New surname

Hello,

Was wondering if anyone had any experience of the following:

I am British; fiance is American. I want to keep my maiden name after we marry, but have been thinking it's a good idea for his surname to appear on my passport. I do not want a double-barrelled name though.

We're living in the UK at the moment, and plan to for the next few years. However, at some point we may wish to move back to the US, in which case would my application-for-Green-Card process be made easier if I took his last name/ added it in my passport? Is there another docement, as well as passport, that I should also be thinking about?

Hope that makes sense...!!

Thanks for reading
Flaurena

I'm not sure that his name appearing in your passport will necessarily make things easier. Given the amount of documentation you need to provide for you to legally emigrate to the US, I personally wouldn't worry about that. If you have your marriage certificate, that should do it. But that's my humble opinion and others who have done the process may disagree.

That said, if you don't want a double-barreled (hyphenated) name, you could drop your middle name if you have one and either use his name as your middle name or make your maiden name your middle name.

I sympathize. I married in October and had decided to hyphenate but am having a very hard time *remembering* to do it and have not changed any official documents or accounts yet...

That said, if you don't want a double-barreled (hyphenated) name, you could drop your middle name if you have one and either use his name as your middle name or make your maiden name your middle name.

I was thinking of doing this.  My name is currently:
Firstname Middlename Father'ssurname, and I was considering changing
it to Firstname Father'ssurname Fiance'ssurname. The only thing is my middle name is Joy, so I said to my fiance, "I think once I get married, I'll cut out the Joy." This made my fiance very upset.

I sympathize. I married in October and had decided to hyphenate but am having a very hard time *remembering* to do it and have not changed any official documents or accounts yet...

Similar situation--we married in May and I am keeping my maiden name unless I find it's too much trouble. I sometimes use the hyphenated name, but I've not been consistent.

From a legal point of view it is pretty much irrelevant whether or not you take your partners surname. Entry clearance officers of course might not be quite so on the ball, but essentially once you have status then it is made clear in your passport and that is sufficient. Gaining the status is another matter of course, but not taking your partners surname will not prevent this happening given fulfillment of the relevant criteria.

From a non-legal perspective..... congratulations and good luck !!

Dean Marshall
Director
SkillClear Work Permit and Immigration Services newcomer link: http://www.skillclear.co.uk/ [nonactive]