Change of Name (First & Last)

[kristamed]

Hi all,

I am student from India with Valid F1 Status studyin in California. I have a problem with the way my name reads. I dont have a LAST name in my Passport with only FIRST name as my full name. When i appeared at the consulate in dec, 2004. I got my passport with Visa reading as my whole name as LAST name as per the visa rules US. I have been in US for a year now.

The problem now is, I am going back to India for my vaccation to my visist my folks and I wanted to change my name in the passport with proper last name and first name, to avoid any further problems in the future during H1 or Greencard.

I contacted concerned authorities in my school and they told me its advisible to change my name to avoid any future hassles and keep my name as per the US rules.

Below is an example of how my name reads in Passport and Visa.

In PASSPORT:

Last name:

First name: Atheti Suresh pandey

In VISA:

Last name: Atheti Suresh Pandey

First name: FNU


I am willing to change my name in passport as

Last name: Atheti
First name: Suresh pamdey

Could any one help me, If i would have any problems if i change the name in passport during my visit to India, Any problems when i enter back to US after my vaccation.

If anyone knows the procedure please reply to the message.

Thank you in advance

 

[lssd]

I did this way back in 1998 - not sure if this is still the way to do it. this is the order:
Change name on passport - Check with the local Indian consulate - this was not a name correction but technically, A NEW NAME - I put out an Ad in two papers - one in your local area and another at the place of your original residence (in India) - you have to wait a certain period - sent all this to the local indian consulate and they changed my name on the passport - same passport
Armed with the changed name in the passport, changed my social security card and then my driver's license - with passport, SSC and license, changed my name on all records in the US - including the I-20
next time I went to India was when I had to get my H1-B stamped - H1 approval was with new name - had no issues getting H1 visa -

Only catch with name change is that you will have to constantly fill out the field "Other Names Used" in all other applications that you will ever fill out here.

The whole procedure is just time consuming but pretty simple - like I said, the best way is to talk to the following offices and act accordingly - Indian Consulate and the International Students office at your school.

The sooner you do it, the better it is - you will need to make fewer changes.

 

[ankumari]

Hi All,

Can anyone provide a sample newspaper advertisement (text) that needs to be published in the local newspapers. Does that have to be in the native language or in English.

Thanks
A