Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Changing my CURP to become naturalized; last name issues


marlie2014

Recommended Posts

Hi! I'm new to this board. I actually live in Nuevo Laredo, but the reason I'm posting here is that no one in my border city seems to be able to answer my questions. Finding an immigration attorney here who immigrates people INTO, not OUT OF, Mexico seems to be next to impossible.

I have been a Residente Temporal for a few years on the basis of my marriage to a Mexican citizen. Recently I began the process to become naturalized. The SRE in Monterrey (although I live in Tamaulipas, I was told that I could apply in Monterrey because it was the nearest state capital to where I was living) has treated me well, as has the INM in Nuevo Laredo. However, on Monday morning I ran into a snag. I thought I finally had all my documents -- including the carta de no antecedentes penales federal which required a trip to Mexico City and the carta de no antecedentes estatal which required a trip to Ciudad Victoria, a distance of nearly six hours from where I live -- but the SRE told me that my CURP needed to be changed by the INM to match my birth certificate before we could proceed.

You see, I married my husband in the US. So naturally, as I believed we would stay in the US, I changed my last name legally. When I got my passport, it was with my married name, not my maiden name. Then in 2011 when I received my first FM2/Residente Temporal, the INM insisted that they had to use the name on my passport, not the name on my birth certificate. So when they issued me my CURP, it was in my married name.

Now the SRE is saying that, when they send my application for naturalization to Mexico City, they will never accept it if the name on my CURP does not match my birth certificate; this in spite of the fact that I have given them 1) my marriage certificate, 2) an apostille, 3) an official translation of both the certificate and apostille, and 4) a letter notarized by the US Consulate in Nuevo Laredo stating that both names belong to the same person and explaining when and how the name changed to match my husband's.

When I went to the INM yesterday morning, they told me that they believed that they would not be able to change my CURP. Why? Because "your passport does not contain your maiden name." Well, of course it doesn't. My legal name in the United States has been my husband's last name for nine years. I have no photo ID whatsoever to show what my name USED to be. Only my birth certificate and high school transcript could confirm that. As anyone who is American and has changed their name knows, even my Social Security card has my husband's last name on it now.

So here I am at my wit's end. If I could find a good immigration attorney in my city, I would have found him/her by now. The SRE says I must change my CURP to naturalize, and the INM says it can't be done. And yet, I'm naturalizing on the basis of my marriage to a Mexican citizen. Surely I'm not the first married American woman who has her husband's last name who has attempted to do this? Surely the SRE wouldn't offer naturalization on the basis of marriage to foreigners, knowing that the European custom is that the woman often changes her last name when she marries? What more proof coudl I possibly give them? It's not as if I could change my birth certificate -- or my passport. To change my legal name in the US would be very, very difficult without getting a divorce (which would obviously defeat the purpose!) and would take a long, long time...at which point I'd have to redo my entire application and fly to Mexico City again to get another carta de no antecedentes penales and another carta estatal, because those expire in May. I'm not even sure if a judge would allow me to change my last name just because of Mexican bureaucracy.

So, have any of you in the interior ever faced this? Recommend me any good lawyers who could help long-distance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My birth certificate has my middle name and jr. i was able to get the consulate to add that AKA in the back of my passport. That wasn't good enough and the authorities asked for the letter from the consulate that you already produced. Perhaps if you added your maiden name to your passport they'd be happy. Each person you speak to in the SRE will come up with something else

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend had to get his passport changed and his INM ID changed to match the birth certificate for SRE to proceed with his naturalization. Other female posters on Mexconnect have reported the same problem with SRE - when their US married name does not match their birth certificate. None of them came back with any solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can ask the American Embassy to add an AKA to your passport, showing your maiden name. Your passport will remain in your married name. This does not require a legal name change.

I'm the 'female poster on Mexconnect' who has been dealing with this issue--not for myself, but rather for my wife. SRE Mexico City has finally agreed (after nearly a year of 'discussion' with them) to accept her application in her legal name: that's the name that appears on her passport, not the name that appears on her birth certificate. Last week, the clerk told us, "The jefe has agreed to accept your application, but be aware that she will not be allowed to use her maiden name in Mexico." Geez, she hasn't used her maiden name for more than 40 years. We go next week to present the documents. Both of us feel that we have won at least a partial victory: they will actually receive this giant pile of paperwork. Next, of course: will they actually give her citizenship? We'll see.

A couple of things: this 'rule' appears nowhere in the laws regarding application for Mexican citizenship. We have written to everyone at SRE including Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade. It's entirely possible that they just got sick of hearing from us and gave it up. When I applied for and received citizenship nearly 10 years ago, none of this was an issue. Our next step might have been to file a class action suit alleging discrimination against women from the United States of America, because in the USA there is no law regarding a woman's name change upon marriage. Rules of New York State (where she was married) say that in order to change one's name after marriage, you simply have to start using the name you wish to assume.

Marlie2014, if you would care to email us, let me know and I will PM you with an email address. Regardless, best of luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, I would like to speak with you over e-mail very much. As you probably know, even if I attempted to get a court order to change my name back to my maiden name, it wouldn't help...since SRE says I can't use a passport that's any more recent than two years old. So if I got a passport with my maiden name, then I would have to wait two more years to use it to apply!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, I would like to speak with you over e-mail very much. As you probably know, even if I attempted to get a court order to change my name back to my maiden name, it wouldn't help...since SRE says I can't use a passport that's any more recent than two years old. So if I got a passport with my maiden name, then I would have to wait two more years to use it to apply!

Check your PM box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's our update from today's marathon wait (4.5 hours) at SRE Mexico City: THEY ACCEPTED JUDY'S APPLICATION FOR CITIZENSHIP! It's signed, sealed, and paid for, and all other things being equal, she will receive her carta de naturalizaciĂłn in 4 to 6 months. We are beside ourselves with JOY.

She simply had to sign a paper renouncing the use of the name on her birth certificate. Of course this is no big deal, since she hasn't used that name for nearly 50 years.

Our saga with the SRE is ours alone and may or may not be similar to anyone else's story. We don't know why they changed their minds about her name on the birth certificate vs her legal last name (the last name of her deceased husband), and we didn't care to open the 'why' can of worms with them while her citizenship is still in process. As a poster on another board mentioned, every SRE office has its own set of rules.

I will say that had we not stood our ground for lo these many months, Judy's application would never have been accepted. We studied and learned the laws and requirements for naturalization by virtue of marriage to a Mexican. Judy had all of her paperwork completely in order. We speak, read, and write Spanish to the extent that we could talk rationally and intelligently with the various employees with whom we were in contact, both in person and via email. We were respectful but not submissive, and we got the job done by ourselves: in other words, without a facilitator. Again, YMMV.

I will post back here when there is something new to report. Judy and I both hope that post on this topic will be the day she receives her citizenship papers.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us in this thread, and all the best to everyone who is going through SRE's challenges. If we can be of any help to you, please just let me know. It's great to stick together!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not exactly on topic, but related enough it might be helpful to someone.

When we arrived back in late 90's and applied for IMSS, I made the HORRENDOUS error of filling in IMSS app forms exactly as shown (even though names did not match our PP's, FM's, etc.), using father's and mothers' last names for each my husband and myself.

And to IMSS, that is who we were destined to be forever. My great fear (later on) was how NOB banks etc. would treat death cert's issued in names they did not have as being "ours", for purposes of estate dispersal.

However, while all the pleading and explaining in the world got nowwhere with IMSS, once we applied for (smarter now, so made sure names were OK) and received Citizenship a few years later, I was then able to take our new "birth" certificates (re-born as Mexicans) to IMSS, and ON THAT BASIS they allowed us to apply for/receive NOB names on our documents and records!

So if anyone is applying first time for IMSS, be sure you use your own NOB name and DO NOT give them any other surnames!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's so nice of you More Liana to help. That's why forum like these are so precious

I believe the error was made by the people who issued the CURP card. They are supposed to use our maiden name. Another place in Mexico where they use our maiden name is IMSS. That is why I had so much trouble getting accepted at the clinic because I was trying to get an appointment under my married name, and I did not exist in threir file. After many frustrations and discussions, I realized that they had me under my maiden name. How so confusing.

Ladies, just remember this: CURP and IMSS are made under your maiden name.

It's good to see a success story. Congratulations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Daisy2013, my wife and I have been working with SRE for eight months to convince the SRE to accept her application for citizenship using her legal last name: the last name of her deceased husband. That is the last name on her passport, her INM documents, and all other legal documents both in the USA and in Mexico. SRE in various parts of Mexico decided at some point just prior to that that a woman could ONLY apply using the name on her birth certificate; we've heard from women in Sonora, Tamaulipas, and know from our own experience in Mexico City that this is the case. Of course this decision affects many women from the United States of America, as it has previously been the custom in that country for a woman to take her husband's last name at marriage. We feel really pleased and happy that for reasons unknown to us, SRE changed its mind in my wife's case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Quebec before the 80's most women, when they got married, used their husband's name for their passport and banks to facilitate things, apparently, BUT, women were not losing their birth name. They were still obliged to use their birth name for legal procedures (at the notary or in court) and for health care

After the 80's more and more women kept their maiden name in everything. It was socially a little more difficult when you introduced yourself as Mrs. X wife of Mr. Y instead of Mr. and Mrs. Y.

Here in Mexico, as in Quebec, they go by civil law and not common law like the rest of Canada and in the States. But I believe, as far as names are concerned, the new way is also applied in the rest of Canada. No one can force a woman to change her name when she gets married.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It will be interesting to see what happens with this. At least in the Jalisco civil code ( I assume it is the same in DF which would be the Federal law applicable to this) your name is made up of your last name and mothers maiden name. Not necessarily the name on your birth certificate. Interesting legal issue.

Years ago I had to have a long discussion with the head of the CURP office in Guadalajara as she did not want to give my client a CURP using both last names.

Has anyone been naturalized with the name exactly as it is on their passport? The one that I did for a client has both last names as they do here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It just occurred to me ... Liana, has Judy tried legally amending the name on her birth certificate to the name she uses now? That's a fairly simple procedure, at least in the several states I've lived in ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I received Mexican citizenship about 10 years ago using the name on my passport, which is not the same as the name on my birth certificate. No one at SRE ever mentioned that situation; it was a non-issue.

Judy's application for citizenship was accepted on Tuesday using the name on her passport. We are past that hurdle.

Remember that the detail of "name on the application must match name on the birth certificate" does NOT appear in the rules governing naturalization. Several people have mentioned to me in the last week that SRE has not insisted that they meet this so-called requirement in their recent applications for naturalization.

Maybe SRE has changed its mind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...