Legal Name Change for Indian Citizen living in USA on H1B Visa

[blueworld]

I am an Indian Citizen (28 male), and working in the USA (currently a resident of Pennsylvania) on a H1B Visa for the past 3 years. I want to change my name legally due to some personal reasons. But, I cannot travel to India at this moment to initiate the process.

Can I apply for a legal name change via the Indian Embassy in New York ? I tried contacting the embassy but, as usual, there is no Answer.

Also, I am not sure how it would affect my legal status in the USA. Would I have to get a new H1B petition copy with a new name and would I also have to get a new Visa Stamped on the new passport which bears my new name ?

I checked the process in India too. If I were to apply for the change in India, a government gazzett would be issued to say that my name has changed as per official records. But, I am not sure how this is done if I apply via the Embassy here. Would the Indian Embassy send a notification to the concerned departments in India about the name change ?

Too many questions ... Please guide me !

[sk4ih]

The site has all the information. what exactly is your question regarding name change?

It is just like applying for a new passport, except that you need to also send docs (paper clippings, affidavit) for name change.

What do you mean by name change via Indian embassy? it's same anywhere.

[blueworld]

Thanks for replying ... and here are my questions ...

1). If a citizen is residing in India, he/she has to apply for a name change through a local Magistrate. Two paper Ads are published. And then,a Government Gazzett will be issued about the change of name. With the help of this Gazzett, he/she can change the name in the Passport and other official certificates, documents, ID Cards. Now, Will the Indian Embassy also issue any official government certificate of Name Change ?

2). After the name is changed in the passport, should I renew my I-797, I-94 and get a Visa Stamped on the new passport with the changed name ?

Hope I expressed myslelf better now. I am in the middle of nowhere now with no sufficient information

[sk4ih]

1) Yes. A new passport.
2) You don't need to change anything in the current docs. Next time you apply for any of those you mentioned, you will do it with new name, and hence you'll get all that with new name.

[txh1b]

Thanks for replying ... and here are my questions ...

1). If a citizen is residing in India, he/she has to apply for a name change through a local Magistrate. Two paper Ads are published. And then,a Government Gazzett will be issued about the change of name. With the help of this Gazzett, he/she can change the name in the Passport and other official certificates, documents, ID Cards. Now, Will the Indian Embassy also issue any official government certificate of Name Change ?

2). After the name is changed in the passport, should I renew my I-797, I-94 and get a Visa Stamped on the new passport with the changed name ?

Hope I expressed myslelf better now. I am in the middle of nowhere now with no sufficient information

Indian embassy has a special name change procedure. You also need to advertise in newspapers in India. Check with them on it or their website.

[blueworld]

Yeah ... I did see in the Embassy's website that I have to advertise the name change in a newspaper both in India and USA.

I think I will goto the Embassy in NY in search of more answers. I will be so relieved if they confirm I do not have to goto India and the whole process could be done through the Embassy here.

Thanks again for your inputs. I will update as I hear from the Embassy.

But any more answers / suggestions are always appreciated

[gaiyer]

Re Affidavit required for name change

I have a question continuing this thread. I have identified most pieces of information except the following:

- Do I, as a non-immigrant on H1B and a resident of Georgia state, have to use the state specific process for name change? Or is that applicable only for American citizens?

- The process described in Houston Consular Office requires me to produce an affidavit notarized by a Public Notary. Can I get this done at my regular bank or do I have to get this done from the consulate?

- Must the affidavit be done prior to placing advertisements? Or is the advertisements independent of the affidavit process?

Much thanks in advance for your response!

[dohtem1985]

Hi,

Were any of you able to successfully change your name .. If yes can you please share your experience?

I am looking forward to change my name on my passport and consequently on H-1/I-797 and any help here would be greatly appreciated.

What is the fee of filing an amendment in H-1 ( form I-129 ) and how long does it take to get the approved petition back?

Thanks...

[Raja1980]

Hi,

I am also in the same boat. I have a single name on my passport and my surname is empty, and in visa I have FNU as my firstname, and my H1 petition and I-94 says UNKNOWN as my Firstname and my given name as my Lastname.

I realized the importance of firstname after coming to US, so, now I would like to change my name and add a proper surname to remove all the confusions.
I have seen the procedure given in VFSGlobal for name change, but I would like to know, is anyone changed their name successfully from this procedure and what are the difficulties I might face?
and do I have to amend my petition after changing my name in the passport?

Please let me know your experience, I am very desperate to do it.

[Devblr]

Hi I am in the same situation..It would be great help if you share your experience and procedure to name change in passport and then visa ?

Hi,

I am also in the same boat. I have a single name on my passport and my surname is empty, and in visa I have FNU as my firstname, and my H1 petition and I-94 says UNKNOWN as my Firstname and my given name as my Lastname.

I realized the importance of firstname after coming to US, so, now I would like to change my name and add a proper surname to remove all the confusions.
I have seen the procedure given in VFSGlobal for name change, but I would like to know, is anyone changed their name successfully from this procedure and what are the difficulties I might face?
and do I have to amend my petition after changing my name in the passport?

Please let me know your experience, I am very desperate to do it.

[bharatishiv]

Hi I am in the same situation..It would be great help if you share your experience and procedure to name change in passport and then visa ?

Traveling in the same boat. Can someone who has been through this please post your experience. I just recently changed /split my name in the passport but my I797 bears old name. How will that affect my upcoming visa stamping and at POE? I am already in India as I had to travel for family emergency. A bit tensed with this name difference in the documents.

Need your inputs. Thanks a lot.

[vvmm]

Hello,

I need to add my last name in PASSPORT, SSN, I797. Currently all of my documents i.e. Birth certificate, Education certificates and passport has First name only. Could someone help me with the process.

Thanks,

[RahulVijay]

I'm on an H1B visa, and I updated my name in Passport, I797, and SSN.

1. I got the approved court order from the local county. (you need to give your fingerprints at the local police station for criminal verification and publish the legal name change in the local newspaper)

2. Once I got the court order, I applied for the Indian passport with all the documents mentioned in the checklist. (one local newspaper published in the US and one in India at the local address is required. Contact The Hindu office and send them the Aadhar copy and the court order copy it only costs 1100 rupees)

3. There is a lot of paperwork to be filled and watch out while filling the details with the old and new names. And the original newspaper copies should be included that display the name change publication, date, and newspaper name. The publication should be less than 30 days old.

4. Once you get your passport, to update on SSN, it should be first updated with USCIS, which is I-797c, because as the SSN office sent me a letter stating that there is no new name updated with the DHS and the SSN gets the data from the DHS.

5. There is no amendment for the name change. But luckily, I had to switch to a new job, so I filed with the court order the new passport copy and got it approved with the new name.

6. You can update all your bank accounts with the court order and the passport.

7. Once you get your original copy of i-797 with the new name, you can apply for SSN. The state driver's license gets the data from Social Security, so you need to get your SSN first before applying for the Driver's license.

8. Updating the Indian IDs is time-consuming. An affidavit should be filed; newspaper advertisement should be published and submit all the documents for the Gazette notification publication to the Department of Publications, New Delhi. The gazette publication number is a must to update the Indian IDs even the passport is updated. And the gazette notification is taking a long time now, as told by my attorney in India. And the rest of the documents follows.

9. I have booked a visa slot for stamping in April. I will update once it is stamped.

All the affidavits and documents can be notarized at any UPS Store.

The whole US process takes anywhere between 3-4 months. This is the process I did and not a legal opinion.

[msaurora]

I am an Indian Citizen (28 male), and working in the USA (currently a resident of Pennsylvania) on a H1B Visa for the past 3 years. I want to change my name legally due to some personal reasons. But, I cannot travel to India at this moment to initiate the process.

Can I apply for a legal name change via the Indian Embassy in New York ? I tried contacting the embassy but, as usual, there is no Answer.

Also, I am not sure how it would affect my legal status in the USA. Would I have to get a new H1B petition copy with a new name and would I also have to get a new Visa Stamped on the new passport which bears my new name ?

I checked the process in India too. If I were to apply for the change in India, a government gazzett would be issued to say that my name has changed as per official records. But, I am not sure how this is done if I apply via the Embassy here. Would the Indian Embassy send a notification to the concerned departments in India about the name change ?

Too many questions ... Please guide me !

Please share your experience

[msaurora]

I am an Indian citizen and currently working remotely for a US Employer on H-1B Visa and living in Canada. My H-1B is valid till September 2024. Once I receive Canadian citizenship next week, I am planning to change my middle and last name legally from A_B_C to A_Y_Z on the Canadian passport. With the change in my name and citizenship, Do I have to file for an H-1B amendment? Do I have to get a new H-1B visa stamped on my Canadian passport? Please advise.