N-600 name issue

[IT75]

Hello to everyone,

Need an advise on situation. We are of slavic descent and use a patronymic in original birth certificates, which is I do not consider a middle name. After the arrival to the US, green cards we received didn't have any middle names. So we had our Ukrainian passports and GCs both the same and as the result by now (10 years later) ALL our US documents only have first and last name.

Received our naturalization certificates same way, applied for N-600 for our daughter. Yesterday received a letter of approval and invitation to bring her for the oath Aug 13.

Now, her name in the letter somehow has a PATRONYMIC in place of middle name. I suspect, the certificate will be issued the same way. So she will end up having ALL her records without middle name, but CC and as the result probably the passport with it?
Here are my questions:

1. Is the name on certificate of citizenship will be considered her official legal name?

2. If yes, is there anything we can do to convince USCIS to drop the patronymic? I know they probably just followed the translated birth certificate. Patronymic actually came up somehow during my wife's interview, so she was offered to officially "change" her name on N-400. My understanding is N-400 process is different from N-600

3. If they refuse, are we basically stuck with correcting my daughter's name on all records (SSN, non-drivers ID and school records?) by including the patronymic as an middle name or there are other options?

I just don't want my daughter to fill out some explanation papers on applications for the rest of her life about name discrepancies.
Thanks, any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[baikal3]

Hello to everyone,

Need an advise on situation. We are of slavic descent and use a patronymic in original birth certificates, which is I do not consider a middle name. After the arrival to the US, green cards we received didn't have any middle names. So we had our Ukrainian passports and GCs both the same and as the result by now (10 years later) ALL our US documents only have first and last name.

Received our naturalization certificates same way, applied for N-600 for our daughter. Yesterday received a letter of approval and invitation to bring her for the oath Aug 13.

Now, her name in the letter somehow has a PATRONYMIC in place of middle name. I suspect, the certificate will be issued the same way. So she will end up having ALL her records without middle name, but CC and as the result probably the passport with it?
Here are my questions:

1. Is the name on certificate of citizenship will be considered her official legal name?

2. If yes, is there anything we can do to convince USCIS to drop the patronymic? I know they probably just followed the translated birth certificate. Patronymic actually came up somehow during my wife's interview, so she was offered to officially "change" her name on N-400. My understanding is N-400 process is different from N-600

3. If they refuse, are we basically stuck with correcting my daughter's name on all records (SSN, non-drivers ID and school records?) by including the patronymic as an middle name or there are other options?

I just don't want my daughter to fill out some explanation papers on applications for the rest of her life about name discrepancies.
Thanks, any help will be greatly appreciated

I had to deal with a similar issue during my N-400 process. I am originally from Russia and all of my Russian documents use a patronimic, although in my Russian passport the patronimic is not transliterated into English.

I never used the patronimic in any of the U.S. documents (at the F-1, H-1 and then GC stage) and always left the middle name field empty.

In the N-400 receipt they added a patronimic as my middle name.

During the interview I asked the IO how to get rid of the patronimic since I did not want to use it.

After some thought she processed it as a named change request (from first name+patronimic+lastname to first name+last name). The naturalization certificate just had my first name and my last name, and as a result I did not have to change any documents after naturalization.

However, my understanding is that the legal name change option is not available during the N-600 process.
At your daughter's oath you may try discussing this issue with the IO, but you may have to do a legal name change (through the state court) for your daughter after getting her certificate of naturalization in order to get rid of the patronimic.

 

[Jackolantern]

Need an advise on situation. We are of slavic descent and use a patronymic in original birth certificates, which is I do not consider a middle name.

Received our naturalization certificates same way, applied for N-600 for our daughter. Yesterday received a letter of approval and invitation to bring her for the oath Aug 13.

Now, her name in the letter somehow has a PATRONYMIC in place of middle name. I suspect, the certificate will be issued the same way. So she will end up having ALL her records without middle name, but CC and as the result probably the passport with it?
Here are my questions:

1. Is the name on certificate of citizenship will be considered her official legal name?

USCIS considers the birth certificate name to be the official legal name (unless there is a name change document overriding it), so they took what was on the birth certificate and will place it on the citizenship certificate.

On Aug 13 when you go to collect the certificate you will have the opportunity to look at the certificate and comment on any errors. So if you see the patronymic on the certificate you can explain that it's not really a middle name and it's not her green card or any other records and should not be on the certificate (don't forget to look for other errors also!). If they're convinced, problem solved. If they disagree, then she'll be stuck with that on the certificate unless she does a legal name change in a separate court process.

 

[-me-]

1. Is the name on certificate of citizenship will be considered her official legal name?

According to the U.S. law, her full legal name is spelled out on the birth certificate, so has to be used on all official documents. It's quite a common issue, when a foreign (Ukrainian) passport is issued with only first and last name, however patronymic is a part of the full legal name regardless of how it's spelled in the passport.

2. If yes, is there anything we can do to convince USCIS to drop the patronymic? I know they probably just followed the translated birth certificate. Patronymic actually came up somehow during my wife's interview, so she was offered to officially "change" her name on N-400. My understanding is N-400 process is different from N-600

Unlike N-400, you can't change the name on N-600. The only option is to legally change it in the court and bring the court decree to USCIS. The reason is when you file N-600 for you child, she's already a citizen. N-600 only gives her the certificate (which is recommended, but optional). The concept of N-400 is different.

3. If they refuse, are we basically stuck with correcting my daughter's name on all records (SSN, non-drivers ID and school r ecords?) by including the patronymic as an middle name or there are other options?

Like I said, you can change it in the court before or after N-600. Obviously, changing it before N-600 would be much better.

I just don't want my daughter to fill out some explanation papers on applications for the rest of her life about name discrepancies.

totally understand. The issue is that some authorities take the name from passport and use it as a full legal name, others take it from the birth certificate. This is where the discrepancy issue begins. I had to deal with the same one. Finally, all family dropped the patronymics from the full legal names, now all the names on all the documents match.

 

[-me-]

On Aug 13 when you go to collect the certificate you will have the opportunity to look at the certificate and comment on any errors. So if you see the patronymic on the certificate you can explain that it's not really a middle name and it's not her green card or any other records and should not be on the certificate (don't forget to look for other errors also!). If they're convinced, problem solved. If they disagree, then she'll be stuck with that on the certificate unless she does a legal name change in a separate court process.

I doubt if USCIS changes the name that easy. The legal name is spelled out (transliterated) on the birth certificate. The only authority who can change it is a judge, during the judicial oath or name change in the court. If any USCIS officer issues the certificate with the name changed, (s)he will definitely overstep their authority.

 

[Jackolantern]

I doubt if USCIS changes the name that easy. The legal name is spelled out (transliterated) on the birth certificate. The only authority who can change it is a judge, during the judicial oath or name change in the court. If any USCIS officer issues the certificate with the name changed, (s)he will definitely overstep their authority.

But I wasn't talking about a name change per se; the issue is the interpretation of what the legal name is. OP claims the patronymic is not part of the legal name. If that is correct, and USCIS has the same interpretation, they can issue the certificate without the patronymic. But if the OP is wrong, a legal name change would be needed. I don't know enough about Ukranian patronymics to say whether the OP is wrong or right.

 

[-me-]

But I wasn't talking about a name change per se; the issue is the interpretation of what the legal name is. OP claims the patronymic is not part of the legal name. If that is correct, and USCIS has the same interpretation, they can issue the certificate without the patronymic. But if the OP is wrong, a legal name change would be needed. I don't know enough about Ukranian patronymics to say whether the OP is wrong or right.

OP's point that patronymic (father's name with a bit of variation based on the gender) is not the middle name (which I somewhat agree on). However, it's a part of the legal name, since it's on the birth certificate. And it's absolutely a part of the legal name in Ukraine. However, for some reason, their government issue a travel passport with the first and last name in Latin only, while the partonymic is still present on the state ID in Cyrillic.
There is no such thing in U.S. as the patronymic, so usually it's treated as a middle name. Well, the best OP can do is to convince USCIS that patronymics is not indeed the middle name, but it's either a part of the first name or the last name That doesn't change anything anyway.

Unfortunately, even USCIS practice is not consistent. They can issue I-485 without the patronymic, but then come back and revise it in N-400. This is kind of legal mess, but what would you expect from USCIS?

 

[IT75]

Thank you all for replies. I kind of came to the same conclusion (that USCIS is unlikely to drop the patronimic last minute).
I discussed the situation with my daughter (she is 16, so should have her own input) and she'll keep it for now, just use middle initial when necessary. So, the question is than about streamlining the rest of her documents in line with this "new" legal name.
Likely, she doesn't have many:
1.Green card - not a problem, will be taken away at oath
2.Current school record - I will probably convince the school to add middle name
3.Social security card - that is my concern. Will they just correct it on the basis of N-600?

What's the opinion of gurus of this forum

Because jumping right away into name change is just a lot of unnecessary expences: $315 in NYS supreme court to change the name and than another $345 for N-565 for the reissuance of the Certificate of citizenship. Afterall she would have to use that patronymic for the rest of her life if she would stay in Ukraine.

Thanks again for the previous answers.

 

[Jackolantern]

3.Social security card - that is my concern. Will they just correct it on the basis of N-600?

Yes, with her birth certificate + N-600 they should correct it by issuing a new card without a problem. But you may have to explain that it's not really a name change, the issue is that the middle name should have been there from the beginning. After getting the citizenship certificate she should go to the Social Security office anyway to register her citizenship status with them, so you can just fix the name thing at the same time.

But wait a week or two after obtaining her certificate to visit the SS office. There is some data transfer that needs to happen between SSA and USCIS before SSA can properly handle the citizenship status update, and if you go the SSA too soon it could be a problem.

The new card will be mailed in about 2 weeks, and the new card will not have the employment restriction wording (the restrictive wording may have already been removed when she got the green card).

What's the opinion of gurus of this forum

My opinion would be to just keep it as her middle name. Most Americans have a middle name, and a middle name can be helpful in some legal or bureaucratic situations for distinguishing from other people who have the same first and last name. Getting rid of it would probably be more hassle than keeping it.

 

[-me-]

Because jumping right away into name change is just a lot of unnecessary expences: $315 in NYS supreme court to change the name and than another $345 for N-565 for the reissuance of the Certificate of citizenship. Afterall she would have to use that patronymic for the rest of her life if she would stay in Ukraine.

Thanks again for the previous answers.

How about that. Postpone her N-600 process, file the name change with the court, get it done, bring the court decree to USCIS, get the clean certificate.
Another approach is to receive the certificate, change the name with the court, staple the court decree to the certificate, get the US passport with the new name. There is little chance she needs the certificate ever again. The passport will be an absolutely satisfactory ID with her first and last names. This way you don't need to change ANY of her current (and future) documents.

P.S. I paid $400 + 25 per a decree copy in CA.

 

[-me-]

My opinion would be to just keep it as her middle name. Most Americans have a middle name, and a middle name can be helpful in some legal or bureaucratic situations for distinguishing from other people who have the same first and last name. Getting rid of it would probably be more hassle than keeping it.

Well, the issue is that her current documents are already issued in her first and last name only due to the spelling in the passport. Now she has to fix it all. It's not a challenge to do it for 16yo, since it's just a few documents, though. But the patronymic looks really awkward if used as a middle name. On the other side, no middle name is also quite rare. Anyway, there are plenty of ways how to handle it. It's yet not too late.

 

[Vorpal]

Like baikal3, I am also originally from Russia. Despite the fact that the transliteration of my patronymic was included in my translated birth certificate, it was omitted from the USCIS records. The same goes for my parents and my sister. It's possible that this may have something to do with the fact that my family immigrated in 1989 - it may have been common practice (and common sense) to omit the patronymic back then.

Here's my suggestion. Go ahead and get the citizenship certificate for your daughter and, after receiving it, file the name change petition. Once the name change has been granted, your daughter will be issued a name change certificate with a raised court seal. She will be able to use this certificate, in conjunction with her citizenship certificate, to prove her citizenship and legal name. There is absolutely no need to spend extra money to obtain a new citizenship certificate without the patronymic.

 

[AshvinKPatel]

Name change for Minor

I am in process of interview for my N-400. I would like to also short my daughter name. So I am going to file paper in local court first to change name then file N-600 with new short name and USCIS will use short name ? then applied for passport based on approval N-600 ?

Anyone did this process ?

 

[Jackolantern]

Well, the issue is that her current documents are already issued in her first and last name only due to the spelling in the passport. Now she has to fix it all. It's not a challenge to do it for 16yo, since it's just a few documents, though. But the patronymic looks really awkward if used as a middle name. On the other side, no middle name is also quite rare.

It's also rare to be required to provide the full middle name. Middle initial is sufficient for almost everything including school and most jobs.

 

[-me-]

It's also rare to be required to provide the full middle name. Middle initial is sufficient for almost everything including school and most jobs.

agreed

 

[-me-]

I am in process of interview for my N-400. I would like to also short my daughter name. So I am going to file paper in local court first to change name then file N-600 with new short name and USCIS will use short name ? then applied for passport based on approval N-600 ?

Anyone did this process ?

Yes, USCIS will consider the court name change for your daughter in N-600. However, N-600 is optional (still recommended) step. You may also apply for your daughter's passport without N-600, solely based on your CoC and the court name change decree, since she derives citizenship from you upon successful competion of your oath ceremony.

 

[IT75]

So, after doing quick preliminary research, it looks like the only organization which might refuse to adopt the name from CoC (with middle) is ... stupid Collegeboard. People on the web complain that their attitude is: "If you change the name - retake all SATs and APs with the new name".

I still hope those are rumors, because after everybody in the family settled to adopt the middle name, my daughter might actually have to go to the court to drop it just not to lose her 800 scores on the SATs she took for the college admission.

That would be pathetic.

 

[Jackolantern]

So, after doing quick preliminary research, it looks like the only organization which might refuse to adopt the name from CoC (with middle) is ... stupid Collegeboard. People on the web complain that their attitude is: "If you change the name - retake all SATs and APs with the new name".

I still hope those are rumors, because after everybody in the family settled to adopt the middle name, my daughter might actually have to go to the court to drop it just not to lose her 800 scores on the SATs she took for the college admission.

That would be pathetic.

She has nothing to worry about. She's not going to lose her scores. Those college test programs use a unique registration ID number for each student, and the addition or removal of a middle name is not the type of scenario that causes a problem with colleges. She'll use the same registration ID when taking new tests by the same organization or having scores sent to colleges, and the registration ID will uniquely identify her and tie together her old and new results, regardless of her name.

The only issue here is that the College Board might insist on sending the score reports to colleges with the same name she used at the time of taking the test. But that's not a problem; the colleges are not going to reject her just because her score report shows Jane Smith while her college application shows Jane A Smith or Jane Anna Smith. It's not as if she changed from Jane Smith to Catherine Smith or even Jane A Smith to Jane B Smith. This is just a situation of having a middle name that wasn't used before.

Middle names carry low significance in the US; their main use is just to distinguish between people who have the same first and last name. You can cash checks written to First Name + Last Name even though you have a middle name. You can sign contracts without your middle name and they're still valid. Lots of Americans and green card holders have their middle name missing from some documents and listed on other documents, and it doesn't cause them any problems in life.