Given name in birth certificate doesn't match passport

[AlenaS 4]

Hello everyone! 

Today I had my interview and I was approved! Super excited but have a question that bothers me a lot.

I was born in Crimea, so my birth certificate was in Russian language but my parents lost it and I got a new one in Ukrainian language. Problem is this ukrainian birth certificate has another spelling of my given name than passport and every other documents. Will it cause problems down the road? What should I do? I will apreciate help a lot! Please. 

[Hypnos 6,576]

Yes, your documents need to match. You will need to get whichever one is wrong corrected.

[millefleur 5,046]

1 hour ago, AlenaS said:

Hello everyone! 

Today I had my interview and I was approved! Super excited but have a question that bothers me a lot.

I was born in Crimea, so my birth certificate was in Russian language but my parents lost it and I got a new one in Ukrainian language. Problem is this ukrainian birth certificate has another spelling of my given name than passport and every other documents. Will it cause problems down the road? What should I do? I will apreciate help a lot! Please. 

How different is the spelling? You can also consider the "Other Names Used" field on the DS-160 and other forms. These spelling discrepancies between Russian and Ukrainian are pretty well known by the Embassies. I am not sure how strict they are on enforcing them when it comes to this case...technically your name is still your name, it's just been transliterated differently, as far as I understand.

 

How is it that your (presumably Ukrainian) passport has a different spelling than the birth certificate? Is your Ukrainian passport in Russian but the new BC in Ukrainian? 

 

The general rule of thumb is that whatever is written in your passport is your official name. It seems like overkill to me to have to change your passport merely because your BC has a different transliteration (if this is the case).

 

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures to the RUB regional subforum; OP may get the fastest and most relevant answers there**

Edited May 16, 2019 by millefleur

[AlenaS 4]

4 hours ago, millefleur said:

How different is the spelling? You can also consider the "Other Names Used" field on the DS-160 and other forms. These spelling discrepancies between Russian and Ukrainian are pretty well known by the Embassies. I am not sure how strict they are on enforcing them when it comes to this case...technically your name is still your name, it's just been transliterated differently, as far as I understand.

 

How is it that your (presumably Ukrainian) passport has a different spelling than the birth certificate? Is your Ukrainian passport in Russian but the new BC in Ukrainian? 

 

The general rule of thumb is that whatever is written in your passport is your official name. It seems like overkill to me to have to change your passport merely because your BC has a different transliteration (if this is the case).

 

Thanks for your reply! My names are diferent because I was born in Crimea that had 2 official languages I guess. Birth certificate of me and both of my parents are made in russian (official language back then in Crimea). But our passports were done in Ukrainian so of course name were diferent - transleted to Ukrainian. My original birth certificate was lost so right before interview I made another one. And because now Ukraine has only one official language - birth certificate is in Ukrainian too. But the problem is that in my passport and all documents my namy is actually translated to Ukrainian but this new birth certificate has my name translitereted from russian. 

[Shiran 1,134]

5 hours ago, AlenaS said:

Thanks for your reply! My names are diferent because I was born in Crimea that had 2 official languages I guess. Birth certificate of me and both of my parents are made in russian (official language back then in Crimea). But our passports were done in Ukrainian so of course name were diferent - transleted to Ukrainian. My original birth certificate was lost so right before interview I made another one. And because now Ukraine has only one official language - birth certificate is in Ukrainian too. But the problem is that in my passport and all documents my namy is actually translated to Ukrainian but this new birth certificate has my name translitereted from russian. 

It won't matter. They will use the name on your international passport. Are you talking about English translation? Or the way name is written in Ukrainian? 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Shiran

[Rrrr 42]

12 hours ago, AlenaS said:

Hello everyone! 

Today I had my interview and I was approved! Super excited but have a question that bothers me a lot.

I was born in Crimea, so my birth certificate was in Russian language but my parents lost it and I got a new one in Ukrainian language. Problem is this ukrainian birth certificate has another spelling of my given name than passport and every other documents. Will it cause problems down the road? What should I do? I will apreciate help a lot! Please. 

They couldn't care less. No need to change anything.

[AlenaS 4]

7 hours ago, Shiran said:

It won't matter. They will use the name on your international passport. Are you talking about English translation? Or the way name is written in Ukrainian? 

The way it written in Ukrainian. That's the problem. Birth certificate in ukrainian and National passport of Ukraine don't match 😔

[Shiran 1,134]

1 hour ago, AlenaS said:

The way it written in Ukrainian. That's the problem. Birth certificate in ukrainian and National passport of Ukraine don't match 😔

What about international passport? The one that spells the name in Latin  and the one that is getting Visa?

[AlenaS 4]

4 hours ago, Shiran said:

What about international passport? The one that spells the name in Latin  and the one that is getting Visa?

International passport matches ukrainian one, but not birth certificate 

[AlenaS 4]

On 5/16/2019 at 11:47 AM, Hypnos said:

Yes, your documents need to match. You will need to get whichever one is wrong corrected.

And if not? Will it create a lot of problems?

I'm just suprised that CO or his assistant did not care about this discrepancy in my interview at all. So apparently it doesn't matter for issuing my visa. But I'm scared that it will create problems with marriage or AOS.

 

[Hypnos 6,576]

Generally, all of your documents must match. Your passport must match your birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc. 

[Shiran 1,134]

1 hour ago, Hypnos said:

Generally, all of your documents must match. Your passport must match your birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc. 

Situation is a bit different when documents are written in completely different alphabet, with transliteration rules open to interpretation. For Ukraine specifically, I filed 129F using "russian" transliteraton of my fiancee, which was apparently different from Ukrainian in her External passport. It was never brought up or mentioned. They issued visa to match the name on passport. Birth certificate is not written in English at all, so when making translation of it you can just translate it to match External passport. They never look at Internal passport at all. 

[Hypnos 6,576]

Fair points. 

[millefleur 5,046]

11 hours ago, Hypnos said:

Generally, all of your documents must match. Your passport must match your birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc. 

I think it gets iffier when it's a non-Latin alphabet and when there are common multiple ways to spell the name. 

 

Regardless, I agree with the mantra what whatever the passport says is what matters. That's what your legal name (and spelling) will be in the US, so for all intents and purposes, that is the person's official name. If the BC has a slightly different transliteration of the same name (that has common spelling variations), I'm assuming it's not that big of a deal and that the Embassy is aware of it. Can't say with certainty but this is my gut feeling, especially when it comes to Russian vs. Ukrainian spellings.