USCIS officer did not allow me to use my name from GreenCard

[sytemcall 0]

Hello,

USCIS officer did not allow me to use my name from GreenCard for naturalization during interview n400. He added patronymic name from my Russian passport as middle name. And he said I can change it in court.

I want not to to change my name 2 addition times like "John Smith" ( from green card) -> John Petrovich Smith (Naturazation) - >John Smith (change again in court)

This is like tragedy for me. What I can do with it? I got a paper "decision cannot yet be made about your application" after interview. Looks like they will do addition checks.

Please HELP. This is in San Jose, CA.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by sytemcall

[Lemonslice 4,544]

What's your legal name? 

[sytemcall 0]

On GC and DV "Alexander Kogan." 

On old Russian pasport Alexander Petrovich Kogan. "Petrovich" is not a middle name. It's a patronymic name.

[marcusa 31]

Before you officially are US. citizen, your legal name should be the name on your Russian passport unless you changed your legal name through U.S. court order. Once you have U.S. court order, you are allowed to update new name with all America-based IDs,like SSN, DL,Insurance,banks,etc.

 

1, the name on your green card should match the name on your Russian passport back to the year when you first received your green card. I just dont understand how you changed the name on green card without any legal process.  or, How USCIS apporved your name change on GreenCard ? it's possible you are marriage-based green card and you filed your GC application while simply selecting the new name at that point but without any legal supporting document included?

 

2, Alexander Petrovich Kogan,is the one on your Russian passport. You claimed ,Petrovich,is not the middle name. What is it supposed to be? Last name ? what it says on your passport ? Surname or given name ?

 

3, your interviewer officer didnt accept your name on your GreenCard. as i presume that you didnt submit any legal document with your N400 to prove your name changed in the U.S.  Does U.S. marriage certificate count as legal document ? does it show both your old name(passport name) and your new name on the marriage certificate ? is the marriage certificate having the same power at the legal point?

 

i am still confused...

Edited September 12, 2017 by marcusa

[sytemcall 0]

Hi Marcusa,

I do not have any documents about name change because my name was newer changed. My name was always Alexander Kogan. All US documents I have: DV,GC,SSN... have no middle name.

Russian names also have a patronymic name (name of father) . I have it in my Russian passport. There is no such thing as middle name in Russia.

US embassy in Russia understand it . They issued a GreenCard and other documents with my normal name without middle name.

USCIS do not understand it and forced me to change name to wrong one.

 

 

[marcusa 31]

18 minutes ago, sytemcall said:

Hi Marcusa,

I do not have any documents about name change because my name was newer changed. My name was always Alexander Kogan. All US documents I have: DV,GC,SSN... have no middle name.

Russian names also have a patronymic name (name of father) . I have it in my Russian passport. There is no such thing as middle name in Russia.

US embassy in Russia understand it . They issued a GreenCard and other documents with my normal name without middle name.

USCIS do not understand it and forced me to change name to wrong one.

 

 

wait a second..let's back up a little bit and sort it out.

1, you Russian passport with the name, Alexander Patronymic Kogan (even patronymic is not middle name as Russian doesnt use middle name, it got be part of last name,right?), is the offical legal name,before you turned into US permanent resident.

 

2,when you applied for your green card,  US embassy in Russian issued your green card with your "normal " name ,Alexander Kogan (no middle name). ----where did patronymic name go ? did you just remove it on your greencard application at your will ? or somebody did for you ? but you didnt have legal document to prove this change?  Dont you feel anything wrong since the names on Greencard and passport dont match ? what if you are crossing U.S custom with Russian passport and US. greencard ? 

 

the US embassy in Russian doesn't process the application and print the greencard, all immigration applications materials are collected and sent back to the USICS at the U.S. for approval and card production. embassy officers dont make card for you literally. 

 

after you have your greencard with "normal" name,Alexander Kogan, you use this "normal" name you picked all the time.You applied Driver License, SSN and other U.S-based IDs with your green card name . No passport needed. 

 

but when you are applying for citizen, you still dont have legal name change document either from Russian or US. court. so..literally, you have been ILLEGALLY used your "normal" names for years and you didnt realize it until now. 

 

so, from the standpoint of USCIS, if you want to keep using the preferred "normal" name in the rest of your life as US citizen, you are required to need to request  in front of the judge for your name change either from the oath ceremony or the local county court order. 

[sytemcall 0]

Hi Marcusa,

Why you thinking patronymic name should be conserved in US documents even if there is no field for that? I did not found any rules about it. Did you ?

2. There is no place for patronymic name in any US forms and I did not put patronymic name anywhere in GC applications.

US embassy agreed with it and prepared documents for GC without middle name and everything was ok. There is many other fields in Russian passport and other documents which is not exist in GC and vise versa.

First name, Last name and DOB exist in all documents but other fields may vary by country. Usually It's not a problem when you crossing borders.

 

I did not found how to change name before oath ceremony. I want not to have a history of name changes.

[sytemcall 0]

Hi Marcusa,

Patronymic name is not a part of last name. It's another field named "otchestvo".

[Going through 5,668]

1 hour ago, marcusa said:

but when you are applying for citizen, you still dont have legal name change document either from Russian or US. court. so..literally, you have been ILLEGALLY used your "normal" names for years and you didnt realize it until now. 

In Russia it is tradition for the patronymic name to appear on the birth certificate and foreign passport.  The OP has not done anything illegal by not using that name on other documents.  He does not need any sort of "legal name change document" in his situation, as he has never changed his legal name.

 

OP, if your concern is that your patronymic name will appear on documents after your oath ceremony, when you apply for your US passport there is an option on the application to include only your first and last name.  Once you get your US passport, then use that document to update your SS, drivers license, etc.   Your US passport is sufficient for proving your citizenship going forward.  You don't need to worry about the green card, because you turn that in during your oath ceremony where they destroy it since you no longer need a GC after becoming a citizen.

 

If they question this at the passport office when applying (they most likely will not), you can show through all of your other US identification that you have been using only your first and last name consistently (not your patronymic name) on all of your other legal documents.

 

Your naturalization certificate is not needed for anything other than submitting with your passport application, and for proving your citizenship should you wish to sponsor family members in the future.  So just tuck it safely into a strongbox somewhere and then forget about it.  

Edited September 13, 2017 by Going through

[dimbmw 1]

8 hours ago, sytemcall said:

Hello,

USCIS officer did not allow me to use my name from GreenCard for naturalization during interview n400. He added patronymic name from my Russian passport as middle name. And he said I can change it in court.

I want not to to change my name 2 addition times like "John Smith" ( from green card) -> John Petrovich Smith (Naturazation) - >John Smith (change again in court)

This is like tragedy for me. What I can do with it? I got a paper "decision cannot yet be made about your application" after interview. Looks like they will do addition checks.

Please HELP. This is in San Jose, CA.

 

 

 

What makes you think they gave you "decision can not be made" because of the name issue? I am dealing with the same office, got the same "decision can not be made" for no reason, and heard nothing from them for almost 3 month already.

[sytemcall 0]

Going through, Thank you!

 

I will have naturalization with middle name and all other documents w/o. I do not understand which name I will have in this case ?

 

dimbmw, I do not think "decision can not be made" and middle name is connected.

Probably they will do background checks and may be I have time to appeal about middle name.

Which status do you have on a web site ? My status not yet changed there is something "interview scheduled"

 

Edited September 13, 2017 by sytemcall

[Cathi 5,607]

2 hours ago, Going through said:

In Russia it is tradition for the patronymic name to appear on the birth certificate and foreign passport.  The OP has not done anything illegal by not using that name on other documents.  He does not need any sort of "legal name change document" in his situation, as he has never changed his legal name.

 

OP, if your concern is that your patronymic name will appear on documents after your oath ceremony, when you apply for your US passport there is an option on the application to include only your first and last name.  Once you get your US passport, then use that document to update your SS, drivers license, etc.   Your US passport is sufficient for proving your citizenship going forward.  You don't need to worry about the green card, because you turn that in during your oath ceremony where they destroy it since you no longer need a GC after becoming a citizen.

 

If they question this at the passport office when applying (they most likely will not), you can show through all of your other US identification that you have been using only your first and last name consistently (not your patronymic name) on all of your other legal documents.

 

Your naturalization certificate is not needed for anything other than submitting with your passport application, and for proving your citizenship should you wish to sponsor family members in the future.  So just tuck it safely into a strongbox somewhere and then forget about it.  

My husband was sworn in in April. USCIS gives you the option at swearing in to change your name at that time. You do not need to wait until you apply for a US passport.

[sytemcall 0]

mimolicious,

USCIS do not allow to change name at swearing in San Jose, CA.

[broppy 204]

10 hours ago, marcusa said:

1, you Russian passport with the name, Alexander Patronymic Kogan (even patronymic is not middle name as Russian doesnt use middle name, it got be part of last name,right?), is the offical legal name,before you turned into US permanent resident.

 

2,when you applied for your green card,  US embassy in Russian issued your green card with your "normal " name ,Alexander Kogan (no middle name). ----where did patronymic name go ? did you just remove it on your greencard application at your will ? or somebody did for you ? but you didnt have legal document to prove this change?  Dont you feel anything wrong since the names on Greencard and passport dont match ? what if you are crossing U.S custom with Russian passport and US. greencard ? 

To clarify for those not familiar with them, Russian passports use both cyrillic and latin characters. Every one I've seen only has the patronymic in cyrillic - it's not present in the latin transliteration. In this instance, it would look something like:
 

Фамлия/Surname: 
Коган/
Kogan

Имя/Given names: 
Алехандер Петрович/
Alexander

 

Unless OP actually has "Alexander Petrovich" printed in latin as his "given names", it shouldn't be for USCIS to decide how to make the transliteration now and suddenly try to add a new middle name at this time.

Edited September 13, 2017 by broppy

[Going through 5,668]

7 hours ago, mimolicious said:

My husband was sworn in in April. USCIS gives you the option at swearing in to change your name at that time. You do not need to wait until you apply for a US passport.

Not all oath ceremonies allow this, though.