How can green card change their Name

[Akram S saga]

hello everybody, helpful forum
my Q is: I have gained visa after my interview of my dv lottery Selection, and my green card will be mailed to my friend in USA, So, i want to change my name Now, and also my Social Security Number Name, how can i? (i mean changing my name in USA, not my current Country)
Thank you, and Sorry if my Question is from FAQ, i thought my Situation maybe Different.

 

[Sm1smom]

Why didn’t you do a formal name change before your interview? You cannot change the name the original GC and SSN will be issued in.

If you have a compelling reason for the name change, when you get to the US, you’ll need to file a petition with the court and pay the applicable fee. You may be required to post a name change petition notice in the papers before the court will grant your request.

Then you will need to pay and apply for a replacement GC (after the court approves your name change petition). Current fee for a replacement GC is $455 plus $85 for biometrics. It currently takes roughly 11 to 12 months for a replacement GC to be processed. When you get the replacement GC in your new name, then you request for a replacement SSN card in your new name.

Then you’ll need to apply for a new passport in your new name, since the names need to match for international flights.

 

[Akram S saga]

Thank you verry much Sm1smom, I couldn't change my name because I didn't want this become Public here (my country), but is it Mandatory to post my name change in Papers?
and can you tell me please how and which Paper i have to post in?
Thanks

 

[Sm1smom]

Thank you verry much Sm1smom, I couldn't change my name because I didn't want this become Public here (my country), but is it Mandatory to post my name change in Papers?
and can you tell me please how and which Paper i have to post in?
Thanks

The requirement to post or not post a name change announcement will depend on the county/State you’ll be living in. You will get further guidance from the courts when you approach them for the name change request.

 

[Akram S saga]

Thanks so much.

 

[rafi-cairo]

..

If you want to change it now, you will have to go through certain procedures that might vary a little based on your state, then you will need to fill an application for a new green card. The problem here is that if you change your name in America but not in your home country, you might face issues when you want to visit your country and try to leave, if your country's citizens require a Visa to the USA. Your passport will have the original name, but your green card (visa) will have a different name. You would then have to carry the court order granting your name change and show it to the airline employees, who might give you some headache or may even deny you boarding if they were unfamiliar with the situation. You also must buy flights using your original name, because to fly the name on the ticket must match your travel document.

The best way to do it is to live for 5 years with your original name, then when you apply for citizenship you can choose to change your name on the N-400, and you will then have your ceremony in a court and your name will change smoothly without extra procedures or having to publish anything. After that you will have a US passport with your new name, and since you don't want to publicise it in your home country you will have to do the following;

Buy the ticket using your new name, and fly from the USA normally using your US passport. Then when you approach passport control in your country, present the old passport, and enter the country. When you want to leave, present the US passport to the airline check-in desk because it matches the name on the ticket and of course you don't need a visa to fly with it, then when you approach passport control choose whether to give them your old passport or the US one. After passport control you can use the US passport to sail through the gate because it has the name that matches the ticket. In some countries you might have extra checks for the departure stamp after passing through passport control, so make sure you present whichever passport that got stamped.

I would use the old passport at passport control while leaving my home country, so that next time I enter the country with it they don't ask me why they have no record of me leaving with that passport.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Rafi, that all sounds way too complicated, why use different passports on entry and exit? Get a new passport to match the new name, whenever that is done, then just use it, and no further problems. I can see great problems trying to enter any country on a passport using a name that is no longer legally yours.

 

[Sm1smom]

The best way to do it is to live for 5 years with your original name, then when you apply for citizenship you can choose to change your name on the N-400, and you will then have your ceremony in a court and your name will change smoothly without extra procedures or having to publish anything. After that you will have a US passport with your new name, and since you don't want to publicise it in your home country you will have to do the following;

There is no guarantee the oat ceremony will take place in a court on the basis of indicating a name change request on the N400. There are reports of people who made the request on the N400 and where told to go through the formal process on their own and present the name change certificate before the naturalization certificate got issued.

 

[rafi-cairo]

Rafi, that all sounds way too complicated, why use different passports on entry and exit? Get a new passport to match the new name, whenever that is done, then just use it, and no further problems. I can see great problems trying to enter any country on a passport using a name that is no longer legally yours.

Not at all. Well known and established procedure. Sometimes you simply can't change your original name in country of origin, either because of social taboos or because it's not allowed legally. In my native Egypt you can only change your first name if you make a case to the judge that you first name is problematic or embarrassing, but you can't change the last or middle names under any circumstances.

 

[rafi-cairo]

There is no guarantee the oat ceremony will take place in a court on the basis of indicating a name change request on the N400. There are reports of people who made the request on the N400 and where told to go through the formal process on their own and present the name change certificate before the naturalization certificate got issued.

Maybe special cases where other elements were involved? (like legal issues, bankruptcy, unpaid taxes or child support, etc). The instructions of the N-400 tells you to indicate it on the form then you will receive the naturalisation certificate in the new name. 3 of my cousins and the wife of one of them did just that

https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/n-400instr.pdf
https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/n-400instr.pdf

If you want the court to change your name at your naturalization oath ceremony, select “Yes” and complete this section.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Not at all. Well known and established procedure. Sometimes you simply can't change your original name in country of origin, either because of social taboos or because it's not allowed legally. In my native Egypt you can only change your first name if you make a case to the judge that you first name is problematic or embarrassing, but you can't change the last or middle names under any circumstances.

But if it’s legally changed in the US then that is now your official new name. Of course, if you want to have fun with the new administration and flying under different names to different countries, that’s your business. As a green card holder, not something I would do.

 

[rafi-cairo]

But if it’s legally changed in the US then that is now your official new name. Of course, if you want to have fun with the new administration and flying under different names to different countries, that’s your business. As a green card holder, not something I would do.

Not on green card for the reasons I stated in my first post. Strictly speaking after becoming a citizen. No, it's not, because it's a fact that some countries do not allow you to change your name, and of course US authorities know this. As I demonstrated it's a well known and established procedure with charts explaining the order of which passport with which name to be presented at each step.

 

[Sm1smom]

Maybe special cases where other elements were involved? (like legal issues, bankruptcy, unpaid taxes or child support, etc). The instructions of the N-400 tells you to indicate it on the form then you will receive the naturalisation certificate in the new name. 3 of my cousins and the wife of one of them did just that

https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/n-400instr.pdf

Like I said, not all oat ceremonies take place in a court or is presided over by a judge. If the oat ceremony is scheduled to be presided over by a USCIS Officer, anyone wanting to do a name change may asked to present a name change certificate issued by the court. Your relatives were fortunate to have a judge preside over their swearing in ceremony. That is not always the case.

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/change-name-when-apply-citizenship.html

 

[rafi-cairo]

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/change-name-when-apply-citizenship.html

I wouldn't put much on that. Can you provide a link from governmental site stating that if your office does not hold judicial ceremonies then you're out of luck?

Actually if you indicate a name change you will have a change of venue to have a judicial ceremony.

https://www.uscis.gov/archive/blog/2012/01/naturalization-oath-ceremonies

You will also have a judicial ceremony if you indicate on your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, that you would like to change your name. Your name change must be approved by a judge; therefore, your name change will be changed at a judicial ceremony.

I do not see any exceptions or special conditions in the case your office does not do it. They say if you indicate it, you will receive a judicial one.

 

[rafi-cairo]

Here is a real life example of someone who indicated a name change, so they automatically changed his oath venue to a judicial one

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/641341-anyone-waiting-on-oath-ceremony-with-name-change/

Since I'm preparing to send my N-400 in a few months with name change, I've been pouring all over the details. I was told it might delay my oath ceremony as judicial ones are less frequent, but after 5 years I can wait 2 extra weeks or so

 

[Sm1smom]

I wouldn't put much on that. Can you provide a link from governmental site stating that if your office does not hold judicial ceremonies then you're out of luck?

Actually if you indicate a name change you will have a change of venue to have a judicial ceremony.

https://www.uscis.gov/archive/blog/2012/01/naturalization-oath-ceremonies



I do not see any exceptions or special conditions in the case your office does not do it. They say if you indicate it, you will receive a judicial one.

I know for certain I’ve read of reports where a name charge certificate was requested since the oat ceremony was being presided over by a USCIS personnel and not a judge. Anyways, let’s agree to disagree on this one. You know what you know, I know what I know.

 

[rafi-cairo]

No worries. I'll tell you what exactly happen with me, but sadly with the severe backlog in processing N-400 this might be more than a year away. It's now 9-10 months instead of 4-6

 

[Sm1smom]

I don’t think there’s any thing new you can tell me about the naturalization process I’m afraid. I never said a name change can’t happen during naturalization. All I’ve said is that not all naturalization ceremonies happen in a court or are presided over by a judge and that if the swearing gets done by a USCIS personnel, an applicant requesting a name change could be asked to present a name change certificate in order for the new name(s) to be reflected on the naturalization certificate.

The web link I provided above also explained this and goes on to say the alternative in a situation where the ceremony is not originally scheduled to be presided over by a court will be for USCIS to postpone the oat ceremony for that particular case until a court swearing in can take place. And mind you, this is not a two weeks delay we’re talking about here. We are talking about months of delay. And the real life example’s link is equally in line with this. It talks about the long delay being experienced due to the name change request.

And by the way, there are FOs that are still processing N-400 to completion within 4-6 months, and there are those taking 10-15 months also. It’s all dependent on each FO’s workload, not all of them have been completing the process within a time frame of 4-6 months. Yes I’ve also been pouring over the N400 processing and reviewing them, you’re not the only one currently doing so .

 

[rafi-cairo]

You said

There is no guarantee the oat ceremony will take place in a court on the basis of indicating a name change request on the N400

USCIS says

You will also have a judicial ceremony if you indicate on your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, that you would like to change your name. Your name change must be approved by a judge; therefore, your name change will be changed at a judicial ceremony.

I asked you to provide evidence from official sources supporting the "reports" you speak of, precisely stating that someone who indicated a name change was still given a regular oath ceremony, but you did not provide that.

Not sure what's up with the delayed comeback after the "let's agree to disagree", and the naughty rolling eyes, but typing all the naughty stuff in the world doesn't change the fact that you were miserably wrong and that it has been proven beyond question. USCIS does not state any exception to their statement, no special conditions in the event that your office does not do it, and they simply say that if you indicate it you will receive a judicial one.

The processing times I quoted for the naturalisation process are accurate national averages, taken from the recent report by the Inspector General of DHS.

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2017-12/OIG-18-23-Nov17.pdf

Again, solid date from official sources, accurately quoting the national averages. Your reference to shorter times in some offices in Utah or Maine does not take anything away from the accuracy of my quoted national averages. It just shows your weakness.

Your jumping on the "two weeks" stinks of desperation, the desperation of someone who spent an entire night thinking of a comeback after tucking tail, just to come up with this gem of a post. I said "I can wait two weeks or so", and indeed that's what I would wait for to get a judicial one because that's the general scheduling availability where I am. Try harder next time, but maybe you can get some help because your limited intellect shines through your non-existent debating skills, in addition to your hilarious grammar and punctuation, writing such things as "any thing", and mixing "had been" and "have been", etc. Yes, I too speak English as a second language and I have my typos, but I know better than typing run-on sentences, I know basic grammar, and I know when to use a comma.

My journey here is over, because a place where some moderators constantly go into incoherent hysteric tantrum whenever they get something wrong is not useful nor fun. I'll log-off for good and delete the bookmark now, but don't let this dissuade you from doing the victory dance after you ban my abandoned account or censor this. Seeing how emotional maturity is not exactly your forte, resorting to that is not at all out of the question. Sorry if I was too harsh, but sometimes putting people in their places proves to be a favour to them on the long run. Having a gigantic fragile ego with miniscule skills to back it up can only bring you heartache as you go on, and this lesson might help you and and your enormously self-conscious ilk see the light and treat people better.

Ciao

 

[Sm1smom]

Resorting to personal attack is a known trade mark of yours in this forum. Anyways, I hope you’re truly done with your ranting, so