certificate to the financial institution along with SS card even though that card still has maiden name (as does her identity document - Filipino passport).  The marriage certificate is a name change document that allows the bank to use a newer name than on the card.

 

You can simultaneously file ROM with the embassy and start the process of getting a passport in married name, and that also won't need married name on SS card.

Edited January 24 by rbv_shard

[Aquabac 21]

15 hours ago, rbv_shard said:

Feels like you are missing the forest for the trees.

 

You can open joint accounts, using your wife's married name, by providing a copy of the marriage certificate to the financial institution along with SS card even though that card still has maiden name (as does her identity document - Filipino passport).  The marriage certificate is a name change document that allows the bank to use a newer name than on the card.

 

You can simultaneously file ROM with the embassy and start the process of getting a passport in married name, and that also won't need married name on SS card.

Thanks.
That's what i thought when I went to the bank with her.
The bank employee said the SSN card  had to be in the married name.
I know a bit about finance laws and regs and disagreed but my knowledge is over 10 years old and thought it had changed.
Now that you posted this you got me thinking I should have checked that more thoroughly.
Sometimes  employees state their policies are law when they are simply the financial institution's  policies.

 

I scheduled an appointment with my other bank for next  week to  see what they say.
I'll post what happens afterwards.


 

[rbv_shard 73]

51 minutes ago, Aquabac said:

Sometimes  employees state their policies are law when they are simply the financial institution's  policies.

 

This is definitely the explanation.  Searching online, I've found some banks that have a policy that a new SS card must be brought to process the name change, and others accept one photo ID (drivers license) and one additional proof of name and address (like a utility bill), plus the name change document (marriage certificate).

[mam521 2,938]

On 1/22/2026 at 12:45 PM, mam521 said:

Please read ALL of the following after selecting adult, corrected, non-citizen on the left side of the page, paying close attention to the blue note box toward the bottom: https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm 

Make the selections above, which are 100% pertaining to name change.  

[Aquabac 21]

On 1/22/2026 at 4:36 PM, TBoneTX said:

No one's stopping you.  Good luck.  Please report back.

So  we tried today and failed as expected.
I  argued half heartedly for about 30 seconds because I knew it was whizzing up a rope but my wife really wanted to try so I did 

The clerk was polite but stated some erroneous things like  her stamp expired so she is here illegally until they grant her  a green card.
Luckily she didn't hear that because while I know that is untrue , it would have freaked her out.
So we won't try again until we have her green card.
Now back to working on the AOS application  

[TBoneTX 49,188]

1 minute ago, Aquabac said:

we tried today and failed as expected

Sorry to hear it, but good of you to try; we rarely get what we don't ask for.  Please keep us posted.