MNB5314

Thanks everyone! Yes I already went to my oath ceremony. 😊

Hi,

I’m confused on how to sign my Certificate of Naturalization (N-550). It says there “Complete and true signature of holder”. My usual signature is just “J.S.Doe” and that’s what’s on the side of my photo there too. Should I sign it the usual way or sign it spelling out my whole name “Jane Sue Doe”? 

8 minutes ago, Frage said:

Well you can always use whichever name you want. 

 

I got married. Took his name. Got divorced. Kept his name. Got to know my fiancé. Got married in my maiden name although my driver's license stated my first married name. I brought my divorce paper with me to show that I'm allowed to use my maiden name. 

 

I did think about waiting to change my name for the oath ceremony but I went ahead and paid the expense of a new green card with my new married name. Not cheap at all... and slightly off topic haha

 

This is all in theory but you could have brought your birth certificate or something showing your maiden name if you wanted to get married with it. It would have shown in the marriage license this way and your naturalization certificate would have been in your married name. Like a prophet or something

 

It's a done deal in your case. But maybe someone else will look up this thread and read this 😊

You're so right. Wish I'd given much though about this before. Anyways, thank you! 

4 hours ago, CatherineA said:

Best of luck! Exciting days! Our city has an annual sort of... I don't know... presentation for citizens of our city who got citizenship in the past year.Like a welcome party or something. I used to stop by every year if I knew it was happening, long before I knew I'd be in an international/immigration relationship. Maybe see if yours does the same?

 

Also, I loved this story when I heard it:

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/23/511165492/on-americas-doorstep-a-new-chapter-for-an-uzbek-family

 

And another one, about a National Park Ranger who runs naturalization ceremonies in the park he works in:

 

https://themoth.org/stories/one-hundred-percent

That's great! I never heard of these welcome parties before. It would be great though if we have one. 

5 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

It's not a huge deal. Just means your certificate will have your maiden name (who cares) and you'll have to do the name change just like everyone else who does a traditional marriage

Yes, I guess I have to do it the long route. 😬 Wish I posted this question way before I applied. Oh well! Thank you!

4 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

Apparently (see @IPv6Freely's comment below) it's simpler but you'd have had to applied with that name on your N-400  

 

So you'll have to get married, change SSN card and DL and then apply for passport, I think is the order of events. As long as you're not traveling anywhere soon, that's ok too.

Yes you're right that I have to change SSN card before anything else. Not travelling anywhere soon so I should be good. Thank you!😊 

5 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

Absolutely! But you would have had to do that as part of your N400 application, not just before the oath ceremony. So in that particular case it doesn't work, but in general yes I would do the name change during naturalization rather than later. 

Also, we weren't expecting that it would be this quick for them to process my application. I didn't expect to get interviewed until after our planned wedding, but I went end of August. 

Oh well, probably should've changed in during naturalization application. 

Wouldn't it be weird though had I changed my name and then later on apply for marriage license with our names having same last names already? 

14 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

Potentially silly question: but I was under the impression that naturalization was sort of a one-time free name change to anything you like. Like, you can rename yourself Sunshine Frecklebottom if you so choose. Could you simply naturalize with your fiance's last name *before* the wedding (not traditional but, eh,) and save yourself the paperwork and fees?

I thought about this before, but I think this is more complicated in my opinion? I don't know. Lol! 

31 minutes ago, Going through said:

No, not if you didn't declare it during your interview.  The naturalization certificate will only be useful once in your life---when applying for a passport, or if you have children born abroad afterwards to prove their citizenship.  After that, you can use your passport (with your new legal name on it) as proof of citizenship where needed.

 

If you want to get a new naturalization certificate later on with the new legal name you would have to go through USCIS to apply for one, but you won't really need it.  And it's not cheap, either.

Great! Thanks!

2 minutes ago, Going through said:

It seems the easiest way since you are in line for your oath ceremony already.

 

When you apply for the passport, along with your naturalization certificate include a photocopy of your marriage certificate to show the legal name change as you want it to appear on your passport.

Thank you for your response. Yes, I really want to finish the citizenship process before getting married. I don't need to apply to have my name change on my naturalization certificate?

2 minutes ago, Frage said:

Hi you can apply for a passport whenever you want. So if you want to wait until after the name change you'll be perfectly fine. Do you have any travel plans soon? If not, get married, change your name and apply for your passport. Congratulations on getting citizenship and married soon! 

Thank you! I don't have any travel plans soon and probably not until everything gets settled. 😊 

I'll be having my oath ceremony soon (probably by end of September). Also, me and my fiance are planning to get married this October. I'm changing my last name to my fiance's last name and have my maiden name as my new middle name when we get married.

Because of my plans of name change and change of status (single to married), I plan on not applying for US passport until after I get married and not immediately after the oath ceremony. Is this the right way to do this? Has anybody went through the same situation as me?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

24 minutes ago, Going through said:

Just the oath letter and your most recent green card will suffice.  You don't need to bring your passport unless you have travelled out of the US between the interview date and your oath date.

 

I don't have my 2-year GC either, I destroyed it later myself after getting the 10-year GC.

 Thank you! 

Great to know this because I don't plan on bringing a file folder with me with bunch of documents. 😂

6 minutes ago, Frage said:

Well you still have a few days until you receive the letter and actually have the ceremony. If it doesn't fall into your hands by that time, don't worry about it too much.  

Thank you! I hope my mom has it since she hoards a lot of old docs. 😂 and maybe just ask her to mail it to me. If she doesn't, hope it won't be an issue at the oath ceremony. 🤞🏻

1 minute ago, Frage said:

Congratulations! 

 

Green cards... they took my expired one at my interview and for the ceremony I brought my other two. I had a name change that's why I had two. 

 

I'd say bring them all. 

 

They didn't need my passport but bring them just in case. I brought my complete document folder haha

 

Also they'll need your oath ceremony invitation because it has a questionnaire on the back. 

Thank you! 

Ahh... I can't seem to find my very first green card (which is expired) that was issued to me. 😫 

After writing this, I just got the notification that my oath ceremony notice has been mailed!!! 🎉🎉🎉 

Still waiting for my oath letter to come in the mail and decided to start gathering the docs I needed to bring to the oath ceremony. You see, I've been a permanent resident for over 20 yrs and decided to just file for citizenship this year. 

Do I have to bring ALL my green cards even the expired ones? Or just the current one? What about passports? Do I have to bring ALL passports including the expired ones? What else should I bring? 

Just had my naturalization interview couple days ago (got approved) and I just realized now that she didn't asked me to sign any of my photos. I didn't even see my photos. She did however asked me to sign some sheets with my info on it (which I guess the one going to my certificate). 

Is this unusual that she didn't have me sign my photos? Anybody same boat as me?