Name Change

[Vaughn]

We have a woman friend who arrived in the USA on a K-1 visa several years ago. She had been married before, and retained her Russian married surname after marrying the American. The new marriage ultimately failed, and the woman has remained here. She is at the point of applying for citizenship.

The citizenship application (I never noticed this myself) asks the applicant if he/she would like to
change their surname....  hmmmm. She wants to change back to her original maiden name, before
she married anybody at all. Why? I don't know - but I foresee problems at passport control on the
other side of the ocean if she were to travel there - and she will.

Can USCIS just change her name? Is there any kind of document (other than your run-of-the-mill marriage certificate)
explaining the change that would be recognized by passport control? Are there any other kind of sticky situations she
might encounter by changing back to her maiden name?

[siberia]

I can only comment about one part of your question.  When my husband, who is Russian, applied for his citizenship, he saw about the name change and thought he would change his  name to the English version of his Russian name. He filled out the paper with this as his choice and when he became a citizen, no name got changed    I don't know what happened, but he left there an American citizen with the same name as he had for his life! So hope it works for your friend! (YMMV and this was back in 2007)

[Vaughn]

Thanks, siberia. I've been poking around and it seems that she best bet is to do this deal
properly - through a local Court of Law. A bonafide name change decree is her ticket to
getting all other documents in order (or so it appears to us...)

[Muzh]

My wife changed her surname when she married me. Before she became a citizen and would travel with her UA passport we always had a copy of our marriege certificate. After she became a citizen, it became moot and she is treated as any other American citizen when going through passport control.

If your friend becomes an American citizen, why do you think she'll have problems traveling to Russia on a US passport?

[Wayne]

Anyone in USA change legally change theire name; surname, first name, etc.  The requirements are different for each state. You cannot change your name for certain purposes that would be illegal. There is usually a residence requirement for a certain period of time. You go through the court system in the place you live. You can do it yourself.

I know someone who was maried twice, divorced and changed her name to her grandmothers surname because it was Native American.

[Lazarus]

When my wife filed for her citizenship here in the GoodOl' USA, she made a legal name change (she dropped her middle name).

No problems.

Lazarus :evil:

[aikorob]

Name change at Citizenship ceremony---I think Nata simply checked a box on the Naturalization form and wrote her new choice. She didn't change at marriage so there wouldn't be any problems with Ukraine.

This choice prevents one from having a ceremony at USCIC office----we had to go to the federal courthouse in Atlanta last week---ceremony had a judge presiding, he signed all name change papers.
Now she has a shiny new Naturalization certificate, and we are dealing with the headache of changing all accounts and documents.

Vaughn---what problems in Russia for her? Since she would be a US citizen, traveling on a US passport, wouldn't she need a visa to enter Russia like everyone else?

[BC]

Vaughn---what problems in Russia for her? Since she would be a US citizen, traveling on a US passport, wouldn't she need a visa to enter Russia like everyone else?

Nothing wrong with dual citizenship.  Saves a lot of visa fees over time.

Since we got married in RU we were able to somehow push through her new name, but this was back then.  Now with the new computers etc most of western alphabet names are regurgitated out of their system strange ways.  It can get pretty tricky.

Strangely enough, it's not common for married folks here in IT to officially have the same last name as the wife usually keeps her maiden name.  Sometimes we are asked if we are brother and sister, maybe even father / daughter.. lol

http://www.beginningwithi.com/comments/2003/09/08/changing-names-italian-women-keep-their-own-upon-marriage/

[hira101]

it is one of the surprising news for me about the name changing here in this forum . but you think it before the changing the name and i hope you will think upon it deeply.

[Muzh]

Hira:

I asked my wife if she wanted to maintain her Russian last name. Her answer was: "You don't think I'm good enough for your last name?"

That gave me pause to think long and hard about this issue.

But do not fear. Our son carries your tradition as he has a patrimonic middle name. Also, he was named after his grandfather (Mama's dad.)