Changing my name spelling

[Blues Fairy 0]

So here I am in Raleigh NC with my man, finally! Very happy and relieved and totally in love with everything I see around. The area looks like a better version of my home town - all the pine trees and squirrels and green grass, minus the shabbiness and remnants of Soviet Union, plus the sun (+80 F today!)

The only pain is that it looks like I'm stuck with the incorrect spelling of my name those dorks at Moscow UVD have put in my international passport. Name on the K-1 visa had to match the passport; name on the I-94 had to match visa; name on Social Security has to match I-94, drivers license has to match SSN and so on, and so forth. At some point there must be an opportunity to change it back to a more palatable version!

Please advise.

Tried so far: Customs and Border Protection office; they say they can do nothing and if I go to Infopass appointment with USCIS, they'll most likely send me back to CBP.

Form I-102 (correction of I-94) won't work as the immigration card matches my passport.

Where do I run now, before all my documents are made with incorrect spelling? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[Satellite 1]

Wait until AOS / EAD. Just file with a new name and write down your previous used name where asked. That should solve it. Then use EAD to correct Social Security Card to then correct Driver's License. And when the green card comes, you might have a chance to correct the name on the Russian passport (when it is time to renew) if you try to do it here in the States.

The translators botched my wife's patronym which she uses as a middle name. But we just left it alone, because its not worth the effort.

[Blues Fairy 0]

With regards to your name change, this might be a little extreme but what about having it legally changed back to what it's supposed to be?

Actually the friendly officer at CBP advised the same but after some research I found that the courts and notaries only deal with name changes for citizens (am I right?)

Wait until AOS / EAD. Just file with a new name and write down your previous used name where asked. That should solve it. Then use EAD to correct Social Security Card to then correct Driver's License. And when the green card comes, you might have a chance to correct the name on the Russian passport (when it is time to renew) if you try to do it here in the States.

Thanks Sat, I'm inclining to do the same as this spelling trap is getting on my nerves. But as both my first and last name are spelled incorrectly I'll be very uncomfortable obtaining all the docs in it - SSN, DL, employment, marriage license, bank accounts etc - until I get a chance to change it at AOS, if that really works. Maybe there's a sneaky way to prevent all this hassle and set it straight from the beginning?

[Satellite 1]

Actually the friendly officer at CBP advised the same but after some research I found that the courts and notaries only deal with name changes for citizens (am I right?)

As I understand the probate court deals with this. Call the clerk's office of your local court and ask. He or she will either know the answer or direct you to the form used for name changing. That forms instructions should provide a clue, if not a practice guide that mentions that form, which you can find at your local public law library will have the answer. At least here in California, people who change their names run little ads in obscure newspaper as notice. Not sure on the citizenship question, but it makes sense to have only US citizens deal with this.

Maybe there's a sneaky way to prevent all this hassle and set it straight from the beginning?

There is, I mean there was a way. A bribe of some sort back in Russia, or handing in a prior translated documents when your passport was being made by UVD. But its a moot point now, but for those starting off, I guess the advise would be to take care of all name corrections in Russia before applying for a visa or filling out any US documents. Edited December 11, 2007 by Satellite

[Chris Parker 11]

The only pain is that it looks like I'm stuck with the incorrect spelling of my name those dorks at Moscow UVD have put in my international passport. Name on the K-1 visa had to match the passport; name on the I-94 had to match visa; name on Social Security has to match I-94, drivers license has to match SSN and so on, and so forth. At some point there must be an opportunity to change it back to a more palatable version!

Had the same problem, except the passport and the K1 had different spellings, both incorrect, but I used the proper spelling on the I-94 so that it would match the I-129F petition (so three spelling were in the passport, with only the I-94 and corresponding NOA2 being correct). Since USCIS processes adjustment based on the petition approval notice and the I-94, that seems to be what makes the most sense.

The birth certificate with a translation is often a secondary way to prove the proper spelling, and you're going to need that when filing for adjustment anyway.

If you have a Russian driver's license with the English spelling correct, as we had, that can also be extremely helpful as secondary ID getting the SSN card and the marriage license.

Finally, you could also get a translation of the passport ID page (yeah, it is already in both languages, but the English is really just a translation of the Russian, the Russian is always the correct spelling). You could then show the translation with the passport to prove that Russia mis-spelled the name in English.

[Chris Parker 11]

Actually the friendly officer at CBP advised the same but after some research I found that the courts and notaries only deal with name changes for citizens (am I right?)

I doubt that, however name changes are done under state law.

Legal name changes are often performed for non-citizens prior to naturalization. Since USCIS actually has no authority to change names, if you want to change your name using your naturalization application, you will just delay the whole process because USCIS will then have to hold your application until a separate name change petition filed with the court is approved and finalized by a judge. That was never a problem before Congress created administrative naturalization, since under the old judicial naturalization system, the same judge used to also approve the naturalization application.

Nevertheless, you aren't really changing your name, just trying to correct the spelling on official documents, you should not need to go through that process.

Edited December 11, 2007 by Chris Parker

[Blues Fairy 0]

Maybe there's a sneaky way to prevent all this hassle and set it straight from the beginning?

There is, I mean there was a way. A bribe of some sort back in Russia, or handing in a prior translated documents when your passport was being made by UVD. But its a moot point now, but for those starting off, I guess the advise would be to take care of all name corrections in Russia before applying for a visa or filling out any US documents.

The bribe in Russia was not possible because I was rushing my passport as it is and was happy enough with the fact I got it in time.

So at which point does the correction take place now? Can I use the NOA for my AOS package as proof of new spelling for Social Security, or must I wait for the actual GC/EAD to arrive?

Can I start changing my passport now, instead of after AOS? (Perhaps not a good idea because they'll have to reissue K-1 in this case).

I feel completely trapped.

[Satellite 1]

I would wait until your get that EAD. Most government agencies won't work off a NOA, like the California Department of Motor Vehicle. The NOA is not really a legal ID document. And a green card for Russian Authorities, as they won't work with anything lower in my experience.

[slim 1,533]

AOS/EAD will take care of everything. Your new documents will be issued in the "proper" name and then you can reapply for everything else. See Sat's original post. That's pretty much what we did... and it worked.

[mendeleev 69]

Sat's and Slim's plan is ours, too -- so it is great to know that others have had success with it.

[Satellite 1]

Sat's and Slim's plan is ours, too -- so it is great to know that others have had success with it.

We actually didn't really have success with this because we didn't do anything special. As a matter of fact we didn't even bother changing the strangely spelled middle name (patronym), but based on other people's experience the suggested method has worked.