Help with Spanish Surnames

[percyhoward]

I'm a USC; my wife is from Mexico on a visitor visa, filing for AOS. Her name is Maria Luna Sanchez, which means that when placed in an alphabetized list, she'd be under "L." (Luna Sanchez, Maria)

(These names are fictitious--sorry if I chose yours)

She is Maria Luna Sanchez on...
her Mexican birth certificate
her Mexican passport
her I-94 card
our children's US Consular Reports of Birth
our US marriage certificate

I'm John Smith.

The question is about how to fill out the AOS forms.
Her real name (Maria Luna Sanchez) is not an option.
Is she Maria Smith now, just because she wants to live in the US?
Is she Maria Luna?
Maria Luna-Smith?
Maria Luna-Sanchez? (following the logic of the US State Dept, which took the liberty of giving all our children the surname Smith-Luna on their CRB's).

 

[Jackolantern]

Her real name (Maria Luna Sanchez) is not an option.

Her name is whatever she wants it to be, provided she has supporting evidence for it and actually uses that name in daily life. If she wants to take your last name, she can do that and the marriage certificate would be the supporting evidence.

Now you may have other problems given that she entered the US with a B2 visa. Given that she is not only married to a USC but also has US citizen children, the interviewer may find it hard to believe that she didn't enter the US with a preconceived intent to immigrate. And entering the US with a B2 visa with a preconceived intent to immigrate is grounds for denial of the AOS. If you're using the AOS route instead of consular processing, wait at least 90 days since entering the US before filing it (the sooner the AOS is filed, the more likely it is that the issue of immigrant intent causes a problem).

 

[percyhoward]

Jackolantern, thanks, for the info and the advice.