Name spelled wrong on Certificate.

[maarten1]

I naturalized to an American Citizen in March 2006 (yay!) and did my ceremony in Los Angeles. I received my certificate on that day, and immediatly went to the next area to apply for a U.S. passport.

I had my certificate in my hands for a total of maybe 10 minutes after which I gave it up again for the passport application. After about 7 weeks I received my passport and certificate back in the mail and noticed something.

I have 4 names. Basically a first name and last name that I generally go by, and then 2 middle names given to me when I was baptised in the Katholic church. One of the middle names has a spelling error on the Certificate of Naturalization, however, the name is spelled CORRECT in the U.S. Passport I received. The name is also spelled correctly on the forms I submitted, and was spelled correctly when I did my immigration paperwork years ago. (For the record, I did I-130 when I moved from The Netherlands with my American wife who had lived with me in The Netherlands for years)

Although I have my U.S. passport with my name spelled correctly, I am hesitant of giving up my certificate again to have it fixed, given the burocratic nightmare that may unfold. - not to mention the fact that they warned me that replacing it would be costly! (And I know that even though they may be at fault, they may still charge me for it).

Does anyone have any experience with this? Obviously, my correct name is in a system somewhere, as they gave out my U.S. passport with the correct name.

 

[Legolas]

Is the name on your passport correct 'cause you filled the passport forms (with your name) correctly? I believe this is what they used as a trigger for what appears on your passport (not something or somehow the USCIS system connected with the passport database).

Based on my interview experience yesterday, the interviewing officer wanted me to make sure that my name is spellt correctly on some form that he said would be used to create the certificate next week. Probably, the error propogated from that point onwards.

- Legolas

 

[brian0]

When I was at my Oath Cerimony the guy giving us the oath was very insistent that we should double and triple check the spelling of our name on the certificate. He told us that they would fix it on the spot if it was wrong, but if we found a mistake after the cerimony was over we would need to pay a fee and get it done "the hard way", and it could take up to a year to get a replacement with the correction!

In your case I think you are out of luck. Pay the fee and sent deal with the USCIS paperwork and time required. Make a couple color copies of it prior to sending it off in case you need it for something while you wait. You have your passport anyway, so you should be fine.

Cheers,
Brian

I naturalized to an American Citizen in March 2006 (yay!) and did my ceremony in Los Angeles. I received my certificate on that day, and immediatly went to the next area to apply for a U.S. passport.

I had my certificate in my hands for a total of maybe 10 minutes after which I gave it up again for the passport application. After about 7 weeks I received my passport and certificate back in the mail and noticed something.

I have 4 names. Basically a first name and last name that I generally go by, and then 2 middle names given to me when I was baptised in the Katholic church. One of the middle names has a spelling error on the Certificate of Naturalization, however, the name is spelled CORRECT in the U.S. Passport I received. The name is also spelled correctly on the forms I submitted, and was spelled correctly when I did my immigration paperwork years ago. (For the record, I did I-130 when I moved from The Netherlands with my American wife who had lived with me in The Netherlands for years)

Although I have my U.S. passport with my name spelled correctly, I am hesitant of giving up my certificate again to have it fixed, given the burocratic nightmare that may unfold. - not to mention the fact that they warned me that replacing it would be costly! (And I know that even though they may be at fault, they may still charge me for it).

Does anyone have any experience with this? Obviously, my correct name is in a system somewhere, as they gave out my U.S. passport with the correct name.