No last name - can I split his first?

[goldstein07 0]

Hi - I've been following threads and looking for information about what to do with a fiance who has no surname (family name). I'm still not sure what I should do. My Fiance is from India and has only a given name, which has two parts. Usually on official forms he splits it into a given and surname - so say his given name is Jack Daniel with no surname, he uses given name: Jack and surname: Daniel.

 

Can we do this for this (I-129F) application? On his passport it has only given name: Jack Daniel and surname is blank. Reading through the forum, people suggest making the given name a surname and putting FNU or N/A or none for given name. My idea seems simpler, but since I haven't read of anyone doing this I'm worried it might raise problems.

 

Any help or advice is appreciated!

[Chris and ZhiJia 146]

For the Visa applications in these situations, these are the methods others have followed.

 

1. If you do not want to get your India passport re-issued to display a Given Name, and Surname Split as you listed. This method can cause issues getting your SSN and Driver's License, unless you are willing to go through the process upon arrival in the US to get everything sorted.

 

India Passport Given Name: Jack Daniel

India Passport Surname: 

 

US Visa FirstName: FNU

US Visa LastName: Jack Daniel

 

2. To save hassle with your SSN, and driver's license upon arrival, it is recommended it have your government re-issue your passport prior to your application to display your name, as you wish to use it.

 

India Passport Given Name: Jack

India Passport Surname: Daniel

 

US Visa FirstName: Jack

US Visa LastName: Daniel

[goldstein07 0]

Thanks for the reply! Does this mean that simply splitting his name on the application is not an option? A few questions about your reply:

14 minutes ago, Chris and ZhiJia said:

1. If you do not want to get your India passport re-issued to display a Given Name, and Surname Split as you listed. This method can cause issues getting your SSN and Driver's License, unless you are willing to go through the process upon arrival in the US to get everything sorted

 

How complicated is the process to change his name when we enter the US? Is that something that we can do on the marriage liscense, or is it a longer process?

14 minutes ago, Chris and ZhiJia said:

2. To save hassle with your SSN, and driver's license upon arrival, it is recommended it have your government re-issue your passport prior to your application to display your name, as you wish to use it.

My fiance is positive that the embassy here (we live outside of India) will not simply change his passport name, since it is a legal doccument and it would be legally changing his name. Does anyone have experience with this?

Edited January 6, 2017 by goldstein07

[TexasHeartsIndia 371]

On 1/6/2017 at 2:13 PM, Chris and ZhiJia said:

For the Visa applications in these situations, these are the methods others have followed.

 

1. If you do not want to get your India passport re-issued to display a Given Name, and Surname Split as you listed. This method can cause issues getting your SSN and Driver's License, unless you are willing to go through the process upon arrival in the US to get everything sorted.

 

India Passport Given Name: Jack Daniel

India Passport Surname: 

 

US Visa FirstName: FNU

US Visa LastName: Jack Daniel

 

2. To save hassle with your SSN, and driver's license upon arrival, it is recommended it have your government re-issue your passport prior to your application to display your name, as you wish to use it.

 

India Passport Given Name: Jack

India Passport Surname: Daniel

 

US Visa FirstName: Jack

US Visa LastName: Daniel

My fiance has the exact same situation. I read up on it and found that if there is no surname, the US government will use the given name as the surname and use FNU as the first name. Well, you can imagine what kind of issues there could be with that. In the US, legal name is so much more important than in foreign countries!

 

My fiance is changing the placement of his names as I type this! It is sssssooooo much easier to do while still in India rather than trying to change your name in the states (not to mention cheaper). I'm glad we found out about it and were able to make the change now. I would definitely recommend having your fiance change the name on the passport, as Chris mentioned in situation 2 above.

 

Good luck!

[TexasHeartsIndia 371]

On 1/6/2017 at 2:28 PM, goldstein07 said:

Thanks for the reply! Does this mean that simply splitting his name on the application is not an option? A few questions about your reply:

How complicated is the process to change his name when we enter the US? Is that something that we can do on the marriage liscense, or is it a longer process?

My fiance is positive that the embassy here (we live outside of India) will not simply change his passport name, since it is a legal doccument and it would be legally changing his name. Does anyone have experience with this?

In regards to changing the name - it's not really a name change so much as what name is listed on what line. My fiance's name is Benedict Antony, for example. That's the only name he has ever gone by. But the surname/last name field is blank, so the given name is Benedict Antony. Once the passport is updated, his name will still be Benedict Antony, but the surname/last name field will be Antony instead of blank. He lives in Delhi but I can't imagine that it would be that different at an embassy outside the country...