Relative's name & address in native alphabet Form I-130

[fitleo 15]

Hi all

In form I-130, it is requested to write the name of relative and their address if the alphabet is not in Roman letters

Husband's originally Arab (hence his name) but he never lived in his country of origin and was born in Europe and raised in different countries, but never parents'

Currently, he is in Kazakhstan on a work contract

Am I to write his name using Arabic letters (will he be required to write it later?) I mean he is a UK citizen, born and raised for some time.

Also, I do not know Kazakh alphabet. How am I to write his address there in Kazakh language???

Please advise on what to do

Thanks!!!!

[slycordinator 6]

On writing the name and address in other languages, you could try getting him to give you those in the native language and you copy/paste (sometimes the forms complain about only accepting English, but depending on the odd reader, the non-English lettering I used would show up fine regardless).

And if that doesn't work, you could print the filled out form and physically cut out a copy of the name/address and tape/glue it to the page...

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Does he speak Arabic? Read and write in Arabic? Is his passport name and birth certificate written in Arabic characters? If not, then I'm thinking you probably can skip this question since he never lived in the country of his parents origin. He was raised British speaking English??

And why would you want to write his address in Kazakh? I though he was British or Arabic? Is he native Kazakh too?

[fitleo 15]

Does he speak Arabic? Read and write in Arabic? Is his passport name and birth certificate written in Arabic characters? If not, then I'm thinking you probably can skip this question since he never lived in the country of his parents origin. He was raised British speaking English??

And why would you want to write his address in Kazakh? I though he was British or Arabic? Is he native Kazakh too?

To answer your questions, yes, we both speak, read and write arabic, BUT his passport is European Union/British, and birth certificate is British.

Never lived in parents country, but visited once or twice. Spoke arabic at home with his folks, but grew up and went to British n international schools.

As far as Kazakhstan is concerned, he's currently working there. So his residential address is there. Neither of us reads, speaks or writes Kazakh.

I just find this ridiculous. When someone is born in the US, they are American and that's it. No one expects a Cambodian American to write her name in Cambodian or have knowledge of her parents' native language.

Ugh!

[slycordinator 6]

As the other guy implied in his question:

The form asks for the name and address in the native language of the person if it is in something other than English. His native language is not, apparently, Kazakh and therefore doesn't require writing it that way. That entry is for his native language, not the language of the natives in the town he currently resides.

[fitleo 15]

Thx slycordinator,I'm more concerned with the name

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Thx slycordinator,I'm more concerned with the name

So what language/ alphabet has he used most of his life? Did he go to school do all his class work in Arabic? Does he text or email you in Arabic? Is his Facebook page in Arabic? Is English only a secondary language he uses occasionally?

[JFH 12,190]

If he doesn't have any official documents with his name in Arabic (driving licence, passport, marriage certificate from this or any previous marriage) then just use the Roman alphabet. The way I see it, they just want examples of how his name is officially recorded. If the Arabic alphabet was never used, no need to do it now.

Edited April 27, 2016 by JFH

[fitleo 15]

So what language/ alphabet has he used most of his life? Did he go to school do all his class work in Arabic? Does he text or email you in Arabic? Is his Facebook page in Arabic? Is English only a secondary language he uses occasionally?

Tricky. Although all junior and senior education was entirely in English, he does know how to write in arabic, and we do occasionally message in arabic. Facebook is definitely all in English.

I guess I find the term native ambiguous. Does it refer to parents' language? Language of education? Official documents? What of cases of bilingualism?

I'll just write it in arabic, no harm would be done, just hope it won't be an issue further down the road.

[JFH 12,190]

I'm sure it means language local to where the person lives or is from.

For example, I live in the UK but I have dual nationality based on my parentage. As a child we lived many years in another country before my parents decided to settle in the UK (my father's country). English is the second language I leaned (although I was a young child when I started to learn it). United Kingdom is the name of the country where I live in English, the official language. In my "native" language it is called something else. But that language isn't official here, even though I am sure there are many speakers of it here.

[fitleo 15]

I understand it in cases where a person acquired a second nationality. But if you're born in that country aND had citizenship at birth your parentage shouldn't matter anymore.

If one goes by parentage, that means many kids born in the USA can have up to 4 native languages, at least in our case our baby will have 3 native languages because husband and I are of mixed lineage and none of our "native" languages uses Roman alphabet.

Whatever happened to providing instructions on filling out forms!

[slycordinator 6]

The person was born in an English-speaking country, has a passport and birth certificate from that country in English with no other reference to anything in any other language, and speaks English at a native level as any other person born in said country.

The fact that he can also speak/write Arabic and occasionally does so doesn't matter. He can definitely say his native language is English.

[fitleo 15]

Thank you so much, everyone.

Sorry for being so finicky, but all the scenarios of what might go wrong makes me overanalyze. I'm borderline having panic attacks ...

Thx again

[JFH 12,190]

I understand it in cases where a person acquired a second nationality. But if you're born in that country aND had citizenship at birth your parentage shouldn't matter anymore.

If one goes by parentage, that means many kids born in the USA can have up to 4 native languages, at least in our case our baby will have 3 native languages because husband and I are of mixed lineage and none of our "native" languages uses Roman alphabet.

Whatever happened to providing instructions on filling out forms!

That's exactly my point. I speak 2 languages and always have done. Your kids speak 4. But the question is not about the individual's language abilities and parentage. It's about the official language used for that address or name. An address in the UK must be written in English, even if the person doesn't speak it. An address in Japan must be written in Japanese in that later question that asks for the native language. Even if the person living at the address doesn't speak Japanese. That's the official version of the address. And if a person at an address in the UK speaks another language (as your husband does and I do), we don't provide the name or address written in that other language.

Likewise for names. A person born in the UK with a UK birth certificate must write the name in English. As this is a Roman alphabet language no further writing of it is needed. They want the official version of the name and address as it is in that country - regardless of where that person may come from.

Your husband's birth certificate is in English. Forget that his name is of foreign origin. You just write it as it appears on the birth certificate.

Edited April 27, 2016 by JFH