lily74

I am a British teacher who is curently working in Atlanta on a J-1 visa. I got married 2 weeks ago to an American citizen.
I just sent all my forms, yesterday...I130, I465, I765 etc so have not heard anything yet.
My question is, now that I am married and need to change my name on my passport, what will happen with my J-1 visa, will it be cancelled, will they put it in my new passport, do I even need it anymore? And, if I send my passport and Marriage certificate to the Embassy in Washington DC, will I get the marriage certificate back?

Thanks in advance, the other posts on here have been very helpful.

Bob

You don't actually have to change the name in your passport just because you got married, certainly if you have years left as it's a waste of money...

Elvira

She doesn't have to change her name anywhere...

lily74

So even if I have changed the name on my Social Security card and drivers license, I do not have to change the passport name?
I thought I read somewhere that I did.

Lagomorpheus

Hi Lily,
I have changed my name on my SS card and DL when I got married, but
still haven't gotten around to my passport yet. When I travel (I'm a
USC) internationally, I just use the name in my passport (maiden name)
on my plane tickets, etc. When my husband and I had our AOS interview,
the officer didn't seem bothered that the name in my passport had not
been changed.

If you need to show your passport for another form of ID to go along
with one of the forms that has your new name, what I have done is shown
my marriage license as well. This strategy seems to work and I haven't
had any trouble.

Are you planning international travel where you would need the passport
to re-enter the country on the J1? That is something you might check
out, as I'm not sure if you are still allowed to enter the country on
the J1 now that you have an I-485 pending. You may need to use the AP
documentation and I'm not sure if that is issued in your new name, if
your passport needs to match...

Good luck!
Marie

lily74

That was the problem I was thinking about. I have also applied for AP as I want to go home in the summer to celebrate my wedding, but all the paperwork is in my new name.
Where else could I find out if this would be a problem? If I called the uscis number would they know the answer?

Elvira

I would NEVER believe anything the "USCIS number" tells me!

Infopass appointment - maybe.

Bob

You only have to change the name when you need to renew your passport, don't need to till it expires, baring in mind it's almost a couple hundred bucks for a new one in the US.

If you travel, use your maiden name, or if you used your marriage name, bring copy of your wedding certificate and your sorted.

Lagomorpheus

I also second you should not believe what they tell you at the USCIS
number!

You could make an Infopass appointment to double check. It seems like
as long as you had your AP in your new name, marriage certificate, and
your passport it would not be a problem, but logic doesn't always
prevail.

I have phoned the British Embassy (from the US where they charge
something like $3.00 per minute) to ask questions about travel to the
UK from my perspective as a USC married to a UKC. Perhaps you could
call them to find out what the passport processing times are like and
whether you could send a certified copy of your marriage certificate
(which you should be able to get from the recorder's office where you
had your marriage). I would recommend holding on to the original, as
I've needed to show it for lots of random things relating to my name
change.

I would think it wouldn't matter what your J1 showed at this point,
since once you re-enter the US, it will be on the AP and you will have
to work with your EAD not the J1 (I think, again this is something you
should double check).

Marie

FlyergirlUK

They will only accept originals of all forms at the UK Embassy. They send them back - they have no need to keep them.

Just Jenney

When I got married to my first husband 10 years ago, we were living in Chile at the time. My Chilean cédula, job info, health insurance, etc., were all in my maiden name, so it was just easier to keep my maiden name. (It's also the cultural norm for Chilean women to use their maiden names, anyway.)

A year later we decided to return to the US. At that point my passport was still valid for several years, so I just sent it to the US State Dept with a completed form and an official marriage certificate to change my name. A few weeks later I got my passport and marriage certificate back in the mail. Towards the back of my passport, they had typed in "Name was changed to Jennifer XXXXXXX on May 1, 1007" (or something similar). There was no fee for me to do this at all.

From the responses here it sounds like you can't do this simple process if you hold a UK passport. That didn't sound right to me, so I looked it up:

You can find out how to change the name on your UK passport HERE. I must admit, though, that there is NO mention of whether there is a fee involved -- at least I didn't seen one, anyway.

~ Jenney

Bob

In the UK, it's £51 to replace the passport, so presuming you'll have to pay far more for it over here...

http://www.passport.gov.uk/passport_amending_fees.asp that's the link for if your in the UK...

Just Jenney

See, that's what seems confusing to me. When I changed my name on my US passport, I didn't replace my passport -- I mailed it to the State Dept, they added a typed amendment to it and then returned it to me. It just seems really strange to me that the UK doesn't have a similar option.

~ Jenney

Bob

It's a good money scam ain't it...but then again, you also don't have to update the passport until it's time to renew anyway, so I wouldn't bother myself, being a bloke makes that a bit easier too