DV 2013 : Winner from Ethiopia, some complications with documents, please help

[darkelf]

Hello all,
I recently got selected for the diversity visa 2013. I have some complications and would appreciate some help/insight. I was selected for the diversity visa based on my birth in Ethiopia. I left the country when I was 15 and have been a citizen of India since my birth. I am currently in the United States on a valid non-immigrant visa (F1). The problem is that my name has been changed since my birth. This name change has been meticulously recorded in all my Indian documents (I have a certificate of live birth from the Indian embassy too). However, since I was a minor at that time and it was not very clear what to do on the Ethiopian side, I don't have a new birth certificate with an updated name. In this situation, what exactly can I do? I believe I have to be a resident of Ethiopia (which I am not now) to get a birth certificate from them. Is there a process to apply for a name change through the Ethiopian embassy? Any advice in this situation would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

 

[slash_dot]

Hello all,
I recently got selected for the diversity visa 2013. I have some complications and would appreciate some help/insight. I was selected for the diversity visa based on my birth in Ethiopia. I left the country when I was 15 and have been a citizen of India since my birth. I am currently in the United States on a valid non-immigrant visa (F1). The problem is that my name has been changed since my birth. This name change has been meticulously recorded in all my Indian documents (I have a certificate of live birth from the Indian embassy too). However, since I was a minor at that time and it was not very clear what to do on the Ethiopian side, I don't have a new birth certificate with an updated name. In this situation, what exactly can I do? I believe I have to be a resident of Ethiopia (which I am not now) to get a birth certificate from them. Is there a process to apply for a name change through the Ethiopian embassy? Any advice in this situation would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

I would suggest that you carefully collect all the documents that you presently have possession of and collate them into a chronologically ordered paper trail.

You say that your name change was meticulously documented; this is good. You do not need a “new” birth certificate; you just need the original one issued when you were born, from Ethiopia. If you can document a link between the name you were born with to your current name, that should suffice. This would include documents stating when the change was done, where it was done, and what method it was done by.

Also be aware you will have to declare your previous name(s) on the forms you submit to the KCC and for any police background check.

 

[darkelf]

I would suggest that you carefully collect all the documents that you presently have possession of and collate them into a chronologically ordered paper trail.

You say that your name change was meticulously documented; this is good. You do not need a “new” birth certificate; you just need the original one issued when you were born, from Ethiopia. If you can document a link between the name you were born with to your current name, that should suffice. This would include documents stating when the change was done, where it was done, and what method it was done by.

Also be aware you will have to declare your previous name(s) on the forms you submit to the KCC and for any police background check.

So the problem is that all those documents are Indian and not Ethiopian. This is what worries me.

 

[Dv2012AFTAZ]

since you are in the USA it would be money well spent if you got a immigration lawyer of repute to check this out.

 

[slash_dot]

So the problem is that all those documents are Indian and not Ethiopian. This is what worries me.

Hi,

The way your original question was phrased it inferred that you didn't have a new birth certificate from Ethiopia that reflects your new name, thereby implying that you possess an old birth certificate which still bares your old name. Am I to understand that you don’t have any documentation whatsoever from Ethiopia, or that you still have your old Birth Certificate from Ethiopia with your old name?

If you still have your Ethiopian BC, this will be fine. A name change will not, and should not be reflected on it, a birth certificate only shows the name of a child at birth, you do not alter or change this document. If you do not have your original birth certificate from Ethiopia, you will probably run into problems, I don’t see how a certificate of live birth from India will be accepted when you were not born there, (hence why you’re probably writing this question in the first place.)

When you were born were you even issued a birth certificate from the Ethiopian authorities, if so what happened to that? Does your family have it perhaps? Was it lost? If it’s lost you’ll have to contact the Ethiopian Embassy, there should be some sort of mechanism to secure a copy. Do you have any family in Ethiopia that could collect the BC for you? If that fails, you’ll need to contact the U.S. DoS and find out what secondary source alternatives they’ll accept in substitute of a Birth Certificate.

 

[darkelf]

Hi,

The way your original question was phrased it inferred that you didn't have a new birth certificate from Ethiopia that reflects your new name, thereby implying that you possess an old birth certificate which still bares your old name. Am I to understand that you don’t have any documentation whatsoever from Ethiopia, or that you still have your old Birth Certificate from Ethiopia with your old name?

If you still have your Ethiopian BC, this will be fine. A name change will not, and should not be reflected on it, a birth certificate only shows the name of a child at birth, you do not alter or change this document. If you do not have your original birth certificate from Ethiopia, you will probably run into problems, I don’t see how a certificate of live birth from India will be accepted when you were not born there, (hence why you’re probably writing this question in the first place.)

When you were born were you even issued a birth certificate from the Ethiopian authorities, if so what happened to that? Does your family have it perhaps? Was it lost? If it’s lost you’ll have to contact the Ethiopian Embassy, there should be some sort of mechanism to secure a copy. Do you have any family in Ethiopia that could collect the BC for you? If that fails, you’ll need to contact the U.S. DoS and find out what secondary source alternatives they’ll accept in substitute of a Birth Certificate.

Let me be extremely explicit as far as the list of documents that I have are concerned.

A. Ethiopian Birth Certificate listing my old name (XXX), my dad's name, my mom's name, date of birth both in English and Amharic issued by the "City council of Addis Ababa".

B. After birth, I got a certificate of live birth from the Indian Embassy in Ethiopia stating that I was indeed an Indian citizen and that I had been born in Ethiopia with name XXX.

C. While I was growing up in Ethiopia, my first ever (Indian) passport had my name as XXX, this has been currently lost but I have a photo copy of this. The second ever passport I got has a name change noted in stating that my name has been changed from XXX to YYY. This documentation is also lost but I also have a photo copy of it.

D. I moved from Ethiopia as a minor (when I was 15 years old) and all documentation acquired in India (Education, degrees , latest passport) reflects name YYY.

E. As an Indian citizen, there is a well defined way for me to get legal documentation reflecting that a name change occurred and that I am the person who was born in Ethiopia.




My confusion is in trying to understand what sort of documentation I need to get and from where.

A. Can a change of name from the Indian authorities be enough to prove that there has been a name change that has occurred?

B. Should such a document be also obtained from Ethiopia? If so, how do I try to get one? I have looked online and there is next to no information on this.

C. Should I get a updated birth certificate from Ethiopia reflecting new name? (You say that I don't but I am just listing this out as an option)

D. I can get an affidavit from my mother stating that I am her only son and that a name change has been done when I was a minor. After all, she is the only person whose name is constant in all the documents.

E. Hell, I can even get a blood test to prove that she is my mother.



Thank you again for responding

 

[slash_dot]

Let me be extremely explicit as far as the list of documents that I have are concerned.

A. Ethiopian Birth Certificate listing my old name (XXX), my dad's name, my mom's name, date of birth both in English and Amharic issued by the "City council of Addis Ababa".

Good, original long-form certificate listing both parent's names.

B. After birth, I got a certificate of live birth from the Indian Embassy in Ethiopia stating that I was indeed an Indian citizen and that I had been born in Ethiopia with name XXX.

Good.

C. While I was growing up in Ethiopia, my first ever (Indian) passport had my name as XXX, this has been currently lost but I have a photo copy of this. The second ever passport I got has a name change noted in stating that my name has been changed from XXX to YYY. This documentation is also lost but I also have a photo copy of it.

As you can imagine originals would be preferable to copies, but it’s better than having nothing.

D. I moved from Ethiopia as a minor (when I was 15 years old) and all documentation acquired in India (Education, degrees , latest passport) reflects name YYY.

That’s fine.

E. As an Indian citizen, there is a well defined way for me to get legal documentation reflecting that a name change occurred and that I am the person who was born in Ethiopia.

Good, get every document you can relating to your name change.

My confusion is in trying to understand what sort of documentation I need to get and from where.

A. Can a change of name from the Indian authorities be enough to prove that there has been a name change that has occurred?

If you are only a Citizen of India, and the name change was done in India, yes that's all you need. You do not need some sort of Ethiopian certification of a name change that occurred when you no longer lived or had anything to do with Ethiopia.

B. Should such a document be also obtained from Ethiopia? If so, how do I try to get one? I have looked online and there is next to no information on this.

No, you do not need to do this. You were just born there and left when you were a minor. You are not a Citizen or resident of Ethiopia and the name change occurred while you were in India as documented by the Indian authorities.

C. Should I get a updated birth certificate from Ethiopia reflecting new name? (You say that I don't but I am just listing this out as an option)

Birth Certificates by their nature can only reflect the name that was given at birth or very shortly afterwards. They cannot be updated or altered, the limit generally to amend a name on a Birth Certificate is 12 months from birth if the parents change their mind after the fact. You do not get a new Certificate with a new name, only copies of your original if you want. Name changes are simply documented in due course if in later life such an event occurs.

D. I can get an affidavit from my mother stating that I am her only son and that a name change has been done when I was a minor. After all, she is the only person whose name is constant in all the documents.

I don’t know what constitutes the evidential burden that has to be fulfilled for the DoS to accept secondary evidence; but as you have your Ethiopian Birth Certificate this shouldn’t be necessary.

E. Hell, I can even get a blood test to prove that she is my mother.

I don’t think this is required in your case.

Thank you again for responding

No problem.

 

[darkelf]

As you can imagine originals would be preferable to copies, but it’s better than having nothing.

Yeah, I lost a bunch of documents which created a shit ton of trouble especially when I applying for my latest passport.

Good, get every document you can relating to your name change.

Yep, I will start doing the processing for that ASAP.

If you are only a Citizen of India, and the name change was done in India, yes that's all you need. You do not need some sort of Ethiopian certification of a name change that occurred when you no longer lived or had anything to do with Ethiopia.



No, you do not need to do this. You were just born there and left when you were a minor. You are not a Citizen or resident of Ethiopia and the name change occurred while you were in India as documented by the Indian authorities.

Here is where things get messed up due to my parents' sloppiness: I was in Ethiopia till my tenth grade, with a name change occurring around the time I was in 9th grade which means I technically was in Ethiopia while the name change occurred. Although my parents updated the name change at my high school and at the Indian embassy, they didn't do anything with the Ethiopian authorities.

Birth Certificates by their nature can only reflect the name that was given at birth or very shortly afterwards. They cannot be updated or altered, the limit generally to amend a name on a Birth Certificate is 12 months from birth if the parents change their mind after the fact. You do not get a new Certificate with a new name, only copies of your original if you want. Name changes are simply documented in due course if in later life such an event occurs.



I don’t know what constitutes the evidential burden that has to be fulfilled for the DoS to accept secondary evidence; but as you have your Ethiopian Birth Certificate this shouldn’t be necessary.

It looks like in the case of "unobtainable birth certificates", one has to get a "baptismal certificate" or an affidavit from one's mother. (I can't post the link because of forum rules)

 

[darkelf]

Who should I contact?

Can someone clarify who I should be calling to figure out answers in the mean time?

A) The US Embassy in Addis Ababa

B) The Kentucky Center (Although, I am not sure they would be the best people to talk to)

C) The department of State. If so who exactly there?

I am definitely planning to get an immigration attorney but getting one who has dealt with diversity type situations rather than the more common employment/family based green card issues is proving to be a challenge.

 

[slash_dot]

Here is where things get messed up due to my parents' sloppiness: I was in Ethiopia till my tenth grade, with a name change occurring around the time I was in 9th grade which means I technically was in Ethiopia while the name change occurred. Although my parents updated the name change at my high school and at the Indian embassy, they didn't do anything with the Ethiopian authorities.

Ostensibly, the only problem I would foresee in this situation is if you ever wanted to return to Ethiopia and re-take up residency there.

As far as the U.S. Government would be concerned you are Indian, your nationality is Indian, and you are currently in the United States as an Indian student on an F-1 Visa which is documented in your current name. You were born in Ethiopia and as a minor you moved to India. In-between these two periods your name was changed when you were a minor in preparation for the impending/possible to emigration to India, they did so formally at the Indian Embassy in Addis Abba (presumably).

Was there even a formal mechanism to register such a change in Ethiopia? While you resided there did you have a residency permit / Identification Card as a minor? If so, I suppose it was a bit “sloppy” for your parents not to change this too to reflect your new name, if not, or if it was completely impractical to cut through the bureaucracy to get this done, I would just say so: Your parents didn’t register the name change in Ethiopia because they didn’t want to deal with the hassle of notifying the government of a name change in a country they were planning to leave shortly, or because you were a minor you didn’t have an ID card/permit to change anyway.

Nonetheless I think not registering the name change in Ethiopia is largely irrelevant, your name change was registered with the only really important people in this situation; the Indian authorities that represent your nationality there. As such I do not foresee a problem.

Good luck.

 

[darkelf]

Ostensibly, the only problem I would foresee in this situation is if you ever wanted to return to Ethiopia and re-take up residency there.

I have no inclination in doing that.

As far as the U.S. Government would be concerned you are Indian, your nationality is Indian, and you are currently in the United States as an Indian student on an F-1 Visa which is documented in your current name. You were born in Ethiopia and as a minor you moved to India. In-between these two periods your name was changed when you were a minor in preparation for the impending/possible to emigration to India, they did so formally at the Indian Embassy in Addis Abba (presumably).

According to my parents, the name change occurred because the official in the Indian embassy felt that my name at that time was too long and needed to be shortened. So initially if my name had been YYXXXX, it was basically reduced to XXXX. The only mention of this was when the new passport was issued, a note was appended to it stating that the holder of the previous passport had had his name changed from YYXXXX to XXXX.

Was there even a formal mechanism to register such a change in Ethiopia? While you resided there did you have a residency permit / Identification Card as a minor? If so, I suppose it was a bit “sloppy” for your parents not to change this too to reflect your new name, if not, or if it was completely impractical to cut through the bureaucracy to get this done, I would just say so: Your parents didn’t register the name change in Ethiopia because they didn’t want to deal with the hassle of notifying the government of a name change in a country they were planning to leave shortly, or because you were a minor you didn’t have an ID card/permit to change anyway.

This roughly covers the issue. My parents were in a country where they spoke the language less well than I did and didn't really focus on worrying about the name change on the Ethiopian side of things because

1) As a minor, I didn't have a ID Card.
2) The school I studied at was affiliated with the Indian embassy which made name changing a breeze when my mom went in with my latest passport.

Nonetheless I think not registering the name change in Ethiopia is largely irrelevant, your name change was registered with the only really important people in this situation; the Indian authorities that represent your nationality there. As such I do not foresee a problem.

Good luck.

Well, I hope so. I was in half a mind to abandon the whole DV application because I don't really want to get into the situation where USCIS thinks I have committed fraud on the application and screws up my current F1 visa.