Surname

[Yi_&_Me]

After three months of marriage and finally getting to the point to file the I-130, had the attorney ask an interesting question to which I gave absolutely no thought. "Will my wife assume my name?"

 

I assumed, yes place the old standard you and me lines here, that she would keep her family name. Any thoughts as to helping/hurting application process?

[Shenzhen K-1]

After three months of marriage and finally getting to the point to file the I-130, had the attorney ask an interesting question to which I gave absolutely no thought. "Will my wife assume my name?"

 

I assumed, yes place the old standard you and me lines here, that she would keep her family name. Any thoughts as to helping/hurting application process?

 

My Mrs. is taking my name, no big deal I think anyway. Chinese tradition to keep your family name, SO............

[clayton2103]

Me,

 

Welcome to the Candle and congrats on your first post.

 

You will find many variations of answers on this question.

 

Either choice will not hurt or help.

 

My wife's maiden name was, Wen Li. Arrived in the U.S. and once married she assumed the name of, Li Wen Taylor. During the filing of AOS I-485 her name was changed to Wen-Li Taylor with no middle name.

 

The choice is yours. Just use the name of choice on all applications throughout the process.

 

It is only a personal choice of yours and hers.

 

Clayton

[dnoblett]

Makes no difference, Wife can either take husband's name, or keep her maiden name.

 

In our case my wife had no middle name, so she made her maiden surname her middle name and took my family name.

[MRMC]

Why not have here use her last name as her new middle name and then she can also share your last name.

[LeeFisher3]

With a CR-1 application you lock yourself into the name on the application and the methods to change her name if she desires are to file an I-90 with its fee or wait until you file the I-751 for removal of conditions to change her name with USCIS for no additional.

 

If you are filing the I-130 with the desire to move forward with the K-3 visa the name change can be done with the AOS process without any additional fee.

 

I'd suggest asking for her preference, there are some things that can be made easier by adopting your family name, but it is still a choice.

 

If she adopts your family name at some point she will want to have a name amendment placed in her passport. It can be done in the US by making a personal visit to the Chinese consulate, but I would wager that it would be much easier to do this in China if the decision is made before she comes to the US.

[Sebastian]

What Lee Said !!

 

 

But - remember -

anything that has a change of name in mid-stream SLOWS THE PROCESS DOWN.

 

Be Good !

[ChrisA]

Hi All,

 

We have talked about how her future name would be, I suggested to her to keep her family and add mine last to the end (xxxx - xxxx).

 

Will make the decision when the time comes.

[georgeandli]

I decided that I wanted LiWen to make up her mind about it. It is her name after all. People asked me what will her American name be? Why should she change her name? Leave it as is, easier for the paperwork IMHO. When and if she wants to change then we will. Lao Po, Tai Tai or Honey it's all good!

[Shenzhen K-1]

We went to the minister last night to talk about the wedding, last name change became quite a discussion??

[MikeXiao]

My wife and I talked about it long before she came here. We decided for ease of paperwork and possible delays, to keep her name as it was. She is my wife, we are married, so the name does not mean anything. Totally confused my mother though.