4. Ask Visalaw.com

In our Ask Visalaw.com section of the SIB, attorney Ari Sauer answers immigration law questions sent in by our readers. If you enjoy reading this section, we encourage you to visit Ari’s blog, The Immigration Answer Man, where he provides more answers to your immigration questions. You can also follow The Immigration Answer Man on Facebook and Twitter.

If you have a question on immigration matters, write Ask-visalaw@visalaw.com. We can't answer every question, but if you ask a short question that can be answered concisely, we'll consider it for publication. Remember, these questions are only intended to provide general information. You should consult with your own attorney before acting on information you see here.

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1) QUESTION:

I am currently on H-4 visa. I want to go back to college. Do I need to change to an F1 visa?

ANSWER:

H-4 status is for spouses of H-1B non-immigrants. If your spouse will be continuing as an H-1B nonimmigrant and you are planning on remaining married, then there is no need to change your status to become an F-1 (student) nonimmigrant. While the F-1 status does allow you to attend SEVIS authorized schools, so do many other statuses. As an H-4 nonimmigrant, you are eligible to attend school, even though you are not eligible for employment authorization. In fact, as an H-4 your options for educational programs are broader, since you are able to attend schools that are not on the SEVIS list and you are not required to take a full course load. Also, as an H-4 you can change schools without having to receive SEVIS authorization first. One difference between the two, however, is the lack of any sort of work authorization for H-4 spouses. F-1s have the limited ability to work on campus as well as in off-campus practical training programs.

For more information on the F-1 student visa and SEVIS, visit

http://www.visalaw.com/03jan3/2jan303.html and

http://www.visalaw.com/03jan4/2jan403.html

2) Question:

I have been told that I can legally change my name as part of the application for naturalization. Is it difficult to do this and will this make my naturalization application take longer?

Answer:

Yes, as part of the naturalization application you can change your name to anything you wish. For example, if you have a long name or a name that is tough for people in the U.S. to pronounce, you can legally change your name to a nickname or to an anglicized version of your name. The process is simple. On the form there is a section that asks if you want to change your name. You just answer yes and provide the new name you want. At the interview, there will be a couple extra pages for the applicant to sign, but this doesn’t add much time to the interview.

However in some jurisdictions, asking for a name change can cause some delay in getting the citizenship. This is because some naturalization swearing-in ceremonies are administrative, meaning they are performed by USCIS with the permission of the U.S. Court, and some are judicial, meaning they are performed by a U.S. Judge. An applicant for a name change must have a judicial swearing in ceremony, as the USCIS does not have the authority to legally change a name in an administrative swearing-in ceremony. Therefore if you are applying in a jurisdiction where the swearing-in ceremonies are mostly administrative, you will have to wait to be scheduled in the next judicial swearing-in ceremony. You can determine what the practice is in your jurisdiction by asking an immigration law attorney or by visiting USCIS with an Infopass appointment.