A few background points first:
1. My wife and I got married about 9 years ago.
2. We will be going for our citizenship interview in a couple of weeks.
3. The interview location is a good four hours drive from where we stay.
4. They offer same day oath.
My wife wants to change her last name to my last name (finally after 9 years). My understanding from reading the forum posts is that if she changes her name through the N400 process, then she can't do same day oath. This poses two problems: 1. We have to make the long trip to the other city again for her oath ceremony, and 2. It may delay her oath process significantly.
My understanding is that marriage based name changes are easier than other name changes.
Questions:
1. Would you recommend that she not change her name through the n400 process, and instead change it afterwards? This way we don't have to make two trips to the other city.
2. Would she have to get a new citizenship certificate (form N-565, costs $380) to get a passport if she changes her name after the oath? If this is the case, I would probably opt for the changing the name during n400.
1. My wife and I got married about 9 years ago.
2. We will be going for our citizenship interview in a couple of weeks.
3. The interview location is a good four hours drive from where we stay.
4. They offer same day oath.
My wife wants to change her last name to my last name (finally after 9 years). My understanding from reading the forum posts is that if she changes her name through the N400 process, then she can't do same day oath. This poses two problems: 1. We have to make the long trip to the other city again for her oath ceremony, and 2. It may delay her oath process significantly.
My understanding is that marriage based name changes are easier than other name changes.
Questions:
1. Would you recommend that she not change her name through the n400 process, and instead change it afterwards? This way we don't have to make two trips to the other city.
2. Would she have to get a new citizenship certificate (form N-565, costs $380) to get a passport if she changes her name after the oath? If this is the case, I would probably opt for the changing the name during n400.