My fiance is from Mexico where the tradition is to hold both last names of your parents'. So, for example John Doe Smith would be John Doe in the US (Doe is the father's last name and Smith is the mother's paternal last name). How have folks filled out the forms and noted evidence? He'll go by his John Doe name in the States but I don't want to drop the other last name in case there are issues with his birth certificate, biographical information, etc.

Should I just write his name as John Doe-Smith with the hyphen?

Go with what is on the birth cert. If Doe-Smith put it on the form that way.

His last name is Smith. Write his name as it says on his bc, John Doe Smith, don't hyphenize if there's no hyphen on his name. You can put his first name John, middle name Doe, last name Smith. Simple.

I've read a lot of unhappy people's messages about how they're called in the U.S. vs. their home country.
My husband was given a bit of a hard time at his POE because of his two last names.

On all of his I-129F paperwork I wrote that he has 2 last names and no middle name. However, the U.S. granted him his K1 visa with a middle name (the first surname) and his final last name as his last name (which is normal in Brazil).

You should write his name as it is on his BC - I agree....
but he may not be called what he wants to when he arrives in the U.S.

Good luck.

No, his last name on his father's side is Doe and his last name on his mother's side is Smith. Therefore, his one last name in the US would be Doe. However, Mexico uses two last names. There is only one space for one last name on the forms. His birth certificate lists it like: first name: John, father's last name: Doe, mother's last name Smith. No hyphen on the birth certificate.

Can I just write the two last names in the last name blank on the I-129F? Like: Doe Smith

Ok, just called USCIS from Mexico and they said I should list both last names in the last name blank. So, we shall see lo que pase. Thanks for the thoughts.

That's what I did for my husband. But.....on his K1 visa they changed it up a bit. But it's different in Brazil - their final surname is their father's (not their mother's).

nessandcharles: his middle name isn't doe, it could be angel or javier or miguel. His last name is Doe Smith.

I had wanted to see if he couldn't drop his mother's name, but for simplicity's sake (I'd rather have people massacre the pronunication of his second last name than have questions about his identity) we're trying to stick to his two last names.

We just went to the SS office and I asked how it'd appear on his card, and the man said that both last names would be included. I have heard of other people who's second surname had been dropped by some agency along the way.

I know he has 2 last names, in Brazil most people have, being the first last name the mother's family name and the second last name the father's. But in the States people have first name, middle name and last name. So if in Brazil someone's name is Maria Silva Santos, it would make sense that in the States his first last name was considered his middle name.
Maria would be the first name, Silva the middle name and Santos the last name, because after all, Silva is in the middle of Maria and Santos, it makes sense to me. Why complicate something so easy?

I'm running into issues also. I didn't notice it until I received the NVC letter showing his first name and then maternal name as middle name and then paternal last name. I emailed the Juarez Embassy and they said that they would correct it. We have not gone to the interview yet, but I hope they have it corrected to avoid omplications in the future. I'm not sure how it even got switched around since in mexico the maternal name comes after the paternal name. So confusing.

My husband had problems of people always wanting to use the second surname and dropping the first one, which he was not having. Oh no, everytime it happened he got so offended you'd think someone had killed a member of his family.

Thank the Lord we got all that rectified by now.