Mistake at Biometrics Today

[lbounds 16]

We did our Biometrics today but there was a big problem.

They told me (the husband) I wasn't allowed inside the office and my wife had to do the Biometrics herself. She showed the appointment letter, other papers and filled out the application form when she went in the office.

After a while she was waving at me to come inside. She told me that the girl at the desk crossed out her middle name (which was correct) and wrote in her maiden middle name (incorrect).

Then my wife told her that is wrong and showed her the marriage certificate which had the legal name change of her middle and last name at our US marriage time. Then the lady looked at her passport from Philippines and said I'm going from this name.

We are adjusting from K1 so her name is changed legally at time of marriage certificate in the US and that changed middle and last name is shown properly on our AOS reciept notices including the Biometrics appointment letter. It also shows on my wife's social security card. She offered to show the lady but she said she didn't need to see that.

When my wife waved me in she called a supervisor over. I showed him the marriage certificate and I explained that was incorrect and showed him why the lady shouldn't have tried to make a change to my wife's middle name.

Then I said I want to make sure that no records will be updated with this mistake and he said they wouldn't and I can also verify this at our AOS interview when we have one for the green card.

Then I had to go back outside.

I learned later that my wife said that her Biometrics application with her name was also modified by that lady which her fingerprint was attached to. Maybe her photo also will go with that I don't know.

So that means that at least one record, her Biometrics form has an incorrect name now and doesn't reflect her correct legal name or her correct name in all the notice reciepts, NOA1 etc.

How bad can this mess us up for getting our Green Card with the correct name ?

We haven't had our AOS interview yet but what happens if by chance they bypass the interview and we get a future notice that they are generating a green card with wrong middle name ? Does anyone think this could happen ?

I'm pretty disappointed and frustrated by this today..

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Do your state laws allow for a middle name change? Not all states do.

Either way the lady had no right to change it but I have some good news. If you do end up receiving the card wrong, you can request a new one, free of charge, due to a USCIS error because your marriage cert says the name, and your forms say the name, just some moron at USCIS screwed it up. The only issue there is it sometimes takes a while to get it fixed (around 3 months I think to get the new card, you have to send the "wrong" one in)

One option you have is to make an Infopass appointment to double check what the name on file is so that you don't need to waste time with the I-90 (replacement) down the track. You can also call the 1800 number and ask to speak to an immigration officer to check the name on file.

Hopefully calling or the infopass will fix it.

[lbounds 16]

Thanks for your reply... it was a bit frustrating.

We married in Hawaii in a judges office and they gave us clear instructions on the name change in the marriage certificate as a legal name change including the middle name. Because my wife is Filipino this is the traditional way they do things there. The maiden name becomes the middle name at time of marriage and it shows the before marriage and after marriage names on the marriage certificate from our US wedding.

We were planning on calling the customer service number right after the holidays and see what they say. Hopefully this won't cause us any problems at all and they continue to keep the correct name as on the notices.

[DaveE 178]

Actually we had the same issue. All was fine until the AOS interview appointment. Her social security card, EAD, and all other documents reflected her former maiden name as the new middle name. Her AOS interview letter even had it correct. During the interview in Atlanta, apparently the interviewing officer changed it.

When we got the welcome letter, she immediately noticed that it was addressed incorrectly and they had changed her middle name back to what it was when she was single. We called the customer service number on the welcome letter, (what a joke), and the lady said she would try to fix it.

Bottom line, the card was issued with the wrong name, and we immediatly filled out an I-90 and sent it back, (last week).

Dave

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

The way I understand this you are pre-AOS. If so, there will be an AOS interview at which time you have a chance to correct all of this. Up to this point, your wife is just an A (alien) number in the system. Her name means nothing, so nothing has been messed up yet. The AOS interview is the time to have this formally corrected by the Immigration Officer so that the Green Card will be issued in the correct name.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

The way I understand this you are pre-AOS. If so, there will be an AOS interview at which time you have a chance to correct all of this. Up to this point, your wife is just an A (alien) number in the system. Her name means nothing, so nothing has been messed up yet. The AOS interview is the time to have this formally corrected by the Immigration Officer so that the Green Card will be issued in the correct name.

Not all K1 AOS'ers have interviews. I didn't. If the OP can get it fixed now, all the better. Otherwise, i've read it will take around 3 months to get a new card once you sent in for a replacement.

[lbounds 16]

I tried to call the 800 number from the USCIS website but I never get to talk to a person.

Is there a different number to call to get someone on the line ?

So far we have no movement in the USCIS case status in website. Still just says "acceptance". We have recieved no other notices after our Biometrics appointment.

I wish we would hear something...

[DaveE 178]

Actually your time line sounds about right. I didn't keep exact dates for ours but our Biometrics appointment was in late October 2010. The USCIS status stayed in "Acceptance" until after our AOS interview on December 8th. After that it is weird because it goes immediately to "card production" for a few days, and then back to "post decision activity". The card arrives shortly thereafter.

HTH

Dave

[crystal01 29]

Hi lbounds, just wondering how you proceeded with this. I just did my biometrics and they did the same exact thing to me. Crossed out the middle name and put in my maiden middle name. This is so frustrating, all my paperwork showed my name as how I want it to be and my name showed up correct in the system but they changed it anyways. They told me I can have it changed during the immigration interview but I'm just concerned because what if I don't get an interview. I called USCIS and they told me to do an infopass. The office is about 2 hrs away from where we live

[bigdog 376]

Info pass told us to make the change at the interview. We will see.