Spelling Issue on the Marriage Certificate

[netminder30 1]

I am afraid my non-US citizen wife and I made a foolish mistake when we were married.

She is Russian, and her first name as it appears on her birth certificate and Russian passport is "Nelli". We Americanized the spelling of her name and used "Nelly" on the marriage license and marriage certificate. (We made this change reasoning that "Nelli" and "Nelly" are identical names, the last letter differing only because of different transliterations of the Russian to English. We preferred "Nelly" thinking it would avoid spelling issues in the future.)

Now we are preparing to apply for AOS. We prefer to file the application as "Nelly" with her new surname (my last name), so the green card would have the preferred spelling of her name. "Nelli" would appear on her passport and birth certificate, while "Nelly" would appear on the marriage certificate.

The question is, have we created a problem by creating this name discrepancy? Would USCIS see this for what it is -- a valid transliteration of the same Russian name, or would they reject the application out of hand? If the latter is likely, is it possible to change the spelling of her name on the marriage certificate? If so, is this a lengthy and involved process? (We live in the state of Georgia.)

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

I would get the name on the marriage certificate corrected to avoid any future issues.

[Dan2023 26]

I am afraid my non-US citizen wife and I made a foolish mistake when we were married.

She is Russian, and her first name as it appears on her birth certificate and Russian passport is "Nelli". We Americanized the spelling of her name and used "Nelly" on the marriage license and marriage certificate. (We made this change reasoning that "Nelli" and "Nelly" are identical names, the last letter differing only because of different transliterations of the Russian to English. We preferred "Nelly" thinking it would avoid spelling issues in the future.)

Now we are preparing to apply for AOS. We prefer to file the application as "Nelly" with her new surname (my last name), so the green card would have the preferred spelling of her name. "Nelli" would appear on her passport and birth certificate, while "Nelly" would appear on the marriage certificate.

The question is, have we created a problem by creating this name discrepancy? Would USCIS see this for what it is -- a valid transliteration of the same Russian name, or would they reject the application out of hand? If the latter is likely, is it possible to change the spelling of her name on the marriage certificate? If so, is this a lengthy and involved process? (We live in the state of Georgia.)

Thanks in advance for your help.

this should not be an issue.

there's a same person affidavit you can get from notary mentioning Nelli (her passport and birth) and Nelly (marriage certificate) are same person.

and going forward you'd want to keep Nelly as the name in all future documentation.

[netminder30 1]

Thanks everyone for your replies. We have decided to amend the marriage certificate and change the name back to Nelli so it matches the passport, birth certificate and other immigration documents. We will legally change my fiancée's name to Nelly after we get the green card.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Thanks everyone for your replies. We have decided to amend the marriage certificate and change the name back to Nelli so it matches the passport, birth certificate and other immigration documents. We will legally change my fiancée's name to Nelly after we get the green card.

You can change her name easily and for free when she gets citizenship, if that is her plan.

I don't think it would have been a problem, but you already fixed it. I had a similar issue but with parent's information and not the main applicant. But, for what it's worth, it was a non-issue.