Immigration Visa application for my spouse who doesn't have any surname or lastname in her passport

[Nakib Hossain 0]

I am a US permanent resident. My spouse is a Bangladeshi Passport holder who lives in Saudi Arabia. 

In her passport she only has Given Name or First name without any Surname or last name.

Now, I want to file i-130 petition for her using the USCIS portal. How should I proceed about her name?

 

I saw some suggestions online where they said, I can keep the First Name portion as blank and put first name in the last name portion, which will later appear as FNU in her first name portion.

 

Now, if I apply for her like this, will there be any complications later about the visa processing? We are facing some complications changing her name in passport as it requires changes in her birth certificate, and later we will also have to fix the marriage certificate which is a long proces

Please suggest. 

 

 

Another thing I want to know, since my wife resides in Saudi, will she get visa interview in Saudi or Bangladesh as her passport is Bangladeshi. 

 

 

 

 

[Nashmusah 29]

Your spouse has Bangladesh passport, use the same information on that passport to apply for it and your name will end to be her surname later on the process. And your wife can only get visa interview if she has a Saudi residence permit,  if not,  she have to go back to Bangladesh for an interview where she has a resident permit. 

[Nakib Hossain 0]

1 hour ago, Nakib Hossain said:

I am a US permanent resident. My spouse is a Bangladeshi Passport holder who lives in Saudi Arabia. 

In her passport she only has Given Name or First name without any Surname or last name.

Now, I want to file i-130 petition for her using the USCIS portal. How should I proceed about her name?

 

I saw some suggestions online where they said, I can keep the First Name portion as blank and put first name in the last name portion, which will later appear as FNU in her first name portion.

 

Now, if I apply for her like this, will there be any complications later about the visa processing? We are facing some complications changing her name in passport as it requires changes in her birth certificate, and later we will also have to fix the marriage certificate which is a long proces

Please suggest. 

 

 

Another thing I want to know, since my wife resides in Saudi, will she get visa interview in Saudi or Bangladesh as her passport is Bangladeshi. 

 

 

 

 

Edit:

 

She only has a Surname in her passport without any Given Name. (Only one name) 

[Nakib Hossain 0]

8 minutes ago, Nashmusah said:

Your spouse has Bangladesh passport, use the same information on that passport to apply for it and your name will end to be her surname later on the process. And your wife can only get visa interview if she has a Saudi residence permit,  if not,  she have to go back to Bangladesh for an interview where she has a resident permit. 

Hi, Sorry for my mistake in the post, actually she only has a Surname, not a Given name in her passport. 

 

Also, in USCIS form, the Surname Portion is mandatory. So, I cannot keep it blank.

[Nashmusah 29]

7 minutes ago, Nakib Hossain said:

Hi, Sorry for my mistake in the post, actually she only has a Surname, not a Given name in her passport. 

 

Also, in USCIS form, the Surname Portion is mandatory. So, I cannot keep it blank.

First of all, do she have a Saudi Resident permit ? If she do you have to consult your embassy in Saudi to update her passport information for a new one which have her name together with the surname on it ,  but if she doesn't have the Saudi Resident then let her go back to Bangladesh to get a new passport. 

[Nakib Hossain 0]

4 minutes ago, Nashmusah said:

First of all, do she have a Saudi Resident permit ? If she do you have to consult your embassy in Saudi to update her passport information for a new one which have her name together with the surname on it ,  but if she doesn't have the Saudi Resident then let her go back to Bangladesh to get a new passport. 

Actually we tried it, they require her to change her Birth Certificate first, then Passport and then our Marriage certificate which also has only one name. 

Which will be a long process. 

That's why it's hard to go to that route.

[Nashmusah 29]

3 minutes ago, Nakib Hossain said:

Actually we tried it, they require her to change her Birth Certificate first, then Passport and then our Marriage certificate which also has only one name. 

Which will be a long process. 

That's why it's hard to go to that route.

Yes changing passport information goes with changing birth certificate information too, so let your family at home help you do a new birth certificate and send it to your wife if she has a Saudi Resident over there for her to get a new passport. 

[Vickys_Mom 225]

The English word is mononym, by the way.  Indonesia is another culture that uses single-word names for people.  (My Indonesian relatives were Chinese in ancestry so they all had given names and family names.)

 

I saw nothing definite in the searches I did for I-130 and "single name" or "mononym".  I saw some people said that they put the single name as the Given Name and the Petitioner's (Spouse's) name as the Family Name, but I agree that means the name on the I-130 won't match the name on the passport.

 

I don't know if it would be worth a call to USCIS to ask.  If Google can't find it, I'd be surprised if it comes up on the scripts that Tier 1 uses when they answer the phone.  Maybe a Tier 2 agent would be able to find an answer.

 

You might also (email and?) ask the embassy or consulate in Bangladesh how they handle it.  

 

This must come up enough for USCIS to have a rule for how-to.  I just couldn't find it.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

 

 

[appleblossom 2,483]

8 hours ago, Nakib Hossain said:

Actually we tried it, they require her to change her Birth Certificate first, then Passport and then our Marriage certificate which also has only one name. 

Which will be a long process. 

That's why it's hard to go to that route.

It’ll take many years for your wife to get a visa anyway though. So maybe you could submit the I-130 now with just her surname and then start the process of changing it whilst it’s all being processed. 
 

Or if she doesn’t want to change it then just keep it as it is - as you say she’ll just have ‘FNU’ in the first name space on her GC. 

[OldUser 6,639]

@Vickys_Mom out of curiousity, how does one call a person without first name? Do they get referred to by last name by family members? If so, how do you distinguish who's being called if everybody in family shares the same last name?

[JeanneAdil 6,498]

  I found this

 

not sure it works but u can try

 

 

How can I fill an online application form where it is mandatory to give first and last name but I don't have any last name?

(make sure the num lock is on)

While Pressing Alt key, type 255. This will enter a blank in the column, which obviously wont be visible to you but it will fool the computer in thinking that the surname column has been filled. It has worked for me every single time, hope it helps you too.

 

[JKLSemicolon 412]

I might suggest putting N/A in whatever required name field does not apply, along with a more detailed explanation in the Additional Information section.

[Vickys_Mom 225]

On 5/16/2024 at 9:32 AM, OldUser said:

@Vickys_Mom out of curiousity, how does one call a person without first name? Do they get referred to by last name by family members? If so, how do you distinguish who's being called if everybody in family shares the same last name?

I never had to deal with it since my family members all had last names.  (They were of Chinese ancestry, so they actually had two names...their original Chinese names and the versions that Indonesia required them to adopt in the 1960s.)

 

There is an Indonesian politician on Wikipedia named Wiranto.  The Wikipedia entry includes "In this Indonesian name, there is no family name nor a patronymic."  The wife said he's just referred to by his single name.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

[OldUser 6,639]

4 hours ago, Vickys_Mom said:

I never had to deal with it since my family members all had last names.  (They were of Chinese ancestry, so they actually had two names...their original Chinese names and the versions that Indonesia required them to adopt in the 1960s.)

 

There is an Indonesian politician on Wikipedia named Wiranto.  The Wikipedia entry includes "In this Indonesian name, there is no family name nor a patronymic."  The wife said he's just referred to by his single name.

 

Regards,

Vicky's Mom

OP said they didn't have any first name.

Hence my question how does it work in those cultures. E.g. if entire family shares last name Simpson but no first names...How would they call each other? Simpson?