I had my wife change both her Russian passports to her married name and I thought all was well. Now I wonder as we sweat out the CR-1 process. We're at least at he NVC stage.

The name issue is that the way the Russians translate my last turns it into a different name in effect. I'll give a fake example. English name "Robert Duvall." Russian spelling in passport--"Robert Davol"

Can my wife fix this problem on her passport so the last name in English is right, or do we just live with it and maybe fix it later in the USA?

You're one of the smart ones who actually had that done!

I think the embassy will do its own translation for the visa. That's my experience anyway.

Fill out the DS-230 application with the proper English spelling. Worst case, after you get the permanent resident card (if you get the permanent resident card), you will have to send it back with a no-fee I-90 application for a spelling error. Or you can live with however they decide to screw your name up.

The embassy stressed to us that the English name on the Russian passport needed to match exactly with the English name that you put on all the American paperwork. So, we waited to get my husband's international passport to file the I-30 so we would put his name in English the way it was translated.

We had also looked into how to get his Russian passport changed in the event that they butchered his name in English. My husband found that there is a way to get a special stamp put in the passport with an alternative English spelling. But, fortunately we never had to use it cause they spelled his name as we requested (we got the passport through the Russian embassy in Kyiv and they asked us how we wanted it to be spelled.)

But, my sister-in-law had her name spelled wrong on her Russian passport (Oxana instead of Oksana) and the embassy insisted that they write Oxana everywhere to match her passport. So, now she is in the States trying to get every instance of her name spelled Oksana and not Oxana.

So, in summary, my understanding is the names must match the Russian passport translation.

Absolutely correct.

seanconneryii, plz. see PM.

You probably could also have submitted your own translation of the passport ID page with correct spellings and they would accept it that way.

Do they accept non-professional translations of documents? I'd rather not pay for something that I could easily do myself.

This sounds like a good "work-around" to the problem...but the Russian international passport is supposedly already translated on the bio page.

A disinterested third-party should certify the translation. No conflict of interest that way. Professional translations are nothing more really.

Well, when it is translated wrong, consider it to be an unacceptable translation. While the translation is done by Russian government, it is neither a legal spelling of the name nor officially certified to be accurate. Only the name in Russian is the official and legal spelling of the name in Russian passports.