incorrect order of name

[KevinInATX 133]

so I went to our local Social Security Admin office to request a social card for my fiancee. I brought her passport, birth certificate and I-94 print out. The not so helpful lady then states that I filled out my fiancees form wrong with the name order...turns out that immigration input my (now wife) middle name as first, and her first name as her middle name.  The Vietnam passport shows Family name, middle name, first name in that order. I clearly put down on the I-129F application what her names are as it asks for the Family name, First and Middle. So essentially the lady said nothing she can do that she has to follow what Immigration put into the system and I have to deal with it at Green Card stage. She said her social secuirty would be sent out in about 4 weeks because I guess another system hasn't been verified yet or something and her POE was 02/21/19

 

So I am wondering if anyone has experienced the same issue for their Vietnamese fiancee/wife with the name order discrepancy. What is teh best fix for this. They are sending her the ss card with the incorrect order. I almost feel why have even bothered with getting it in the first place and just get it at green card stage anyhow. Any advice or insight would be excellent!

Thank you!

Edited March 8, 2019 by người nước ngoài

[USS_Voyager 1,971]

1 minute ago, người nước ngoài said:

so I went to our local Social Security Admin office to request a social card for my fiancee. I brought her passport, birth certificate and I-94 print out. The not so helpful lady then states that I filled out my fiancees form wrong with the name order...turns out that immigration input my (now wife) middle name as first, and her first name as her middle name.  The Vietnam passport shows Family name, middle name, first name in that order. I clearly put down on the I-129F application what her names are as it asks for the Family name, First and Middle. So essentially the lady said nothing she can do that she has to follow what Immigration out into the system and I have to deal with it at Green Card stage. She said her green card would be sent out in about 4 weeks because I guess another system hasn't been verified yet or something and her POE was 02/21/19

 

So I am wondering if anyone has experienced the same issue for their Vietnamese fiancee/wife with the name order discrepancy. What is teh best fix for this. They are sending her the ss card with the incorrect order. I almost feel why have even bothered with getting it in the first place and just get it at green card stage anyhow. Any advice or insight would be excellent!

Thank you!

I am slightly confused as you said “fiancé” but if she gets a green card right after entry meaning you filed CR1, correct?

 

About the name, it happens all the time. I think it is because that’s how Consulate in HCMC put the name on the visa, and then it just cascades from there to SSA and USCIS and later even the DMV. Same thing happened to my mom. Say her name is (the Vietnamese way) Trump Marrie Ivanka , so first name: Ivanka, middle name: Marrie, Last name: Trump. They will put that on the visa as First name: Marrie Ivanka, last name:  Trump. So her GC and SSN arrived the same way. 

 

I decided not to fix it. Everything I got for her, we just followed the same format on the GC and SSN: bank accounts, state ID,.... and if anybody ask, I just point to the GC and said that ‘s how it is. The only thing different is the VNese passport, which is no big deal.

[MattBo 2]

My wife, daughters, sister-in-law, mother/father-inlaw all the same problem.  How to solve? I was told to pay $600.00 for each to fix name. Needless to say they were not "fixed". 

[KevinInATX 133]

11 minutes ago, USS_Voyager said:

I am slightly confused as you said “fiancé” but if she gets a green card right after entry meaning you filed CR1, correct?

 

About the name, it happens all the time. I think it is because that’s how Consulate in HCMC put the name on the visa, and then it just cascades from there to SSA and USCIS and later even the DMV. Same thing happened to my mom. Say her name is (the Vietnamese way) Trump Marrie Ivanka , so first name: Ivanka, middle name: Marrie, Last name: Trump. They will put that on the visa as First name: Marrie Ivanka, last name:  Trump. So her GC and SSN arrived the same way. 

 

I decided not to fix it. Everything I got for her, we just followed the same format on the GC and SSN: bank accounts, state ID,.... and if anybody ask, I just point to the GC and said that ‘s how it is. The only thing different is the VNese passport, which is no big deal.

I apologize..I had edited my post to say social security card...didnt mean green card.

 

She is here on the K1...your example of Trump Marrie Ivanka is exactly what happened.

 

Problem is that my fiance wants to hyphenate my last name to her Surname....I told her what happened with her name order and she was a bit upset...makes no difference to me but she wants it to say correct way

[KevinInATX 133]

3 minutes ago, MattBo said:

My wife, daughters, sister-in-law, mother/father-inlaw all the same problem.  How to solve? I was told to pay $600.00 for each to fix name. Needless to say they were not "fixed". 

ya Im not paying $600 for something I didnt create. I filled out her I-129F correctly.

[USS_Voyager 1,971]

55 minutes ago, MattBo said:

My wife, daughters, sister-in-law, mother/father-inlaw all the same problem.  How to solve? I was told to pay $600.00 for each to fix name. Needless to say they were not "fixed". 

I think the only way is to do a round-about at all of the agencies involved and fix each of them individually. I don’t know how else. And who charged you $600 to fix each name? Did you actually pay? 

 

For me, as mentioned, not gonna fix it. I told Mom “Look, I love you and everything, but me no spending the next 6 months filing papers at 25 different governmental agencies to get a name fix, so from now on, your name will be Marie Ivanka Trump. Deal with it!”

 

Maybe not those exact words, but you got the idea...

Edited March 8, 2019 by USS_Voyager

[KevinInATX 133]

1 hour ago, USS_Voyager said:

I think the only way is to do a round-about at all of the agencies involved and fix each of them individually. I don’t know how else. And who charged you $600 to fix each name? Did you actually pay? 

 

For me, as mentioned, not gonna fix it. I told Mom “Look, I love you and everything, but me no spending the next 6 months filing papers at 25 different governmental agencies to get a name fix, so from now on, your name will be Marie Ivanka Trump. Deal with it!”

 

Maybe not those exact words, but you got the idea...

👍

[JasonGG 267]

My wife and many others from Vietnam experience this issue.  At the beginning of the process, the Vietnamese and U.S. name order conventions don't match.  Social Security is required to record the name exactly as it appears on the passport, visa, and I-94.  These will all show the Vietnamese name order.  As a result, my wife's first social security card had her name as MIDDLE, FIRST, LAST.  When we got her driver's license, they also had to issue it in the same order.  Agency staff understood what we were saying when we explained the name order differences between the two countries.  However, they have to follow strict guidelines related to verifying names based on the documents provided.

 

Luckily, this can eventually be corrected.  When my wife received her green card, it had the  "American" order for naming based on the I-485.  With the green card, we visited the Social Security Office to request a new card.  You'll do this anyway to get a card that does not say "not valid for employment."  She received the new "correct" card in about 10 days.   Next, we took the new social security card and green card to the Motor Vehicle Administration.  Two months after arriving in the U.S., my wife received a short-term, 8-month driver's license based on her K-1 immigration status.  With the new IDs, she was able to get the standard 8-year license with the corrected name order.

 

With the exception of her Vietnamese passport, all my wife's identification has now been "Americanized."  Just remember that if your wife is using her Vietnamese passport to travel, she needs to make sure to use the Vietnamese name order when purchasing airline tickets.  The name on the ticket and passport must be identical.  When my wife flew to Vietnam in December, a family ahead of us was not allowed to check in Korean Airlines because the names on their tickets were ordered differently than their passport.  Korean air staff understand the problem, but they must follow guidelines.

 

Good luck - Jason

[WandY 430]

17 hours ago, người nước ngoài said:

I apologize..I had edited my post to say social security card...didnt mean green card.

 

She is here on the K1...your example of Trump Marrie Ivanka is exactly what happened.

 

Problem is that my fiance wants to hyphenate my last name to her Surname....I told her what happened with her name order and she was a bit upset...makes no difference to me but she wants it to say correct way

Do not use a hyphenated name. That causes way more problems in the U.S. than you can imagine. Also, it doesn't matter (at your stage) how the name is entered. Just go with it. Trying to fight the feds over the order of a name is a fool's folly. Trust me on this, I work for the government. You can fix later, after everything is done (citizenship).

[KevinInATX 133]

2 hours ago, JasonGG said:

My wife and many others from Vietnam experience this issue.  At the beginning of the process, the Vietnamese and U.S. name order conventions don't match.  Social Security is required to record the name exactly as it appears on the passport, visa, and I-94.  These will all show the Vietnamese name order.  As a result, my wife's first social security card had her name as MIDDLE, FIRST, LAST.  When we got her driver's license, they also had to issue it in the same order.  Agency staff understood what we were saying when we explained the name order differences between the two countries.  However, they have to follow strict guidelines related to verifying names based on the documents provided.

 

Luckily, this can eventually be corrected.  When my wife received her green card, it had the  "American" order for naming based on the I-485.  With the green card, we visited the Social Security Office to request a new card.  You'll do this anyway to get a card that does not say "not valid for employment."  She received the new "correct" card in about 10 days.   Next, we took the new social security card and green card to the Motor Vehicle Administration.  Two months after arriving in the U.S., my wife received a short-term, 8-month driver's license based on her K-1 immigration status.  With the new IDs, she was able to get the standard 8-year license with the corrected name order.

 

With the exception of her Vietnamese passport, all my wife's identification has now been "Americanized."  Just remember that if your wife is using her Vietnamese passport to travel, she needs to make sure to use the Vietnamese name order when purchasing airline tickets.  The name on the ticket and passport must be identical.  When my wife flew to Vietnam in December, a family ahead of us was not allowed to check in Korean Airlines because the names on their tickets were ordered differently than their passport.  Korean air staff understand the problem, but they must follow guidelines.

 

Good luck - Jason

Thanks Jason...I appreciate your advice to me about the P3 a while back as well

[KevinInATX 133]

9 minutes ago, WandY said:

Do not use a hyphenated name. That causes way more problems in the U.S. than you can imagine. Also, it doesn't matter (at your stage) how the name is entered. Just go with it. Trying to fight the feds over the order of a name is a fool's folly. Trust me on this, I work for the government. You can fix later, after everything is done (citizenship).

Thank you for the advice

can you elaborate a little more on why using a hyphenated last name causes more problems?

thank you 

[Liam2021 551]

It happen with my wife also, but the name on both GC and SSN is the same, so we not bother to fixed it because it's totally wasted of time. The easy way is change the name when apply for citizenship.

[Spotify 75]

How did you fill out the the name on the I-485?  I'm planning to fill in the Americanized name order in the Current Legal Name section.  (We didn't change my spouse's name, we only want to fix the order between US and Vietnam)

 

Did you use the "Other names you have used since birth" section to fill in the name (reverse order) that appears on the Vietnam passport, I-94, and birth certificate?

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Spotify

[nguoivietnam2019 67]

On 5/20/2019 at 12:31 AM, Spotify said:

How did you fill out the the name on the I-485?  I'm planning to fill in the Americanized name order in the Current Legal Name section.  (We didn't change my spouse's name, we only want to fix the order between US and Vietnam)

 

Did you use the "Other names you have used since birth" section to fill in the name (reverse order) that appears on the Vietnam passport, I-94, and birth certificate?

 

 

• For the Current Legal Name, I would use the name appears on her K-1 visa which probably does not have Middle Name (1 word for Last Name and 2-3 words for First Name).
• For Other Names, it does not matter - I would either leave it bank or use the Vietnamese way ( 1 word for Last Name, 1 word for First Name, and 1-2 words for Middle Name).

[mdatnguyen 4]

On 3/7/2019 at 6:23 PM, người nước ngoài said:

so I went to our local Social Security Admin office to request a social card for my fiancee. I brought her passport, birth certificate and I-94 print out. The not so helpful lady then states that I filled out my fiancees form wrong with the name order...turns out that immigration input my (now wife) middle name as first, and her first name as her middle name.  The Vietnam passport shows Family name, middle name, first name in that order. I clearly put down on the I-129F application what her names are as it asks for the Family name, First and Middle. So essentially the lady said nothing she can do that she has to follow what Immigration put into the system and I have to deal with it at Green Card stage. She said her social secuirty would be sent out in about 4 weeks because I guess another system hasn't been verified yet or something and her POE was 02/21/19

 

So I am wondering if anyone has experienced the same issue for their Vietnamese fiancee/wife with the name order discrepancy. What is teh best fix for this. They are sending her the ss card with the incorrect order. I almost feel why have even bothered with getting it in the first place and just get it at green card stage anyhow. Any advice or insight would be excellent!

Thank you!

My husband had the same issue. Somewhere down the line someone messed up somewhere and switched his middle & first name. We honestly didn’t waste anytime with it and kept it how it was . Too much trouble to go & redo a bunch of paperwork that was going to take a significant amount of time & possibly money.