K1 - hyphen in your name (NOA1, NOA2)

[tlnt 1]

Hi.

I did a search for hyphen and only found a few results and wasn't sure if this had already been addressed.

We (fiance and I) both have a hyphenated first name, no middle name, and last name (which is sort of common in some Asian countries). e.g. doe, john-paul (none).

In our I-129F application, we entered our names the same way (see above, note we put (none) under middle name). However, we received our NOA1 and it was spelled as "doe, john paul" note without hyphen but a space. Note on my US passport and citizenship document, it's doe, john-paul however my fiance's other documents, it's with a space (no hyphen). I hope they didn't put john as our first name and paul as our middle name

The "correct" way to spell our names is with a hyphen, however it seems for US legal documents, it's sort of hit or miss in terms of how the person entering the name wants to include the hyphen or not (years ago, the hyphen wasn't possible on some documents so they deliberately left spaces i guess...)

Anyways, just wanted to find out if anyone had a similar experience or if this will come back to be a pain in the future (with security checks, Interview, marriage certificate, and AOS process, etc).

Note, I recently got the NOA2 CRIS email and haven't received the actual 797 NOA, so I can't say how our names are spelled on there.

We will call the 1-800 number and post the results as well of what we hear but in case someone can speak to it.

Thanks again.

BTW, without VJ and it's users we couldn't "survive" this long, difficult process, especially with ?'s like this.

Take care

tlnt

[tlnt 1]

I called USCIS and NVC and both indicated that hyphens "-" are not possible in their system and that it shouldn't cause any issues (I hope not later down the road).

Strangely my passport and driver's license has a hyphen, not sure why immigration wouldn't be able to put it in. Oh well.

Thanks

tlnt

[debbie_payne73 8]

Thanks for updating your case on this; we're just filing and your answer helped in ours

[Ann&James 179]

I had the same problem with the hyphen in my first name, I had emailed  NVC during my process and was informed that they don't use hyphen in the names. Got my visa without any problems.