First name in marriage contract is different from Birth certificate

[POA 175]

I will have my mom applied for a tourist visa and I am well aware that it is based on her own merit. However, I have a little dilemma with her name and wondering if it would in any way affect the application.

 

Her first name and birth date in her birth certificate are different from her marriage contract. Why? because she did not apply for the marriage license and my dad's admin applied for it. My dad was in the service and has already passed (over 30 years). However she continued using her incorrect married name because she apparently didn't know how to fix it. I know some might be thinking why but my mom is not exactly educated and a shy and weak personality. So she let it just happened that way.

 

Fast forward, over 30 years later, I came to the US now I want her to TRY to apply for a tourist visa. Her passport will have her correct first name and birth day. But the DS-160 ask for the additional name used which of course will list her married name with the incorrect spelling. She is a widow. I will have her get an affidavit of the same person(which she has been using for other government transactions).

 

Questions:

1. Has anyone had similar situation and did the embassy actually asked for a legal document showing why she used that name?

2. Will that have any effect on her visa application if she has 2 different names? 

 

I appreciate any input!

[GreenGem 58]

11 minutes ago, POA said:

I will have my mom applied for a tourist visa and I am well aware that it is based on her own merit. However, I have a little dilemma with her name and wondering if it would in any way affect the application.

 

Her first name and birth date in her birth certificate are different from her marriage contract. Why? because she did not apply for the marriage license and my dad's admin applied for it. My dad was in the service and has already passed (over 30 years). However she continued using her incorrect married name because she apparently didn't know how to fix it. I know some might be thinking why but my mom is not exactly educated and a shy and weak personality. So she let it just happened that way.

 

Fast forward, over 30 years later, I came to the US now I want her to TRY to apply for a tourist visa. Her passport will have her correct first name and birth day. But the DS-160 ask for the additional name used which of course will list her married name with the incorrect spelling. She is a widow. I will have her get an affidavit of the same person(which she has been using for other government transactions).

 

Questions:

1. Has anyone had similar situation and did the embassy actually asked for a legal document showing why she used that name?

2. Will that have any effect on her visa application if she has 2 different names? 

 

I appreciate any input!

Have your mom ever used any id's that has the name that appeared on the marriage contract? Did she ever use that name? I honestly don't see any problems about this affecting her visa application for you mentioned that she's already a widow. Having that affidavit handy might help.

[POA 175]

12 minutes ago, GreenGem said:

Have your mom ever used any id's that has the name that appeared on the marriage contract? Did she ever use that name? I honestly don't see any problems about this affecting her visa application for you mentioned that she's already a widow. Having that affidavit handy might help.

She still use her name in the marriage contract and she has a few government ids with that name. She just went ahead and use the wrong one. But her passport will be in her maiden name which is the correct one. 

 

Thank you. I'll make sure she has that when she gets her interview. 

[Ate 180]

14 hours ago, POA said:

1. Has anyone had similar situation and did the embassy actually asked for a legal document showing why she used that name?

2. Will that have any effect on her visa application if she has 2 different names?

 

We have a similar issue with my mom's name.  Her married surname on her passport is different from my surname!  My dad's surname was misspelled on their marriage contract and they never bothered to correct it because the spelling was only slightly different (like "Gonzales" vs "Gonzalez").  Thankfully, my parents used the correct spelling on my birth certificate.

 

I worried that this would be a big deal when we were applying for our tourist visas because we were applying together.  I thought the CO would make a fuss that our surnames are spelled differently.  He didn't.  No mention at all about our surnames.

 

Anyway, here's what I suggest for your mom's tourist visa application --

• On her DS-160, list her name EXACTLY as it appears on her passport.
• On the field for "Other Names Used", list her name as it appears on her birth certificate, plus any other names she used on other IDs and legal documents.
• At the interview, bring documents to help explain the name discrepancy.

 

I highly doubt the CO will ask for any of the documents your mom will bring, but at least it might help to give her some peace of mind at the interview.

 

Good luck to your mom and I hope you update us after she applies.

 

[POA 175]

4 hours ago, Ate said:

 

We have a similar issue with my mom's name.  Her married surname on her passport is different from my surname!  My dad's surname was misspelled on their marriage contract and they never bothered to correct it because the spelling was only slightly different (like "Gonzales" vs "Gonzalez").  Thankfully, my parents used the correct spelling on my birth certificate.

 

I worried that this would be a big deal when we were applying for our tourist visas because we were applying together.  I thought the CO would make a fuss that our surnames are spelled differently.  He didn't.  No mention at all about our surnames.

 

Anyway, here's what I suggest for your mom's tourist visa application --

• On her DS-160, list her name EXACTLY as it appears on her passport.
• On the field for "Other Names Used", list her name as it appears on her birth certificate, plus any other names she used on other IDs and legal documents.
• At the interview, bring documents to help explain the name discrepancy.

 

I highly doubt the CO will ask for any of the documents your mom will bring, but at least it might help to give her some peace of mind at the interview.

 

Good luck to your mom and I hope you update us after she applies.

 

This really gives me peace of mind haha. She will be using her maiden name on her passport and not her married name. I will keep you posted! Did your mom get a visa?

[Ate 180]

9 minutes ago, POA said:

This really gives me peace of mind haha. She will be using her maiden name on her passport and not her married name. I will keep you posted! Did your mom get a visa?

 

Yup, my mom and I got our visas.  The fact that we have slightly different surnames on our passports was not brought up at all.  We made sure to declare all my mom's names on her DS-160.

 

[POA 175]

3 minutes ago, Ate said:

 

Yup, my mom and I got our visas.  The fact that we have slightly different surnames on our passports was not brought up at all.  We made sure to declare all my mom's names on her DS-160.

 

This is awesome news! I was losing hope for her hahaha just because of her name. She couldn't get a passport with her married name so we had to get her an ID for her maiden name.  Thank you for sharing!

[apple21 953]

POA, good luck on your mom's application. 

 

Check out my parents' tourist visa application experience on my link!