Harassed during interview / Name change

[Marcos Linke]

Hi,

I would appreciate your help on this topic.

So I recently had my civics test / interview for naturalization. I went to the USCIS office in Seattle - WA area and had my interview virtually with an officer.

The officer harassed me from start to finish for absolutely no reason. I held my cool and never talked back. I felt like the officer abused her position of power and talked down to me the whole time. She made me feel like applying for citizenship was wrong, and like she was doing me a favor. I did not feel welcomed at all to say the least...

Anyways, she did not approve me on the spot because she said she would ask me for follow up documents. Which I proactively sent to her upon getting home. A few days later I received my Oath ceremony letter so I guess in the end she approved me.

The weird part is, besides all the harassment, she told me I could not change my name during the process anymore (something related to Covid), so she made me sign a document saying, I no longer want to change my name. (I was initially adding my husbands surname to my name and dropping mine).

I cannot find any information on USCIS website about the name change power being revoked during Covid, and I am not sure if I can trust her word since she treated me so poorly. I tried calling USCIS but I cannot speak to a representative, only the bot which does not help.

My question is, can I still ask to change my name during the Oath ceremony? Otherwise, how should I proceed with the name change after the naturalization ceremony?

Any advice is appreciated,
Thank you,
Marcos.

[okccanary]

Just wanted to say so sorry to hear about your experience and the awful officer you got!! At least you got approved and can now forget all about her.

As to your questions I don't 100% know. I think they asked me was I changing my name when I went to the oath ceremony (they definitely asked me if everything was correct on it, so that might be your chance to play dumb and ask then) but I have also definitely seen a post somewhere where a person stated name changes have to be done in front of the judge and therefore you might not be able to do it at your current oath ceremony. Apologies I cant be more helpful!

[Sean123]

Try to visit your local town or city clerk office. They can probably give you the information you need in order to accomplish what you want.

[Mike E]

Hi,

I would appreciate your help on this topic.

So I recently had my civics test / interview for naturalization. I went to the USCIS office in Seattle - WA area and had my interview virtually with an officer.

The officer harassed me from start to finish for absolutely no reason. I held my cool and never talked back. I felt like the officer abused her position of power and talked down to me the whole time. She made me feel like applying for citizenship was wrong, and like she was doing me a favor. I did not feel welcomed at all to say the least...

Anyways, she did not approve me on the spot because she said she would ask me for follow up documents. Which I proactively sent to her upon getting home. A few days later I received my Oath ceremony letter so I guess in the end she approved me.

The weird part is, besides all the harassment, she told me I could not change my name during the process anymore (something related to Covid), so she made me sign a document saying, I no longer want to change my name. (I was initially adding my husbands surname to my name and dropping mine).

I cannot find any information on USCIS website about the name change power being revoked during Covid, and I am not sure if I can trust her word since she treated me so poorly. I tried calling USCIS but I cannot speak to a representative, only the bot which does not help.

My question is, can I still ask to change my name during the Oath ceremony? Otherwise, how should I proceed with the name change after the naturalization ceremony?

Any advice is appreciated,
Thank you,
Marcos.

Your marriage certificate is your lawful change of name document. After you get your naturalization certificate, include your marriage certificate in your passport application to use your new name. Get a passport card too.

Then update your name and status with SSA using your passport card and marriage certificate

Then uae your new SS card, marriage certificate and passport card to get an Enhanced DL/ID from the state motor vehicles department.

That gives you 4 proofs of US citizenship.