Name difference on passport and birth certificate - reason for denial?

[Shauna&Wael 211]

Hello,

As I'm preparing to fill out the DS-260 online, I realized my husband's last name is written slightly different on his passport than on his birth certificate. On his passport, there is a space between the two words of his last name, and on his birth certificate (translated into English) there is no space. Since he did not have a passport when we filed the I-130, he thought it didn't matter if there was a space or not, so he told the translator not to put a space. When he got his passport, they included a space. The situation is confusing because he says it makes no difference, but I have a feeling the Department of State will have questions about why his passport has a difference in his last name. Can anyone tell me if this would be a reason for denial? If so, how can I correct this before that happens? Thank you for reading and any help is appreciated!

[Ryan H 3,812]

Should there be a space or not. If there should not be a space, then the passport will need to be reissued with the name spelled correctly.

[Shauna&Wael 211]

That's precisely why this is so confusing! I have no idea if there should be a space or not. It's translated from Arabic which has no spaces in words so I don't know what the proper translation would be. Are there any Arabic experts who can help me on this? When his birth certificate was translated it was written with a space, but when the passport was produced, they included a space? So who's wrong? Or is no one wrong? My husband is 99% sure we can't change the passport.

[Ryan H 3,812]

When his birth certificate was translated it was written with a space, but when the passport was produced, they included a space? So who's wrong? Or is no one wrong? My husband is 99% sure we can't change the passport.

To clarify, the birth certificate was translated without a space and the passport was produced with a space (the post above said both have a space but the first post in this thread echo's my sentence here).

[Shauna&Wael 211]

I meant to say it was translated without a space for the birth certificate.

[Shauna&Wael 211]

Something to consider -- I just used google translate to go from his name in English into Arabic (once with a space, once without) and the Arabic translation did not change at ALL depending on whether there was a space. Could this turn into a big issue later on or will it probably be fine if he explains at the interview?

[bk2014 34]

Something to consider -- I just used google translate to go from his name in English into Arabic (once with a space, once without) and the Arabic translation did not change at ALL depending on whether there was a space. Could this turn into a big issue later on or will it probably be fine if he explains at the interview?

I think you should be OK...It's a minor issue...You can fill DS-260 using passport as your reference. You can explain this to the CO during the interview.

Others, please correct me if i'm wrong.

[Shauna&Wael 211]

So basically he'd just tell the CO we used the birth certificate as a reference during the I-130 process, but now that we have the passport we're using that as a reference from here on out? It sounds reasonable to me, but I don't know how a grumpy CO would feel about it.