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Academic certificates and consulate interview for green card.

S

supersly90

New Member
Hello my name is Sylvester.M.Alexander from Tanzania.I won this year lottery for permanent residency(GREENCARD).But I have one concern about my visa chance. The concern is that my names in educational certificates, which are critical ingredient of visa eligibility, appear slightly different from the names in my birth certificate and passport(which are correctly and in the same pattern).But,for my academic certificates names appear as ALEX M SILVERSTER(O'Level),ALEX M SYLVESTER(A'level) and ALEX M SILVESTER in the degree.


Arrangement of names is due to Cambridge education system name format(Surname, given names).But the mistake I did is that I used short form of my father's name ALEX instead of ALEXANDER and some spelling errors in my name SYLVESTER. I contacted Cambridge and my former school they said they can’t do anything because time has already lapsed to accept certificates’ name change.


I would like to get an advice how to go about this situation when I go to the consulate for my visa interview. Which documents should do embassies accept for this situation so that I attach to prove those are real my documents. Please help me and advice me accordingly. I will appreciate.

Thanks in advance
 
The question is, did you list all the different spelling variations on your DS-260 form under the other names used section?

Be sure to list the different variations on the DS-260 form. Attend your interview with all the documents/certificates with the names listed on them as is and hope for the best. Swearing an affidavit affirming all the documents with the different spellings isn't going to sway the CO one way or the other - they know those sworn affidavits are not worth the papers they're sworn on in most African countries.
 
I listed those names under the said section,but I'm not certain whether it will be helpful.If they will not accept notarised affidavit of the same person,them I'm screwed up for this chance.At least they would highlight us what steps to take once your in that a mess.No where you can find a solution to that problem.They only talk about people who have changed names or get married and surrendered their maiden names, but not those with spelling errors in their names like us,as if it happened to me only,and it does not occur in that part of the world.

If you have a thread with relation to such a problem from people who were successful with this,please direct me.But what I can see the chance is dead and buried.
 
supersly90 said:
I listed those names under the said section,but I'm not certain whether it will be helpful.If they will not accept notarised affidavit of the same person,them I'm screwed up for this chance.At least they would highlight us what steps to take once your in that a mess.No where you can find a solution to that problem.They only talk about people who have changed names or get married and surrendered their maiden names, but not those with spelling errors in their names like us,as if it happened to me only,and it does not occur in that part of the world.

If you have a thread with relation to such a problem from people who were successful with this,please direct me.But what I can see the chance is dead and buried.
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I wouldn't be so pessimistic. Yes there are spelling variations but it's kind of obvious they are the same person, especially if the dates all look good - you graduated high school around the right age,then university after that, etc. Remember education qualifications are not proof of identity so spelling mistakes are not as worrisome as if say your birth certificate or passport did not match. Yes there are some consulates in high fraud areas that might be more concerning but as far as I know this is not such an issue in east Africa. There are no guarantees of course but in your shoes, I would go ahead with the application.
 
They're not highlighting or providing instructions to people on how to rectify that problem because they're aware of the fact that people have tried and are still trying to game the system by switching names around and submitting multiple entries in an attempt to up their chances of selection or laying their hands on fake documents to prove their eligibility. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any of the scenarios I painted above apply to your case.

This ordinarily wouldn't have been something to worry about but for the fact that people have abused the DV system/process over and over again. So now, each case with a similar situation gets assessed on a case by case basis. There's no general guideline I'm aware of. Like I said, a notarized affidavit from most African countries is 'one a penny' - worthless, and unreliable. We all know how easy it is for someone to obtain a sworn affidavit in support of a fake document as a matter of fact.

If you've listed your names as suggested and you're certain of the genuineness of the documents you're presenting (you've played by the rules), then you just have to keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
 
My documents are genuine,other information in the documents is similar but its only name section that has errors.Lets hope as you said,what the CO will decide upon this situation.

But someone has told me they only look at names instead of genuiness of the certificates,which I think its wrong.This denies the right people to migrate to the US,while the wrong ones thrive.

If they don't accept african affidavits atleast they would put a section in their embassies for that purpose.I know affidavits are much used in the states,why don't they accept ours,or because of the individual few who tried a cheat.It is frustrating indeed!

I hope God helps me.The only option I have left with is to leave the matter in the hands of Lord.
 
You're simply not getting it. Yes we use affidavits in the US and they're widely accepted by government officials. However, we're talking about people's ability to fraudulently obtain documents sometimes issued by government authorities and then swearing an affidavit to the authenticity of those documents.

I know what I'm talking about, I'm originally from Africa. I know about how effortlessly one could get a sworn affidavit without even stepping foot in front of the person preparing the affidavit or the person sighting the papers being sworn. Back then, I obtained driver's license without a driving test or visiting the office that issued the license.

Someone posted not too long about about having a marriage license as evidence of her marriage to her cousin when they're not married. She went even got them to back date it to 2013, this fake document that was obtained not too long ago. I could go on and on, but it's pointless. The US embassies in Africa are aware of all these practices, that's why they have no regard for the so called sworn affidavits. And they're not obligated to post any information on their website about their non regard for such. They're aware a lot of people think a sworn affidavit is a panacea.
 
Don't take it in any way personal, supersly90, however your profile name does not truly inspire a lot of confidence when discussing sworn affidavits to confirm authenticity of original documents neither... ;) Sm1smom's response above hits the nail on its head.
 
If a CO doubts the credibility of a document presented by an applicant, it means he is doubting the credibility of the applicant. The presentation of a sworn affidavit from the same applicant he doubts is not convincing, it's just another piece of paper...

Also that the documents and statements presented in front of the CO are "sworn" in so far as the CO sees original versions of documents and keeps copies, asks questions and has the DS260. That is at least as strong as an affidavit sworn in front of a faceless third party in a country with lax controls over documents.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Well he said his name was Sylvester in the first post and I immediately read his profile name as short for that... Whether or not you "should" know it I don't know, but seeing as you mentioned the name in a negative context I thought you should be made aware that there are meanings other than the one you assigned.

http://www.behindthename.com/name/sly
Click to expand...
Well, one never stops learning new stuff. Even his Facebook picture popped up...
 
Hi EVERYBODY,I have a question with regard to DV visa interview.I know you have experience about this.I have name variations in my school certificates in relation to my BC and passport.Example(not my real name)

My birth certificate:GOZIBERTHA BHANJI JOHNSON
My passport:GOZIBERTHA BHANJI JOHNSON
MY o'level sheet: B: JOHN GOSBERTHA
MY A'level sheet: JOHN B GOZIBERTHA
My degree sheet:JOHN B. GOZIBETHA
what should I do and have been selected for 2017 DV.
 
Wasn't this already dealt with back in June on a previous Thread you created? Please do not create new Threads for the purpose of repeating issues/concerns especially when we've already provided guidance on them.
 
Sm1smom said:
Wasn't this already dealt with back in June on a previous Thread you created? Please do not create new Threads for the purpose of repeating issues/concerns especially when we've already provided guidance on them.
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I'm not satsfied with your answers.It seems this issue is new to you and Britton.I'm waiting for a person who has experienced this situation to guide me well.
 
supersly90 said:
I'm not satsfied with your answers.It seems this issue is new to you and Britton.I'm waiting for a person who has experienced this situation to guide me well.
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Suggest you do a search of the threads. We have had many cases like that. The answers you received were based on those.

By the way: in 99% of cases, once people have their visas they do not come back to the threads. So rather than waiting for the 1%, if you do not trust the advice you have received already, you should go and search for answers, or you may wait a long time.
 
supersly90 said:
I'm not satsfied with your answers.It seems this issue is new to you and Britton.I'm waiting for a person who has experienced this situation to guide me well.
Click to expand...

Your not being satisfied with the response you were already given is perfectly fine, (no one has said you must go with what we've said), however it does not justify creating a new Thread. You should have simply resuscitated it and request for inputs from anyone else who might be interested in contributing.

Alternatively, you can search the forum for the experience of someone who has 'personally' gone through it. On that note, I'm merging the Threads
 
supersly90 said:
Hi EVERYBODY,I have a question with regard to DV visa interview.I know you have experience about this.I have name variations in my school certificates in relation to my BC and passport.Example(not my real name)

My birth certificate:GOZIBERTHA BHANJI JOHNSON
My passport:GOZIBERTHA BHANJI JOHNSON
MY o'level sheet: B: JOHN GOSBERTHA
MY A'level sheet: JOHN B GOZIBERTHA
My degree sheet:JOHN B. GOZIBETHA
what should I do and have been selected for 2017 DV.
Click to expand...

Talk about making a meal out of it!

I will repeat, one time, what I have told people many times before.

Your identity is established by your birth certificate, and usually confirmed by the passport (names sometime vary by marriage etc). Yours match. That is enough to prove identity.

Your education documents are all obviously variations of your name, so as you have already been told (by experts), that won't be a problem as it is obvious they relate to you. Your education documents are NOT used to establish identity. They only thing you have to do is show your education documents are yours, and not someone that of someone else.

That's it. Nothing more is needed. You are making a fuss out of nothing. Two times.
 
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