I-129F, Legal documents in Russian and Ukrainian language

[Mehmet&Elena 20]

Hello All,

Ok another interseting question has come up. My finacee has legal documents (name change, divorce decree, etc.) in two different languages, Russian and Ukrainian. Could this cause a problem? Her first and last name are spelt differently, for example Olena and Elena. She is Ukrainian and so I thought I would just use the Ukrainian spelling of both her first and last name. Any thoughts?

Thanks again

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hello All,

Ok another interseting question has come up. My finacee has legal documents (name change, divorce decree, etc.) in two different languages, Russian and Ukrainian. Could this cause a problem? Her first and last name are spelt differently, for example Olena and Elena. She is Ukrainian and so I thought I would just use the Ukrainian spelling of both her first and last name. Any thoughts?

Thanks again

Not a problem. It happens to everyone. Use the name as it is spelled in her international passport. That is how the visa will be issued. Other spellings are not a problem. I have a directive in writing to Alla (who used to do a lot of translations for them) from the Kyiv consulate that all reasonable spellings are acceptable and they will issue the visa in the name as in the passport.

The consulate no longer requires translations if the document are Russian, Ukrainian or English. USCIS does require translations for anything sent to them

[Mehmet&Elena 20]

How about the USCIS? Will they notice the difference and require some explantion or further investigation?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

How about the USCIS? Will they notice the difference and require some explantion or further investigation?

I doubt it. The problem with saying anything about the USCIS is that there are far too many people in that outfit and they have far too much power. I am persoanl acquaintances with a fairly high placed person at VSC (who is married to a Russian woman) and he will tell me "no" but add that "who knows what some adjudicator will do" and indeed, adjudicators can do too much before someone jerks a knot in them.

Suffice to say, our son's documents BOTH have differences in name spellings (Sergey, Sergei. Sergii and Pavel, Pavlo...take your pick) some have different spellings on the SAME document, and it has never been a problem with USCIS. The visa will be issued in the name as in the passport, the green card will be issued in the name as on the visa. It is a very common condition in the FSU, particularly in the former Republics like Ukraine and Belarus, I can only imagine the problems in the central Asian Republics. With Ukraine you are dealing with three alphabets (and Ukrainina Cyrillic differs from Russian Cyrillic a little) and three languages. Alla simply asks her clients "How do you want the names spelled in English?" and makes them all the same.

In all our documents, all the documents that Alla has translated and all the interviews Alla has interpreted for (for USCIS) I never heard of this being a problem.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

How about the USCIS? Will they notice the difference and require some explantion or further investigation?

On another note, USCIS is only going to see what you send them, translated. Alla tries to be sure all the translations have indentical spellings, of course. I doubt they would have someone analyze the translations and anyone that did would know the situation. I just don't see it as a problem and never heard of it being one.

[Mehmet&Elena 20]

On another note, USCIS is only going to see what you send them, translated. Alla tries to be sure all the translations have indentical spellings, of course. I doubt they would have someone analyze the translations and anyone that did would know the situation. I just don't see it as a problem and never heard of it being one.

Gary,

Thank you very much for your assistance.

[james&olya 1,121]

This is great, it answers the question I had posted earlier about exactly this issue. My fiancee's daughter has a different spelling in her passport than the translation of her birth certificate. The birth certificate says Valeria but the passport (which did not arrive till after we sent the I-129F) spelled it Valeriia. My fiancee has been stressing a bit about this and now I can reassure her!

I only found this tonight when I decided to surf the past forum topics for things of interest, especially anything that will give me any positive feedback that gives hope for a speedy and uncomplicated approval! I want to thank you very much Gary and Alla for all the excellent advice you have given on this site to so many people and now also to me!