MARRIAGE

[Bob & Minglian]

My wife and I were married in China in September of 2002 then filed for K3 visa. Her visa was approved in January of this year and together we were on a flight to the US the same day. Our I-130 has still not been approved. We recently went to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles to get her an Oregon photo ID card (similar in appearance to a drivers license). DMV issued her the ID card but would not use my last name which we both want. They would not acknowledge our notarized Chinese marriage certificate, even though it was in both Chinese and English. DMV told us if we had been married in Oregon (or any other US state) that she could use my last name. I don't know but I suppose we could easily get a marriage certificate here in Oregon to appease DMV and get us what we want. Yet I wonder if there would be any adverse consequences if were we to do that. We filed joint tax returns for both 2002 and 2003 using her family surname but wouldn't someone at some time question why we got married both in China and the US? I understand once our I-130 is approved we can file for AOS and a SSN and so on and documentation from that will allow us to get the Oregon ID card with my last name but we don't want to wait. Anyone foresee a problem if we were to go to Multnomah County here in Portland to get married again?

[olemanoman1950]

I myself will wait for an answer for this question also. All of my wifes documents have her surname and we want them to stay that way until she at least gets her visa and is here in the USA. She still says her last name is Mine. Marriage certificate says we were registered marraige in Quanqxi Province Nanning.

[hypoclear]

We are in the same boat also, having been married here in China. She kept her last name as it is very time consuming to change it.

 

What we had thought of doing was to go to court and change her name legally in the states. We are wait on her I130 and are a CR1 so she should have her green card (for conditional residency) and her SS# when we get to the states. So there won't be lots of paper work to change and I would assume it is just like any other woman who has married and taken her husbands name or combined the both?

 

Mark and Bea (Xu-Sullivan?)

[Martytb]

I don't claim to know much about the law but, there is no reason why you can not marry again in the US. if you wish to give your wife your last name this is the time to do it. There are no nasty repercussions.

 

this is my opinion so take it with the proverbial grain of salt.

[king]

If I were you, I would level with the State authority indicating that you are already married and ask if you can get married again in a US jurisdiction. To me it seems you would not be able to. My opinion.

 

You can do a court ordered name change. It is not complicated or time consuming, at least in the State of Washington

[Bob & Minglian]

Thanks for the responses. I did check with DMV again and was told the same thing. Because I do not have anything "official" issued by a government agency showing she shares my last name they will not issue her an Oregon ID card with my last name. They did do it a few days ago with her Chinese surname. One of the reasons cited was identity theft. Very hard for me to understand especially since I am present with her with plenty of ID and our notarized Chinese marriage certificate. I might add, with our photos taken together. I will look into getting a court ordered name change but it seems ridiculous that we would have to go through this.

[olemanoman1950]

Don't feel bad.. I went to get My Wifes Birth certificate Notarized along with our Marriage Certificate and the Notary would not do it. he said I don't know what I am Notarizing, ( already notarized in China and English Translation and all ). Duh go fiqure. he said I can't read Chinese. How do I know what it says. Yet he notarized my Proof of Single Certicate that had chinese words on the top about 5 months ago..

[keelec]

Thanks for the responses.  I did check with DMV again and was told the same thing.  Because I do not have anything "official" issued by a government agency showing she shares my last name they will not issue her an Oregon ID card with my last name.  They did do it a few days ago with her Chinese surname.  One of the reasons cited was identity theft.  Very hard for me to understand especially since I am present with her with plenty of ID and our notarized Chinese marriage certificate.  I might add, with our photos taken together.  I will look into getting a court ordered name change but it seems ridiculous that we would have to go through this.

Can you fill out IRS Form W-7 and apply for an ITIN

 

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf

 

This should also help with your taxes and etc.

 

AND, HOPEFULLY IT WOULD GIVE YOU AN OFFICIAL US GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT WITH HER NAME & YOUR LAST NAME.

 

Hmmm, it asks for the applicant's name, and passport (which I assume has the maiden name), but I assume you could try sending in your Chinese marriage certificates & etc. It also does ask for the spouses SSN.

 

Did you include your wife's name on your 2003 tax forms? You can ask for an official tax transcript from the IRS which I would assume would include her name as you had written it.

 

----- Clifford -----

[olemanoman1950]

I sent a copy of marriage cerrtificate,wifes passport, wifes birth certificate and copy of the NOA 797 with the W-7 form to IRS. Hope they except it. If not amendments will