Name RFE

gcd06

New Member
Hi

I'm a silent viewer for this forum. Recently my friend received a RFE regarding First name. His priority date is not current.

Here are the details.
All the documents including passport, educational doc, marriage certificate, every doc in India says FirstNameXXXX MiddlenameYYYYY.

For instance you know India, it is not that uncommon to call Venkata Sai (for e.g). You go by Sai which is common to be called.

So when he first arrived he wrote Sai as FirstName (for e.g).
After that he don't have any issues, applied SSN with Sai as First Name, Venkata as middle name. also had Drivers license, bank account, credit card etc as Sai as First Name, Venkata as middle name.
His AP, EAD every thing is so consistent with Sai V. LastName.

In fact his 140 also approved as Sai V. LastName.

But now He received RFE saying when did he changed the name legally?. If so please send appropriate doc to prove your name change. But he never changed his name.

Every doc in US says as Sai V. LastName.

Even though passport, edu. doc, marriage certificate etc reads as
Venkata Sai. LastName.

Attorney told affidavit from parent’s stating both names belong to same with notarized should be able to do it.

My question is did anybody faced similar situation? Can somebody point me to the similar kind of RFE/help regarding this issue?

His LastName is fine. Just FirstName, Middile name got swapped. But his intention is to be consistent with commonly called name in India. So he stick to that name and did not change any name legally.
 
I go by my middle name BUT when I moved here I set up my SSN with my REAL full name, but then on other documents (driver's license, etc.) I put my first initial then my full middle and last name (my Canadian passport was set up the same).

It sounds like the issue is that your friend filled out the I-485 and the other forms reversing his legal name and that's probably caused the issue. On my form I put my full, legal name but then in the box for other names, I put my middle name and last name.

I'm not sure if reversing the order on the form is a big deal. At any rate, I had a concern my situation would be a problem but was told by a lawyer if something did come up a notarized letter from parents and maybe an explanation from myself explaining the middle name should suffice, as this is not an uncommon situation. But I'm still wondering if the fact your friend reversed the names on the main part of the form, even with an explanation, may cause them to reject the application, meaning your friend would have to resend it with their proper, legal name.
 
So far we talked to two attorneys. They both had two different opinions on this case.

restating my case, I have had my legal name/surname-given name as Surname Venkat Diya in all the three legal documents, including passport, marriage certificate and passport. (these are not my real names but used these to explain the case in question).

Basically, the immigration documents since when 485 applied has my first name and middle name swapped. (Diya V. Surname)
Legal documents all of them are consistent. Surname Venkat Diya (these include passport, birth c, marriage c)
Educational documents in India have SVdiya
SSN has it swapped compared to legal documents.
past h1bs consistent with legal name.
485, 140, h1bs after 140, eads have swapped name.

Now received an RFE on EAD renewal asking Diya Surname. V and Venkat Diya Surname is the same person. This is 4th renewal, all this while eads have been approved with the swapped names.

Attorney 1 suggested

1) Accept that you mistakenly applied EAD renewal and send a notirized letter that you go by other names purely due to cultural differences and no other reason for doing it.

2) Get an affidavit stating the same from both parents specifically mentioning that they acknowledge their child has other given names.

3) Submit proof of documents that have other names listed.

With this, the one problem I foresee is getting a query on pending 485. as this is also incorrectly done and not sure how long of a process it is to correct it.

Attorney 2 suggested

Says we have to get an affidavit stating Diya V. Surname and Surname Venkat Diya is the same person and some solid evidence stating you go by both names but not mention you incorrectly specified your name. That should take care of this.

Please share your experiences and any content that would be useful towards this case. Very much appreciate any information that will help progress this case in a forward direction. Thanks.
 
Hi. What did you end up doing. I am also facing similar issue but have some more problems. Can you please tell what did you do to fix the rfe ?
 
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