Stepchild to use my LAST NAME different from LEGAL LAST NAME

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I married a woman in foreign country who has a kid. I am US Citizen. Their greencard will come next year. They are here in US living with me on marriage visa. I have NOT adopted the child since that's a long process to be done in foreign country. Mom has 100% custody of the child so child will live with us 100% and biological father is untraceable. I am the Dad for all practical purposes and immigration purposes. My wife changed her last name after marriage to match my family last name. My own kid from prior marriage has my family last name. Quetsion 1) I WISH my stepchild to have the MY FAMILY last name as well for consistency in School, Insurance, Tax, SSN & Doctor with my family. HOW DO I DO IT ? Only child's foreign passport/greencard will continue to have original last name Someone said I can write child's name as "Xyz MyLastName (aka Xyz OrgLastName). Someone said I can write child's name as "Xyz MyLastName" as long as the intent is not fradulent. Child is minor under age 10. Someone said as soon as child gets greencard he/she can immediately claim US citizenship being a minor and being a child whose father (for immigration matter) is US citizen without going through naturalization process to become us citizen. At that time I can change his/her name to whatever he/she wants.

Attorney Answer

1
Thuongtri Nguyen ·
"Someone said as soon as child gets greencard he/she can immediately claim US citizenship being a minor and being a child whose father (for immigration matter) is US citizen without going through naturalization process to become us citizen." Hopefully, that someone is not an attorney as that statement would be incorrect. Since, as you wrote, you "have NOT adopted the child", you are not the child's father for immigration purposes. If you adopt the child, the child would automatically acquire US citizenship if the child is under 18 and a greencard holder. Claiming to be a US citizen when one is not leads to severe immigration problems, including being deported from the US. If the child is young, perhaps the government won't be too severe if the child mistaken claims to be a US citizen. You can check with local attorneys how to adopt the child or how to change the child's name. It often is best for immigration purposes to consistently use the same name in all documents.
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