Name change after marriage?

W

Whippy

Registered Users (C)
Hi everyone.

I will be marrying my fiance who is a South African citizen later this year in South Africa and will then return to the states to file for her K3 and PR status while she stays in South Africa, then she will join me here once the visa goes through.

When I go to file these papers, how will things be affected by her name change after our marriage? Is she going to need to get her South African passport, drivers license and national ID changed to reflect her new surname before I can apply for her visa, etc. or should I apply using her current name and information? I don't want us to start filing information that is going to come back as invalid because her name is different on her government information than what her new name will be, but I also don't want to waste time waiting for her name changes on the South Africa side if that is not necessary.

Could someone please clarify what the best approach to this is?

thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
When I applied I kept everything under my maiden name since I didn't want there to be any problem with name differences. I had no problem with my application or my interview.. my GC was approved on Wednesday. I won;t change my name until later.
 
Whippy said:
Hi everyone.

I will be marrying my fiance who is a South African citizen later this year in South Africa and will then return to the states to file for her K3 and PR status while she stays in South Africa, then she will join me here once the visa goes through.

When I go to file these papers, how will things be affected by her name change after our marriage? Is she going to need to get her South African passport, drivers license and national ID changed to reflect her new surname before I can apply for her visa, etc. or should I apply using her current name and information? I don't want us to start filing information that is going to come back as invalid because her name is different on her government information than what her new name will be, but I also don't want to waste time waiting for her name changes on the South Africa side if that is not necessary.

Could someone please clarify what the best approach to this is?

thanks!
Click to expand...


I'd say its much easier to leave her name as is. There is no need to rush into changing names. She can change her name later here in the US. The South Africans are not going to regard her any less if she is married and uses her maiden name. So I'd say to avoid explaining things let her use her maiden name for the time being. Besides the SA names are lovely be they Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans etc ;)
 
I took my husband's name after we got married. When we applied for AOS I submitted documents with my maiden (passports , birth certificate, partialy tax returns and W2) name and my married name. It didn'tmake any difference. All her documens here will go under the name you CHOOSE to, and that's how she'll be input in their data.
I think it would be much easier if she takes your name after you get married and submit all her papers here with the married name. It will save you (maybe) more paperwork later. I actually changed my maiden name in my home country one year after my AOS in the US was completed and already had a green card.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top