"maternal paternal" OR "paternal-maternal"????

[C_María 6]

My fiance is from Mexico and we are just beginning the AOS process. We waited about 3 weeks after he arrived in the US and applied for a SS#. The woman who handled our case told us we had to fill out his application and get his card issued with a "compound last name" consisting of his "paternal-maternal" because that is how it appears on his Mexican passport.

In Mexico, as well as many other Latin countries, it is customary to have the last name of both the father and mother and to list them in that order "paternal maternal" though it is known that the paternal name is dominant and for many purposes the paternal name is used by itself (the same way I sometimes don't put my middle name on documents because it is superfluous).

In the US the way we are used to seeing last names is always with the paternal, and dominant name, listed last so we ran into confusion when trying to fit his name correctly in the three name boxes provided on all the I-129F papers. We looked through VJ at other peoples experiences and based on what we read we decided to put his paternal name in the boxes marked "last name" and his maternal name in the boxes marked "middle name" since he also does not have a middle name. The way that would read is "first maternal paternal" and it appeared to be the "western" way to write a Latin last name in the space provided. Up until now no one had questioned us on that and we felt we had done the right thing.

Now we are confused about where to go from here. Since the woman at the SS# office put his name as "paternal-maternal" she said that is how we are to write his name on paperwork from now on. No middle name and compound last name. Do we fill out his AOS papers like this or do we stay consistent to the way we filled everything else out???!!

She also could not find his info in the system so we are waiting for a manual verification to get his SS#, I wondered if the name discrepancy was the issue but the woman did not understand me when I tried to explain it to her. Should I go back and speak with someone else there to see if she was looking for the wrong name?

Anyone else out there run into this issue? What do we do???!!! Thanks.

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

I am not sure what you should do about the last names. In my husband's case, we just used both last names as his last name, and filled out everything like: First, Middle, Last Last (Joe, John, Smith Doe) That is how it was on his passport and ID, so we just kept it that way so everything: passport, SS card, US state ID, EAD, and future green card would match. I am not sure if you should get his green card to match the passport for traveling purposes or not. You might want to look into that and see if it needs to match.

It is a tough one, with the Latin last names. People sometimes get confused by it here in the US. I only plan on taking his paternal last name, so I look forward to more confusion from people, lol

You might want to go back to the SSA and show them your NOA or his visa, and ask them to search the database for his name like that, not how they want it to be on the SS card.

Wish I could be of more help. Hope you guys find some answers and get stuff straightened out soon. Good luck!

[Kimchimex 8]

My fiance is from Mexico and we are just beginning the AOS process. We waited about 3 weeks after he arrived in the US and applied for a SS#. The woman who handled our case told us we had to fill out his application and get his card issued with a "compound last name" consisting of his "paternal-maternal" because that is how it appears on his Mexican passport.

In Mexico, as well as many other Latin countries, it is customary to have the last name of both the father and mother and to list them in that order "paternal maternal" though it is known that the paternal name is dominant and for many purposes the paternal name is used by itself (the same way I sometimes don't put my middle name on documents because it is superfluous).

In the US the way we are used to seeing last names is always with the paternal, and dominant name, listed last so we ran into confusion when trying to fit his name correctly in the three name boxes provided on all the I-129F papers. We looked through VJ at other peoples experiences and based on what we read we decided to put his paternal name in the boxes marked "last name" and his maternal name in the boxes marked "middle name" since he also does not have a middle name. The way that would read is "first maternal paternal" and it appeared to be the "western" way to write a Latin last name in the space provided. Up until now no one had questioned us on that and we felt we had done the right thing.

Now we are confused about where to go from here. Since the woman at the SS# office put his name as "paternal-maternal" she said that is how we are to write his name on paperwork from now on. No middle name and compound last name. Do we fill out his AOS papers like this or do we stay consistent to the way we filled everything else out???!!

She also could not find his info in the system so we are waiting for a manual verification to get his SS#, I wondered if the name discrepancy was the issue but the woman did not understand me when I tried to explain it to her. Should I go back and speak with someone else there to see if she was looking for the wrong name?

Anyone else out there run into this issue? What do we do???!!! Thanks.

This is an issue that plages me as well, I was planning to hyphenate the last name so it would read...Maria (first) Guadalupe(middle)Kuyoc-Tzuc (Paternal-Maternal)

[Sarah&Michael 2]

Now I wonder if that would be a problem if I wanted to change my last name after I got married, and all my documents had my original name.. hm...

[C_María 6]

I was starting to wonder where I had gotten this big idea in the first place to put the name like this (!) but here it is in the K-1 FAQ's:

3.2.2)...How should a latin name (first name, fathers last name, mothers last name) be put on the G-325A and I-129F?

A..What others have done successfully is to use the first (fathers) last name on the forms. Then in the cover letter, state the full name including both last names and that you are only using the first (fathers) last name on the forms.

We're heading back to the SS office to see if we can talk to a supervisor and see if they have a different opinion.

[Messybrownhair 251]

This is how it works in my opinion:

Example:

Male: John Smith

Unmarried girl: Maria B. Cruz

When married she becomes Maria C. Smith or Maria (first name) Cruz (Middle Name) Smith (Surname)

And if you have a kid, the baby is Baby Cruz Smith too.

This is how we do it in the Philippines.

We don't use Maria Smith y Cruz, just change the middle name to the new last name

Don't know if I helped, maybe I made it more confusing.. sorry

But FYI I went from Stephanie D. Surname to Stephanie S. New Surname

Edited May 10, 2011 by messybrownhair

[missicy 87]

He has to use his name exactly as it appears on his passport. So the lady was right. I believe there is a difference between "middle name and last name" and "no middle name and hypenated last name".

The name discrepancy could be the reason why she couldn't find him in the system (she was searching for "first name paternal-maternal" while his name in the system is "first name maternal paternal" as that was the name on visa).

What messybrownhair said is generally right, but it doesn't apply in his case because he didn't change or add any names after marriage.

[Yor & Yan 0]

I was starting to wonder where I had gotten this big idea in the first place to put the name like this (!) but here it is in the K-1 FAQ's:

3.2.2)...How should a latin name (first name, fathers last name, mothers last name) be put on the G-325A and I-129F?

A..What others have done successfully is to use the first (fathers) last name on the forms. Then in the cover letter, state the full name including both last names and that you are only using the first (fathers) last name on the forms.

We're heading back to the SS office to see if we can talk to a supervisor and see if they have a different opinion.

Well I´m a US Citizen now and all my Immigrant papers and ID´s have my 2 last names paternal-maternal but my SSN only has my paternal lastname... Also income tax work and bank accounts only have my paternal lastname... never hade any kind of trouble or been question about it

[Kimchimex 8]

If you are a male...you will keep your name after marriage...

If you are female & plan to take American spouses last name you should still do Social Security number BEFORE the wedding because it makes adjusting status later & getting work permissions faster! (from what I read anyway) After the wedding you would update SS# I have new last name put on, then later as you adjust status or possibly a million years later become a citizen you would have new last name on US passport etc...