Name check & unique/rare names...
- Thread starter Douglas97
- Start date
It may be an urban legend. I looked up any occurrences of my family name in the United States, There are 11 entries: ten in Minnesota, one in Georgia. Kind of rare family name.
Some folks who filed at the same time as I did at the same Service Center (NSC) got their interview. The ones having filed one month before me are already naturalized.
P.S.: "McMahon" is not my real name
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Detroit DO
03/16/07 N-400 sent to NSC
03/20/07 Priority Date
04/12/07 FP done
Some folks who filed at the same time as I did at the same Service Center (NSC) got their interview. The ones having filed one month before me are already naturalized.
P.S.: "McMahon" is not my real name
-----------------------
Detroit DO
03/16/07 N-400 sent to NSC
03/20/07 Priority Date
04/12/07 FP done
It is very difficult to make a prediction on name check delay based on rarity of a name. I am sure some people at the name check unit could tell us about some common factors, but I am not aware of any. Only factor I know is if the name hits one of the older paper based records then it is trouble, because these are the ones that take quite some time to retrieve.
Yes, FBI publicly mentioned that.
Would't it be nice! My name is rare.
no way of predicting name check time line
In addition to trying out a name in different combinations (F.name, L. name, M.name) they also transilerate them for phonetically similar names e.g., Julie to Julee etc and so there is no guarentee that one will not get stuck in name check even if they have a rare name. Further Yu in China and Park in Korea may ensnare a 5th of the population so it does not mean that all Parks will get stuck in name check. They do look at date of birth as well.
The USCIS Ombudsman thinks that name check the way it is done now, in no way enhances national security because people who are stuck in name checks for years can keep living and working, and exiting entering the US while still "stuck" in name check. Imagine if every visitor to the US had to enter using a name check at the port of entry! That is why finger printing and IBIS is more reliable from risk reduction point of use. With 339,000 stuck in name check (after a 30% increase in the backlog) this is heading for increased litigation and waste of FBI and USCIS resources. FBI themselves want a change in the criterion and they are paid $2 per name check. USCIS is not their only customer. FBI would love to go back to main file checks rather than reference files as well where in lies the problem. But in 2002 a person with connection to some terrorists was on a reference file and in the main file check did not show up. USCIS thus changed the policy to main file and reference file checks.
I put up two polls to collect information on this forum to find out what are the common factors for name check stuck people. Very few responded. Typically when people get stuck in name check then they are interested otherwise they just go in to the interview threads without participating or reading name check threads. So unfortunately we have very little information for now.
In addition to trying out a name in different combinations (F.name, L. name, M.name) they also transilerate them for phonetically similar names e.g., Julie to Julee etc and so there is no guarentee that one will not get stuck in name check even if they have a rare name. Further Yu in China and Park in Korea may ensnare a 5th of the population so it does not mean that all Parks will get stuck in name check. They do look at date of birth as well.
The USCIS Ombudsman thinks that name check the way it is done now, in no way enhances national security because people who are stuck in name checks for years can keep living and working, and exiting entering the US while still "stuck" in name check. Imagine if every visitor to the US had to enter using a name check at the port of entry! That is why finger printing and IBIS is more reliable from risk reduction point of use. With 339,000 stuck in name check (after a 30% increase in the backlog) this is heading for increased litigation and waste of FBI and USCIS resources. FBI themselves want a change in the criterion and they are paid $2 per name check. USCIS is not their only customer. FBI would love to go back to main file checks rather than reference files as well where in lies the problem. But in 2002 a person with connection to some terrorists was on a reference file and in the main file check did not show up. USCIS thus changed the policy to main file and reference file checks.
I put up two polls to collect information on this forum to find out what are the common factors for name check stuck people. Very few responded. Typically when people get stuck in name check then they are interested otherwise they just go in to the interview threads without participating or reading name check threads. So unfortunately we have very little information for now.
CO-Sunshine
Registered Users (C)
I don't know.. I still think it would have some affect on the speed of the check. My husband has a very common name. If you put his name into Google you will get PAGES full of hits. If you put my name in, I'm the only me that comes up 
My name went through really fast, but my hubby's still stuck.
I suppose it depends on what your name is, and how it may be transliterated.. I've heard of people with unusual names also being stuck in namecheck. Think about it though - if you have a more common name, the likelihood of someone with the same name and negative marks against them is higher.
My name went through really fast, but my hubby's still stuck.
I suppose it depends on what your name is, and how it may be transliterated.. I've heard of people with unusual names also being stuck in namecheck. Think about it though - if you have a more common name, the likelihood of someone with the same name and negative marks against them is higher.
Over the years I have seen that very few women get stuck, but (young?) men do get stuck. So I think their name check algorithm must be incorporating the gender as well. They will not disclose the name check process, because it would open a pandora's box. However, at some stage FBI will need to determine efficient methods to do name checks otherwise it will get bogged down and the backlog will keep increasing. If USCIS does not take action Ombudsman is not going to let go and there will be scathing comments next year too.
I don't know.. I still think it would have some affect on the speed of the check. My husband has a very common name. If you put his name into Google you will get PAGES full of hits. If you put my name in, I'm the only me that comes up
My name went through really fast, but my hubby's still stuck.
I suppose it depends on what your name is, and how it may be transliterated.. I've heard of people with unusual names also being stuck in namecheck. Think about it though - if you have a more common name, the likelihood of someone with the same name and negative marks against them is higher.