Filing I-130 online for someone in Russia - patronymic

[bzabelina 2]

Hi have some questions regarding filing form I-130 for a parent living in Russia and I am wondering if anyone who has applied for someone in Russia has had similar experiences. In the online form, it often asks for middle names, but Russians do not have middle names so I left that blank. I am assuming this is NOT the place for adding the patronymic, is that correct? Since patronymics are not middle names. The concern lies in the fact that the birth cert and other Russian documents will show the full name including the patronymic and I don't want that to cause confusion. Let me know if anyone knows how to handle this! Thanks!

[Vickys_Mom 230]

Make the name look the same as it does on the Russian passport or whatever Russian identity document is in use.

 

Many years ago I did an I-130 for my ex-wife who was from Moscow.  The patronymic was used in all of her paperwork in the middle name field including her Russian passport and her U.S. student visa.  Her father was Vasily, so we had her middle name as Vasilyevna to match the Russian paperwork.

 

If the Russian passport or identity document doesn't include the patronymic, then don't use it on the I-130.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

 

[bzabelina 2]

Thank makes sense, but in this case this is for my husband applying for his mom. Since my husband is now a US citizen, his ID documentation doesn't have a patronymic. The application doesn't ask for his mom's ID, just his birth cert which does include their patronymics. If his American ID doesn't include a patronymic but his birth cert does, would this be a problem?

[Vickys_Mom 230]

1 hour ago, bzabelina said:

Thank makes sense, but in this case this is for my husband applying for his mom. Since my husband is now a US citizen, his ID documentation doesn't have a patronymic. The application doesn't ask for his mom's ID, just his birth cert which does include their patronymics. If his American ID doesn't include a patronymic but his birth cert does, would this be a problem?

Put his name as it appears on his naturalization document.  That should match with what USCIS knows him as.

 

He can also put his name as it appeared on the birth certificate in the Other Names Used area...on the printed form, that's Part 2 Items 5a-5c.  If he's going to use the Other Names Used area, I would include the patronymic as a middle name.  That way, the Other Names Used area looks like what's on his birth certificate.  For example, my wife uses her maiden last name as her middle name since she never had a middle name at birth...so when she filled out the I-130 for her mother we put Firstname MaidenName Lastname in the Your Full Name area and Firstname MaidenName (leaving the middle name field blank) under Other Names Used.

 

If he has both "sets" of names on there, he's done everything he can to identify himself.  They can't complain later on that his birth certificate name doesn't look like what he put on the I-130.  As long as USCIS can identify him with both his naturalization certificate (he's a U.S. Citizen) and his birth certificate (she's his mother), he should be all set.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

 

[bzabelina 2]

That's a good point about the other names used area. However, we never did that when I was petitioning for my husband himself, even though his patronymic was on our marriage cert. It was never an issue. His patronymic was on his birth cert and our marriage cert but we always left the middle name area blank and never did an other names used area. Now I'm wondering if I should do the same and just write about it in the "additional info area". 

[millefleur 5,047]

**Moved from Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to America to RUB regional forum; question is culture specific**

 

 

It's totally fine to put it under "other names used" since it is technically part of the name.

[Simplytex 387]

4 hours ago, millefleur said:

**Moved from Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to America to RUB regional forum; question is culture specific**

 

 

It's totally fine to put it under "other names used" since it is technically part of the name.

Yep, this is what we did for my wife's recent i-130. Enter the first name and last name in English, as down in the passport, then in other names used and the "name in native language" fields, you can include the patronym. I'm fairly certain the patronym won't have an English equivalent in the international passport - so just use that as your definitive reference.

[Master5 12]

On 12/22/2022 at 8:01 PM, bzabelina said:

Hi have some questions regarding filing form I-130 for a parent living in Russia and I am wondering if anyone who has applied for someone in Russia has had similar experiences. In the online form, it often asks for middle names, but Russians do not have middle names so I left that blank. I am assuming this is NOT the place for adding the patronymic, is that correct? Since patronymics are not middle names. The concern lies in the fact that the birth cert and other Russian documents will show the full name including the patronymic and I don't want that to cause confusion. Let me know if anyone knows how to handle this! Thanks!

You are doing it right, middle name field should be left blank. Patronymic is not a middle name, but if someone uses it as a middle name it doesn't seem like causing many problems either. In Russian external (travel) passports patronymic is not being translated to English, they list only first and last name in English.

[Dashinka 24,589]

Yeah, my wife used her patronymic name as her middle name when she came over here and it caused no issues.

[slavaskii 886]

23 hours ago, Master5 said:

You are doing it right, middle name field should be left blank. Patronymic is not a middle name, but if someone uses it as a middle name it doesn't seem like causing many problems either. In Russian external (travel) passports patronymic is not being translated to English, they list only first and last name in English.

This is correct. If someone wants their legal middle name to be their patronymic, it appears as if they can without problem. But because it is by default not a middle name, it is completely fine to leave it blank. While patronymics in some languages are legal middle names, because they appear at the very end of the name in Russian, I would tend to believe they shouldn't be entered at all.

 

Honestly, it's more of a limitation of the form than anything, so that's why I think you can really do anything you want with it.

Edited December 28, 2022 by slavaskii

[millefleur 5,047]

On 12/28/2022 at 10:01 AM, slavaskii said:

This is correct. If someone wants their legal middle name to be their patronymic, it appears as if they can without problem.

Pretty much this. My husband opted to use his as the legal middle name here and has had no issues, but it's basically a choice. Nobody will force you to put down anything under "middle name" anywhere since technically it isn't one.