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So i am currently dealing with this situation with my wife who entered the country on an F1 visa 3 years ago and we got married in May 2019. We currently have an AOS application working its way through the system (we are waiting on an interview date) She recently received her work authorization card as well. Here is where it gets fun. When we submitted our I-485 application our lawyer advised us to keep her maiden name on the application, but then also advised us to update our bank account, credit card accounts and everything we could to her new married name (which is my last name) The problem comes in that to update the bank account, we had to update her social security number so the social security department issued her an updated card with her new married name. So the end result is that on her work authorization it has her maiden name...and social security card has new married name. This means any time she now applies for a job that uses e-verify she gets a Tentative Non-Confirmation flag. When she fills out the e-verify documents now, if she uses her married name that matches the social security department records, she gets a notice that she needs to call the Department of Home Security as her name does match what they have on record - as her passport/visa/i485 all have her maiden name. The one time this occurred we had to call and talk to a federal agent who yelled at her and said she needed to update her foreign passport, and then go and update her visa, not even touching the fact that we have a AOS case pending with her maiden name on it as well. On the inverse side if we fill out the e-verify forms with the name that matches DHS, we get a notice that her name doesn't match social security records and we have to go to the social security office to resolve the issue. That second scenario hasn't happened yet, but I have a feeling the social security office will tell her she needs to update all her DHS documents to match what's on the social security vs allow her to revert her social security card to her maiden name.
I wanted to see anyone else had some issues with this. It is such a headache and Im pretty mad at my lawyer for not pre-warning me this could happen while she tries to find employment. I guess the final option is that we just wait until her green card is issued and then file to change her last name, but that means she will not be able to legally work (at least not for a company that uses e-verify) until we pass our green card interview, get the green card, and then wait however long until they can change her name.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
I wanted to see anyone else had some issues with this. It is such a headache and Im pretty mad at my lawyer for not pre-warning me this could happen while she tries to find employment. I guess the final option is that we just wait until her green card is issued and then file to change her last name, but that means she will not be able to legally work (at least not for a company that uses e-verify) until we pass our green card interview, get the green card, and then wait however long until they can change her name.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
