Name Changes
#16
Re: Name Changes
Except for that 'underwear on the outside', you're practically vanilla ice cream.
I'm talking serious internet crazy folk, we had some awesome regulars, and entertaining brawls.. it used to be a veritable Roman Circus in here!
I'm talking serious internet crazy folk, we had some awesome regulars, and entertaining brawls.. it used to be a veritable Roman Circus in here!
#20
I approved this message
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Chicago
Posts: 2,425
Re: Name Changes
My wife kept her last name. We thought about it for maybe five seconds.
#21
Re: Name Changes
Quick update. Although our "wedding" isn't until November 14th, we were married by my father-in-law (who is a Justice of the Peace) on Sunday. Technically I'm a married man, although I don't think I'll feel it until we've had the big event next month.
Anyway, we went to the bank and Social Security office today and things are getting rather complicated. The bank can't do anything at all without a SSN, which I was half expecting. They apparently can't even add me as a second user on my wife's account so I'm totally without money - fun
The Social Security office told me that he couldn't start the process of issuing a SSN until Homeland Security were aware that I had changed my name through marriage. We then tried to get my wife issued a SS card in our married name and he couldn't do that either. Apparently she can take my name or hyphenate both out names but she can't take on our choice of blended/hybrid name without going through the probate court procedure. I'm starting to wish I'd just decided to take her name, but even then I couldn't get a SSN apparently :-/
I'm spending this evening with my AOS pack. Will filling the forms in using my new married name be ok if I provide the marriage license? It sounds from what the SS office was telling me that I can't use that name legally yet.
Anyway, we went to the bank and Social Security office today and things are getting rather complicated. The bank can't do anything at all without a SSN, which I was half expecting. They apparently can't even add me as a second user on my wife's account so I'm totally without money - fun
The Social Security office told me that he couldn't start the process of issuing a SSN until Homeland Security were aware that I had changed my name through marriage. We then tried to get my wife issued a SS card in our married name and he couldn't do that either. Apparently she can take my name or hyphenate both out names but she can't take on our choice of blended/hybrid name without going through the probate court procedure. I'm starting to wish I'd just decided to take her name, but even then I couldn't get a SSN apparently :-/
I'm spending this evening with my AOS pack. Will filling the forms in using my new married name be ok if I provide the marriage license? It sounds from what the SS office was telling me that I can't use that name legally yet.
#22
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2002
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 38,865
Re: Name Changes
The Social Security office told me that he couldn't start the process of issuing a SSN until Homeland Security were aware that I had changed my name through marriage.
Will filling the forms in using my new married name be ok if I provide the marriage license?
It sounds from what the SS office was telling me that I can't use that name legally yet.
Ian
#23
Re: Name Changes
There are quite a few related but distinctly separate issues involved. The one I really can't find reliable information about is exactly what name change option are available to us with the marriage certificate. My name is Kind, my SO's is Marro. Our initial plan was to change both our names to Kindarro. At the SS office the guy appeared to be willing to do it but apparently their computer system only gave him the option of changing my name to hers, hers to mine or hyphenating for one or both of us. I didn't see what he was looking at but after entering a few details on the computer he came back to us and told us we'd have to go through the legal name change process with a probate court to do what we wanted. I've since tried to find out more about this on the internet and just found vague references which appear to back this up, phrases like "if you've been more creative with your choice of last name you may need to pursue separate legal name-changing procedures" seem abundant.
As far as using my name of choice goes, I want to agree with you Ian but I'm having real trouble generating any confidence that USCIS will accept me using a name for which I don't have a passport or birth certificate in and which another government office (SS) has already indicated they don't recognise. Looking at the previous threads on this issue which were more "normal" (in that one party was changing their name to that of the other) it already seems that the general advice is to wait until applying for citizenship rather than trying to change names mid-immigration process.
I've been reading around this forum and others and it's really hard to tell exactly what the situation is. It clearly is discriminatory but there seems to be a number of cases out there where the man changing the name has raised eye-brows with USCIS officers. The situation isn't helped that here in Vermont the marriage license doesn't say anything about married names on it. Reading around lots of people in other states seem to be saying that once they showed their marriage license with their new name on they didn't have a problem, but the marriage license here doesn't have that option - it only lists our pre-marriage names and states the date and place we were married as well as by whom.
As far as using my name of choice goes, I want to agree with you Ian but I'm having real trouble generating any confidence that USCIS will accept me using a name for which I don't have a passport or birth certificate in and which another government office (SS) has already indicated they don't recognise. Looking at the previous threads on this issue which were more "normal" (in that one party was changing their name to that of the other) it already seems that the general advice is to wait until applying for citizenship rather than trying to change names mid-immigration process.
I've been reading around this forum and others and it's really hard to tell exactly what the situation is. It clearly is discriminatory but there seems to be a number of cases out there where the man changing the name has raised eye-brows with USCIS officers. The situation isn't helped that here in Vermont the marriage license doesn't say anything about married names on it. Reading around lots of people in other states seem to be saying that once they showed their marriage license with their new name on they didn't have a problem, but the marriage license here doesn't have that option - it only lists our pre-marriage names and states the date and place we were married as well as by whom.
Last edited by Malashaan; Oct 14th 2010 at 2:05 am.
#24
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2002
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 38,865
Re: Name Changes
Looking at the previous threads on this issue which were more "normal" (in that one party was changing their name to that of the other) it already seems that the general advice is to wait until applying for citizenship rather than trying to change names mid-immigration process.
Reading around lots of people in other states seem to be saying that once they showed their marriage license with their new name on they didn't have a problem, but the marriage license here doesn't have that option - it only lists our pre-marriage names and states the date and place we were married as well as by whom.
I'll add here, that even if you can't get evidence of your names as you want them to appear, you can still use the names you like. As long as you're not trying to defraud, you can call yourself anything you want.
Ian
#25
Re: Name Changes
There are quite a few related but distinctly separate issues involved. The one I really can't find reliable information about is exactly what name change option are available to us with the marriage certificate. My name is Kind, my SO's is Marro. Our initial plan was to change both our names to Kindarro. .
#26
Re: Name Changes
Q
Anyway, we went to the bank and Social Security office today and things are getting rather complicated. The bank can't do anything at all without a SSN, which I was half expecting. They apparently can't even add me as a second user on my wife's account so I'm totally without money - fun
Anyway, we went to the bank and Social Security office today and things are getting rather complicated. The bank can't do anything at all without a SSN, which I was half expecting. They apparently can't even add me as a second user on my wife's account so I'm totally without money - fun
You can change the name later on while you work this out, but if you don't get your SS application in on time, you're going to wish you had.
The bank can too help you; the person you spoke to chose not to.
#27
Re: Name Changes
Thanks for the input everyone. I'd come to the same conclusion meauxna - we decided to keep our names unchanged for now and make a change later if we still want to. We probably will because we both want a "family name" and we don't want to pick one name over the other...and we reckon hyphenating either way round sounds crap with our names
I'd heard about the Villaraigosas, one of the reasons I thought this would be straight-forward, but apparently bureaucracy continues to be an obstacle when one's combining immigration and marriage. I'm amazed at the general level of "getting the law completely wrong" which exists amongst US officials. Today's fun was trying to convince civil surgeons that I didn't need a full medical
I'd heard about the Villaraigosas, one of the reasons I thought this would be straight-forward, but apparently bureaucracy continues to be an obstacle when one's combining immigration and marriage. I'm amazed at the general level of "getting the law completely wrong" which exists amongst US officials. Today's fun was trying to convince civil surgeons that I didn't need a full medical