Name change before N-400 interview??

L

lidia

Registered Users (C)
Let me thank you all for this helpful website.

I have a question regarding my full name.
I have a middle name which is in my birth
certificate. In my GC interview I simply asked the
officer that I want my Middle name to be initialed on
my GC and she did that and I got my GC card with my
Middle name initialed on that. My SS card and Driver
License are also with middle name initialed.

As you know in N-400 forms It asks in the first question your
complete name as it appears in your birth certificate.
Now again all my NOAs are with my full name.
I have 45 days till my N-400 Interview and I did
My Question is:

1- Can I ask the officer like before that I don't want
my full middle name appear on my Citizenship
Certificate? Or would it be considered as NAME CHANGE???

2- If they say NO what should I do to not have that on my
US passport.

If it'd be considered as NAME CHANGE should I initiate
court order to drop my middle name and have the
document ready before interview.

Any Experience on this
Please advise me on this one.
 
lidia said:
Let me thank you all for this helpful website.

I have a question regarding my full name.
I have a middle name which is in my birth
certificate. In my GC interview I simply asked the
officer that I want my Middle name to be initialed on
my GC and she did that and I got my GC card with my
Middle name initialed on that. My SS card and Driver
License are also with middle name initialed.

As you know in N-400 forms It asks in the first question your
complete name as it appears in your birth certificate.
Now again all my NOAs are with my full name.
I have 45 days till my N-400 Interview and I did
My Question is:

1- Can I ask the officer like before that I don't want
my full middle name appear on my Citizenship
Certificate? Or would it be considered as NAME CHANGE???

2- If they say NO what should I do to not have that on my
US passport.

If it'd be considered as NAME CHANGE should I initiate
court order to drop my middle name and have the
document ready before interview.

Any Experience on this
Please advise me on this one.
Click to expand...

As for as I know after 9/11 they do write full middle name. You can change your name however you want to but I am certain that they will spell out your middle name on the natualization certificate.
 
Lida,
Looks like you are a little bit afraid of the "NAME CHANGE"? Why ? Just tell the officer at the interview that you want to drop the middle name and be done with it.
 
Uh Really,

So I can do that at the time of interview. That would be nice and easy.

Thanks a lot.
 
BTW,

I read somewhere today that name change will is no longer part of the Naturalization process!!!???

Does it mean that the officer won't be able to drop my Middle name or change it at the time of interview?????

Thanks
Lidia
 
I had my interview last week, and we had a specific discussion about the name change. Even if the change is proposed, it is not in effect now.

Please do not get so worked up about your middle name.
 
lidia said:
Let me thank you all for this helpful website.

I have a question regarding my full name.
I have a middle name which is in my birth
certificate. In my GC interview I simply asked the
officer that I want my Middle name to be initialed on
my GC and she did that and I got my GC card with my
Middle name initialed on that. My SS card and Driver
License are also with middle name initialed.

As you know in N-400 forms It asks in the first question your
complete name as it appears in your birth certificate.
Now again all my NOAs are with my full name.
I have 45 days till my N-400 Interview and I did
My Question is:

1- Can I ask the officer like before that I don't want
my full middle name appear on my Citizenship
Certificate? Or would it be considered as NAME CHANGE???

2- If they say NO what should I do to not have that on my
US passport.

If it'd be considered as NAME CHANGE should I initiate
court order to drop my middle name and have the
document ready before interview.

Any Experience on this
Please advise me on this one.
Click to expand...
Depends on the immigration officer. If (s)he decides that you will have to do it through court, your oath might be delayed.
 
I guess you are right. I read in another post that somebody did his interview in CA and he asked him to change his name. The officer had responded that this might cause a problem, so he passed on that.

So why not as an alternative I do go to court next week and ask them to drop my middle name. Is it lengthy or an expensive process???? Or does it cause another problem for my citizenship process?????

Uh boy,
lidia
 
lidia said:
I guess you are right. I read in another post that somebody did his interview in CA and he asked him to change his name. The officer had responded that this might cause a problem, so he passed on that.

So why not as an alternative I do go to court next week and ask them to drop my middle name. Is it lengthy or an expensive process???? Or does it cause another problem for my citizenship process?????

Uh boy,
lidia
Click to expand...
You can leave your name as it is on the green card. If you need to change your name you can do it AFTER your naturalization through court. It will cost you approximately $ 200 and a month or two based on your court.
 
phillydude said:
Depends on the immigration officer. If (s)he decides that you will have to do it through court, your oath might be delayed.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by saying "you will have to go through court"? Is it not the requirement for all applicants to be sworn in a court if you are getting your name changed? The officer I was dealing with never said that the name change is going to be a problem in any way, I am not sure why the other poster did not question the immigration officer further when he was told about possible problems. And even if the oath is delayed, what is the big problem in that?
 
When I had my interview, the officer mentioned that a name change might cause problems. I could have asked him more details on why he is saying that etc but at that time, I did not want to complicate matters and told that I will go with the same name.

I now got my Certificate and US Passport and hope to change my name. Hopefully, this is not a complex or expensive process. If you have any pointers on how to do this, please let me know...thanks.
 
GeneM said:
What do you mean by saying "you will have to go through court"? Is it not the requirement for all applicants to be sworn in a court if you are getting your name changed? The officer I was dealing with never said that the name change is going to be a problem in any way, I am not sure why the other poster did not question the immigration officer further when he was told about possible problems.
Click to expand...

If have have read my posting correctly, you would understand it better. I clearly stated it depends on the immigration officer. If a name change is requested and the officer insists on doing it through the court, USCIS will do the paper work for you. You will then have to take your oath in a district court in front of a judge and judge will also sign the papers for name change. Oath ceremonies in district courts are not scheduled frequently and you end up waiting for your turn.
And even if the oath is delayed, what is the big problem in that?
Click to expand...
depends on each individual's situation. There are people eagarly waiting to sponsor their loved ones...
 
Quote: If (s)he decides that you will have to do it through court, your oath might be delayed.

Please read again your post and you will see why I saw a problem. I do not believe that the immigration officer can decide if you have to do through court. If you are changing the name, you have to do it in court, period. And I am well aware of the procedure, I just pointed out that it is not at the discretion of the officer but it is up to you: if you are changing your name, you are doing through the court.

Speaking about delays. I do agree with you that it is a real problem for a number of people separated from their loved ones. However, the original poster was more concerned with her middle name being dropped than anything else.
 
GeneM said:
Quote: If (s)he decides that you will have to do it through court, your oath might be delayed.
Click to expand...
What I meant was, when a name change is requested by the applicant, if the immigration officer decides that the request is NOT a small one (fixing spelling etc..), and insists that the change be done through court...


Some times when a name change is requested, the officer just makes the change w/o creating a fuss and this happened in RahulKumar's case. However, in my case, all USCIS documents had my middlename and last name switched but my DL had the correct name. Immigration officer said I will have to do it through court and I pretty much had no say in it.
 
OK in my case All my immigration papers from the start up to now:including my K-1 Visa, All my NOA for conditional green card, my Driver License, SS card, Green Card and everything is with middle name initialed. But as the N-400 ask for the complete name as appears in the birth certificate, I had to write and now all the N-400 NOA are with complete middle name.

So my understanding is that there be will be some chances for me that the officer look at my old documents and agrees but have you guys seen any Citizenship Certificate or passport with middle name initial????????? I guess not, so I should ask s(he) to drop it completely.
 
My interview result

phillydude said:
You can leave your name as it is on the green card. If you need to change your name you can do it AFTER your naturalization through court. It will cost you approximately $ 200 and a month or two based on your court.
Click to expand...


I did my interview. Everything went very well except when I asked the officer that I want to drop my middle name because it is long, he told me that I have to do it through court and it might delay my oath. I have to add that my name check result was not there either. So I am sort of confused here. Can I now go to court and file my name change or should I wait till after my oath.

By the way in all of my official documents my middle name is initialed, even in my 10 year green card. So he didn't accept to do that.

Please advise, Thanks.
 
lidia said:
I did my interview. Everything went very well except when I asked the officer that I want to drop my middle name because it is long, he told me that I have to do it through court and it might delay my oath. I have to add that my name check result was not there either. So I am sort of confused here. Can I now go to court and file my name change or should I wait till after my oath.

By the way in all of my official documents my middle name is initialed, even in my 10 year green card. So he didn't accept to do that.

Please advise, Thanks.
Click to expand...
lidia:
if your name is initialed everywhere and not spelled out ever, then why bother dropping it?
when will you really use your middle name? i never spell out my middle name in the US (and my middle name is also pretty long)
i would make as fewer changes to anything as possible
get your oath first
people get married, get divorced...women get (or don't) their maiden names back....even after the citizenship there might be changes to your name - so what? middle name is only an initial on almost all the documents we use here in the US...
i would not involve anymore paperwork at this point, especially if the only reason for change is the fact that your middle name is long.
good luck!
 
mfar said:
lidia:
if your name is initialed everywhere and not spelled out ever, then why bother dropping it?
when will you really use your middle name? i never spell out my middle name in the US (and my middle name is also pretty long)
i would make as fewer changes to anything as possible
get your oath first
people get married, get divorced...women get (or don't) their maiden names back....even after the citizenship there might be changes to your name - so what? middle name is only an initial on almost all the documents we use here in the US...
i would not involve anymore paperwork at this point, especially if the only reason for change is the fact that your middle name is long.
good luck!
Click to expand...

You are right and I even don't mind to have my complete middle name on my
certificate of citizenship, which I will have, but the point is that it will also be on paasport in full and this is what I don't want like. So If for the passport they go with my Driving license, I will be fine as they will just put initial but if they go with my certificate of citizenship they will put the full middle name. So If I be sure that they look at my driving license, I won't do anything otherwise I have to change. Because Philly posted earlier that through court, it might take about a month or two, so I decided to do it from now but I guess it is not a good idea to do that before oath. Do you think so???
 
mfar said:
lidia:
if your name is initialed everywhere and not spelled out ever, then why bother dropping it?

It was initialed every where even on my green card, but if you recall on N-400 they ask to write the full name and middle name, so this is why I had to write that because I hadn't change that through court before.
Click to expand...
 
lidia said:
mfar said:
lidia:
if your name is initialed everywhere and not spelled out ever, then why bother dropping it?

It was initialed every where even on my green card, but if you recall on N-400 they ask to write the full name and middle name, so this is why I had to write that because I hadn't change that through court before.
Click to expand...
Yes, they will spell out your full middle name on the certificate, but so what?
They will spell your full middle name on the passport - big deal!
We NEVER spell out our middle names anywhere in the US! You are saying it's too long...But if you don't EVER have to spell it out - then why do you care?
There might be some other personal reason you have - it's your business
I have a long middle name - i don't care, b/c i never use it!!!!
Click to expand...
 
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