Hello,
I am having a problem with my Green card process and I would like to share with all because I am blocked and running out of ideas.
My wife is an American citizen through birth and we are trying to immigrate back to the US.
USCIS is blocking our Green Card process because she has a dual citizenship and the surname in US passport is different than the one in her Greek passport.
The story is the following:
Back in the 60's her father, a Greek citizen immigrated in the US and received citizenship through naturalization.
Because his Greek name was difficult to pronounce, he changed in the US so he became let's say from "Nick Chatzigeorgiou" to "Nick George".
In the 70's my wife was born (legal marriage and all) in the US and her name was declared "Maria George".
In the 80's the family moved permanently back in Greece.
In the 90's my wife issued Greek Id and passport with the Greek name "Maria Chatzigeorgiou". Because also in Greece her name initially was "Maria George", she had to go to a district attorney and get like a "permit" that allowed her name in Greek registry to change from "Maria George" to "Maria Chatzigeorgiou".
Now we are trying to issue Green Card for me and my children. Our marriage certificate and birth certificates of the children mention the Greek surname of my wife.
USCIS requires an official document that proves that "Maria George" and "Maria Chatzigeorgiou" is the same person.
They requested for the district attorney's "permit" of the name change but neither us or the Greek State posses a copy of this record anymore.
What we have instead is an official Greek registry copy that mentions that my wife had a name change from "George" to "Chatzigeorgiou".
Unfortunately UCIS does not accept this document for an unclear reason. What they are saying to us is to ask US passport if they can (!) add both her surnames in her US passport in order to unblock the process.
Even if this is possible, we are worried that it may cause problem with her other US affairs such as Social Security etc so we want to avoid a name change.
Any ideas of how should he handle this case and if avoiding changing surnames would be very welcome.
I am having a problem with my Green card process and I would like to share with all because I am blocked and running out of ideas.
My wife is an American citizen through birth and we are trying to immigrate back to the US.
USCIS is blocking our Green Card process because she has a dual citizenship and the surname in US passport is different than the one in her Greek passport.
The story is the following:
Back in the 60's her father, a Greek citizen immigrated in the US and received citizenship through naturalization.
Because his Greek name was difficult to pronounce, he changed in the US so he became let's say from "Nick Chatzigeorgiou" to "Nick George".
In the 70's my wife was born (legal marriage and all) in the US and her name was declared "Maria George".
In the 80's the family moved permanently back in Greece.
In the 90's my wife issued Greek Id and passport with the Greek name "Maria Chatzigeorgiou". Because also in Greece her name initially was "Maria George", she had to go to a district attorney and get like a "permit" that allowed her name in Greek registry to change from "Maria George" to "Maria Chatzigeorgiou".
Now we are trying to issue Green Card for me and my children. Our marriage certificate and birth certificates of the children mention the Greek surname of my wife.
USCIS requires an official document that proves that "Maria George" and "Maria Chatzigeorgiou" is the same person.
They requested for the district attorney's "permit" of the name change but neither us or the Greek State posses a copy of this record anymore.
What we have instead is an official Greek registry copy that mentions that my wife had a name change from "George" to "Chatzigeorgiou".
Unfortunately UCIS does not accept this document for an unclear reason. What they are saying to us is to ask US passport if they can (!) add both her surnames in her US passport in order to unblock the process.
Even if this is possible, we are worried that it may cause problem with her other US affairs such as Social Security etc so we want to avoid a name change.
Any ideas of how should he handle this case and if avoiding changing surnames would be very welcome.