Green card holder. Can i change my name?

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braveone

Registered Users (C)
This may be an obvious answer as i also do think it's possible but i need to be certain. Can i change my name while i am permanent resident holding a green card. Reason that i am asking it's that i heard somewhere that you'd have to change your name in the country you are a citizen first before asking to do so in this country. Is it true? Or, you could just wait for the naturalization process and do it there. I seriously need to change my name because people are having a hard time to pronounce it.

Thank you.
 
You don't need to wait for naturalization, and you don't need to handle it in your country of citizenship. As a permanent resident, you can change your name through the court system where you live. Contact your City Hall for information on the forms, fees, and procedures. Then once the process is complete you'll need to use the court paper to update your green card, driver's license, Social Security card, etc.

But be aware that it may cost hundreds of dollars and take months, so if you're close to being eligible for naturalization it might be better to wait (it's no extra charge when done through naturalization, and USCIS handles the court paperwork behind the scenes).
 
I have few questions:

1) What do you mean by "USCIS handles the court paperwork behind the scenes" ?

2) I wonder what problems you can run into if you change your name just in the USA. This way one ends up with green card and passport from the country of origin, both with different names! How does it work then when coming back to USA? This must confuse every inspection you go through.

3) Ad to 2. How about international flight tickets? Which name to put in?

4) Name change involves a lot of problems, I guess. Is it very common in America? I mean, won't you then look like a criminal from the perspective of a bureau, government, .... ?
 
Hannah7 said:
I have few questions:

1) What do you mean by "USCIS handles the court paperwork behind the scenes" ?

2) I wonder what problems you can run into if you change your name just in the USA. This way one ends up with green card and passport from the country of origin, both with different names! How does it work then when coming back to USA? This must confuse every inspection you go through.

3) Ad to 2. How about international flight tickets? Which name to put in?

4) Name change involves a lot of problems, I guess. Is it very common in America? I mean, won't you then look like a criminal from the perspective of a bureau, government, .... ?
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1) If you do a name change on your own you have to fill out a stack of paperwork with the court. But if you request the name change as part of the naturalization process, USCIS will file the necessary papers with the court on your behalf.

2) To change your foreign passport after a name change in the US, you would have to show the name change paperwork to your country's government officials (either at a consulate or in your country itself). If they won't recognize the US-based name change, you'll need to do another name change with them.

3) It's a good idea to get your passport and green card synced up with your new name before traveling. But if you can't get all that done, you need to travel with the name change order so they can make the connection between your old and new names.

4) Name change is common in America for immigrants and celebrities. Ever heard of Mohammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Chad Ochocinco? None of those are their original names.

As far as criminality is concerned, it is standard procedure to do background checks before granting the name change.
 
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Name change if from India

I read a ton of posts from former Indian citizens who changed their names and all the "crap" that India puts them through in order to get the Government of India to recognize the new name.

Check with your home country government about their stance on the situation.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
For a Permanent Resident, the US is the "home country" government, no? ;)
Click to expand...

Not yet. AND a whole lot of folks don't put their heart into being an American even after naturalization. Remembering, respecting and revering one's heritage is admirable but some despicable individuals (not the OP) don't take anything more from the U.S. than ease of travel on a U.S. passport and direct deposited SSI payments. Those same ones don't give anything back either.

The OP, on the other hand, is making a concession in order to make his/her life in the U.S. smoother, implying that a major effort is being made to join this society.
 
Jackolantern: That made me laugh. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went from a such a easy name as "Lew" to this difficult one :cool:

By the way, I was also thinking about changing my first name (last name is short and good to pronounce). Let's go a little philosophize:

- Most immigrant to America will never be Americans deep inside, isn't then better just to keep the old name?

- I wonder what immigrants from which countries change the names most often. I would say Asians. If you are a Russian with name "Petrovich", "Ivan" that's not American name, but it's still good. How about Chinese name Wu, Ng, Goh, Zang ... probably harder.

- I'm undecided what to do with my first name though. Being worried about all the papework and legal stuff then. It's not easy :confused:
 
Hannah7 said:
- Most immigrant to America will never be Americans deep inside, isn't then better just to keep the old name?
Click to expand...

That depends on the definition of "American deep inside". Some feel "more American" when they change their obviously foreign-sounding name to something more "Americanized". And some came from an oppressive country and feel the name change would distance themselves more from that country.

On the other hand, some want to preserve the connection to their original name, so when they change their name they don't drop the old name altogether. They add a new first name and shift the original first name to the middle, or add a last name and shift the original last name to the middle. With the difficult name being pushed to the middle, 95% of the time they can just use a middle initial or leave it out, so they don't have to worry about the spelling or pronunciation confusing people on a day-to-day basis.

- I wonder what immigrants from which countries change the names most often. I would say Asians. If you are a Russian with name "Petrovich", "Ivan" that's not American name, but it's still good. How about Chinese name Wu, Ng, Goh, Zang ... probably harder.
Click to expand...

I expect those with names that are hard to spell or pronounce in America would be more likely to change their names, regardless of where they came from. For example, one Russian lady at my workplace changed her long first name to a shorter Americanized name, but kept her Russian last name which was half as long and easy to pronounce and spell.
 
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Change name on green card?

I need to change my name that appears on the green card.

The thing is, I didn't change my name, but my name that appears on the green card is completely different from the name I use. Where I come from, we have long names ( 2 family names, 1 first name, 1 middle name, 1 last name) and when I applied for the green card, I had to put the whole name in the application. Now USCIS have used my above mentioned "family names" as my first and middle name and my last name. Even better, my family name was too long for them to use as a first name so they used first 6 letters of that as the first name which sounds ridiculous and embarrassing :( So my actual first and middle names are all gone. I didn't mind it for the past 2 years and I just realized that all my college transcripts etc. are going to be in this name and now I really need that to be changed.

Is there anything I could do to get this corrected? How would the process go? How long will it take? How much would it cost? At this point I don't really care even if I had to pay a thousand dollars. I just need it fixed :(
 
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