Wife's name change on the Citizenship application

[warko01]

Hello,
I am ready to apply for both of our citizenship applications. My wife's GC contains her maiden name and not my last name. We got married in India sometime back. All her GC, SSN, passports, etc still contain her old maiden name. Now we want to append my last name to her last name something like HerFirstName LastName-HusbandsLastName. I have seen the Name Change entry in the application form. Would it be as simple as providing the new info on the form or is there any other procedure for it?

Thanks in advance.....

- warko01

 

[König]

Would it be as simple as providing the new info on the form ...

Yes. In the field under name change on N-400, she needs to put her new desired full name. That's all. At the interview, the IO will verify if this is her desired new name. Naturalisation is the easiest way to change the name.

 

[BigJoe5]

Hello,
I am ready to apply for both of our citizenship applications. My wife's GC contains her maiden name and not my last name. We got married in India sometime back. All her GC, SSN, passports, etc still contain her old maiden name. Now we want to append my last name to her last name something like HerFirstName LastName-HusbandsLastName. I have seen the Name Change entry in the application form. Would it be as simple as providing the new info on the form or is there any other procedure for it?

Thanks in advance.....

- warko01

Is it customary for your culture/religion/sect/whatever for the wife to take the husband's last name? Is it something that already happened through marriage? In the U.S., it is generally accepted for a wife to take the husband's last name as hers (although it is a choice that is not forced). The U.S. will accept a marriage certificate as sufficient proof of her name change. She can just put that down on her N-400 as current name and list her maiden name as "other name used". In doing this she will not require a name change petition and this will allow her to get an administrative oath if available and offered at the location where she is processed.

 

[König]

BigJoe, will it not be a problem at the interview if the OP's wife cannot show any legal document with her "new" name? If all her documents only show her maiden name (current), maybe it would be safer to request a naturalisation name change? I am not saying your way is flawed, just trying to come up with a safe-proof method. I think the OP should inquire whether the oath will be administrative or judicial and then go from there.

 

[BigJoe5]

BigJoe, will it not be a problem at the interview if the OP's wife cannot show any legal document with her "new" name? If all her documents only show her maiden name (current), maybe it would be safer to request a naturalisation name change? I am not saying your way is flawed, just trying to come up with a safe-proof method. I think the OP should inquire whether the oath will be administrative or judicial and then go from there.

Everything we do in life is "safe-proof" because, we can always screw up. Making anything "fool-proof" is much more difficult. Enough teasing.


A marriage certificate serving as bridging document between the birth certificate and all the rest is accepted by every level of government in the U.S. and most, if not all, nations.

Using the naturalization name change petition to change a maiden name to the married name merely adds one more legal document to keep track of for the rest of her life. Why bother to add another legal document to the mix when it is not required?

 

[warko01]

Is it customary for your culture/religion/sect/whatever for the wife to take the husband's last name? Is it something that already happened through marriage? In the U.S., it is generally accepted for a wife to take the husband's last name as hers (although it is a choice that is not forced). The U.S. will accept a marriage certificate as sufficient proof of her name change. She can just put that down on her N-400 as current name and list her maiden name as "other name used". In doing this she will not require a name change petition and this will allow her to get an administrative oath if available and offered at the location where she is processed.

BigJoe5...here's the situation. It is mostly customary but having said that my wife preferred to keep only her maiden name for the past 10 yrs or so. She did not consider changing or adding to her last name when she got her GC. But now she feels that she wants to append my last name to her last name...like I mentioned she wants it to be firstname maidenlastname mylastname. BTW....we got married in 2001 in India so we have a Indian marriage certificate.
Looking at a couple of other replies....I am a bit confused as to what the correct procedure would be.

Thanks in advance...

- warko01

 

[Jackolantern]

If you're still confused about it, have her write her maiden name in the "current legal name" section, and ask for a name change in the section that asks about name change. She should be careful to specify whether she's lengthening her last name to make it hyphenated with yours, or moving her maiden name to become her middle name and then using your last name.

Then in the interview she should show her marriage certificate (with English translation, if it's not already in English) and discuss with the interviewer whether a judicial name change will be required in order to have the desired new name on the naturalization certificate. One way or another they'll sort it out.

Worst case, a judicial oath is required, which would delay the oath by maybe a couple of months (depending on the judicial oath schedule in your district). But most likely they'll let her take a regular administrative oath based on showing the marriage certificate.

 

[König]

She should be careful to specify whether she's lengthening her last name to make it hyphenated with yours, or moving her maiden name to become her middle name and then using your last name.

No need to be too careful because the new name field has separate sections for First Name, Middle Name and Last Name Besides, having a hyphenated surname is a very common occurrence in the USA.