Could this mean we have to start all over :-(

[Randy & Kim 0]

Dear visa journey family, this website has been THE MOST valuable tool in our K1 visa journey so far and I would like to say a HUMUNGOUS thank you to all the people out there that have offered this endless source of information, we would have been lost without it. I have never posted anything on the forums before but I'm desparate for any advice anyone can offer me with an unusual problem I've got. My fiance and I have been in a long distance relationship for 4 1/2 years, each of us going through a divorce and property settlement in that time. We have spent the last 2 years flying back and forth for visits from NZ to U.S. the last one being me in our home in America for the 3 months just gone, filling out all the paperwork, waiting waiting waiting for approval, waiting for packet 3, waiting for a medical, waiting for an interview date and all the emotional torment that comes with all the above etc etc etc I now have discovered an issue that could affect our entire petition. I am desparately waiting for a phonecall back from the U.S embassy here in NZ to hopefully give me some answers. Here's the deal. We have filled out all our paperwork with my married name (the name I'm currently using even though I'm divorced) and my birth name, those are the 2 legal names I'm known by. Upon receiving packet 3 I asked my 19 nearly 20 year old daughter for her birth certificate because even though she is not coming with me or following later, the embassy need to see it and take a copy of it. Her birth certificate states under "Mother" not only my legal birth name but it says "also known as Squires" which is my STEPFATHERS last name, holy #######!!! I completely and innocently forgot something that has the possibility to screw up our entire K1 visa application :-( Around the age of 5 my mother and father got divorced. My mother remarried sometime a year later to a wonderful man who looked after myself and my brother like his own. According to my mother, when my younger brother started school he did not like having a different last name to our mother and stepfather, he found it extremely upsetting and wanted our family to all have the same last name of "Squires". Mum decided to approach the primary school we attended and see what could be done. They were quite happy to note on their records that we could use that name. We continued to use our stepfathers last name all the way through school not only because it was what my brother wanted but for me it was also because I didn‘t want anything to do with my real father, he was never a proper father to me or my brother whereas my stepfather was. It wasn’t until I was around 16 and applied for my drivers licence that I discovered I was not legally allowed to call myself by that name. My drivers licence required a birth certificate to be provided and I had to use my legal given birth name. From what I could recall I thought I stopped calling myself by my stepfathers last name around that time as I could see it was only going to cause headaches for myself. This is going back 20 odd years so the memories are extremely vague. At age 18 I got pregnant and after I gave birth to my daughter at some stage I must have filled out a form to register her birth. There must have been the question asked on that form “are you known by any other names” and because I had used my stepfathers name in the past I just put it down and didn’t think anything of it again……………until now. When I discovered this problem last week I thought to myself, #### ok no biggie I'll just ring Department of Internal Affairs and have them remove that off her birth certificate and then I'll order a new one, that will solve all my problems haha yeah right. After much discussion over the phone and having to write a lengthy explanation of why it was used and why i wanted it removed I got a phonecall today to say the Registrar General would not take it off the birth certificate the reason being that they pulled up my hospital admission records from when my daughter was born and it appears I called myself by my stepfathers last name when I was admitted to hospital back in 1992!!!! Ahhhhhhh No!!!! All my legal documents are under either my married or birth name, my passport, my marriage certificate, my sons birth certificate, my drivers licence, not anywhere does the name "Squires" exist except my daughters birth certificate. I am completely distraught. I've now rung and left a message with the embassy, doesn't look like I'm going to get a return phonecall today so I get to stew on all this over the entire weekend. If there's ANYBODY out there who has any idea what sort of effect this might have on our petition I'd love to hear it. I'm petrified it could mean my fiance and I have to start all over again from scratch and that would be completely devastating to us, we're sooooo close to this being over and finally being able to live a normal life together as a married couple. I'm gutted :-(

Kim

[Harpa Timsah 13,263]

Relax. This will not impact your approval. It was an innocent mistake, and not a material fact. Explain at the interview. Relax... really.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Harpa Timsah

[L+T 71]

Was that the short or long version?

[R&RM 11]

Relax. This will not impact your approval. It was an innocent mistake, and not a material fact. Explain at the interview. Relax... really.

I agree, all the more since you are not even planning on immigrating with your daughter. Take it easy, I pray all goes well for you!

[dukeandduchess 141]

Just be upfront and explain it. I highly doubt this would be grounds to deny your petition, but it may add a little time if they want to check the other name.

[JS&PL 3]

After reading your long message, I am so glad that someone here was able to answer you! I am sure they would listen to your explanation when at the interview. You explained it well here, now relax and do the same at the interview! We are all glad to provide support here on VJ!

[Randy & Kim 0]

Looks like I need to take a chill pill and enjoy my weekend :-) thanks and apologies for the length of my post.