Marriage Based Visa - Spouse

[jimitshah85]

Guys,

I recently got married in India and I am an USA citizen and she is Indian resident. I am going to start my marriage based visa/green card process of I-130 form before that I have few important question.

1. should she change her last name on passport as of now or can she wait until she gets the temporary green card once her visa is approved?or possibly change her last name even after temporary visa.

2.under what last name of her I should fill out the application? Should I stick to her last name of her parents or should I fill her new last name which will be my? Currently marriage certificate says Payal Talati weds Jimit Shah(me). So what should I do? I know everything depends on the answer to above.

3. Does at any stages would I required to submit her passport copy? I don't see it anywhere as of now on the instruction page?

I know my question kinda is linked to each other but just want to clear mind before I start the application process. I tend to do it in my own instead of hiring anyone under legal services or agent.

Thank for the advice in advance.

[GC0102]

Guys,

I recently got married in India and I am an USA citizen and she is Indian resident. I am going to start my marriage based visa/green card process of I-130 form before that I have few important question.

1. should she change her last name on passport as of now or can she wait until she gets the temporary green card once her visa is approved?or possibly change her last name even after temporary visa.

A. No need to change last name in passport, unless you plan to go for tatkal passport which you receive in less than a week.

2.under what last name of her I should fill out the application? Should I stick to her last name of her parents or should I fill her new last name which will be my? Currently marriage certificate says Payal Talati weds Jimit Shah(me). So what should I do? I know everything depends on the answer to above.

My wife has passport under maiden name, but when we filed application she used my last name.

3. Does at any stages would I required to submit her passport copy? I don't see it anywhere as of now on the instruction page?

Absolutely you need to submit passport copy (for both spouse) when you file I-130.

I know my question kinda is linked to each other but just want to clear mind before I start the application process. I tend to do it in my own instead of hiring anyone under legal services or agent.

Thank for the advice in advance.

..

[jimitshah85]

Does it make a difference if I fill the application under her maiden last name? Would it make easier or harder?

[MaryH]

First of all, what would your wife wishes to do? If she wants to take on/start using your last name, you should fill out all Forms submitted, using her last name. Sending along a copy of her passport, is essential to identefy her past name (maiden).

After, she receives her conditional Green Card, she should change her last name (maiden) in her passport, to match her Green Card .... from there she can do any other change.
Good luck!

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Correction... "using your last name"

[inadmissible]

Is it common in India for folks to change their name by self I declaration, rather than employing some legal name change process?

This is the third post I've seen in the last two days, where people have nothing to evidence a name change. They end up with critical documents with different names on it, with no way of proving to USCIS that the documents are referring to the same person.

[MaryH]

Understandable!! Hope they can figure out what's best for their Applications.