Any suggestions re: changing I129F info?

[Zoidberg]

[This message has been edited by Zoidberg]

I just got off the phone with the BCIS regarding my I129F about a spelling problem with the application. I am hoping some of you will have sugestions.

My fiancee Svetlana was born in Russia but moved to Ukraine at 1 year old. When we submitted the paperwork for the I129F her Russian birth certificate was translated with her first name as Svetlana so we submitted it this way. The first time I saw her Ukrainian passport her name was spelled as SvItlana in English. I guess translators in Ukraine will translate this name with an I or E depending on who you get. We didn't think much about it till recently. Yes, that was stupid on my part. I decided to check to make sure we will not have problems. I felt if the paperwork had her name spelled with an E then her passport should also state the same. I called BCIS to check. They told me I can make the change on the phone and they'll send me the change in a few weeks. So I did it and I asked if there will be a problem with the submitted birth certificate and they said yes but we can bring a new translated version to the interview with us with the correct spelling. Fine, thought we had it taken care of.

Today I get a call from BCIS and they said because the birth certificate needs to be the same we need to send a new translated one including ALL the papework! That means we need to send in the bioraphical info along with the applications again. The lady I talked to said we would be starting over. Our first NOA was Aug 8, 2003 and on the last check they are still only processing up to July 8, 2003 so if we have to start over this may drive us crazy.

We originally checked to see if she can just change her passport but the agencies she checked with all said no or they wanted $400 for it. So that's why we called BCIS to make sure. Now I am not sure what to do. If we have to start over I'll go over there to marry her as that will be much faster.

Any suggestions?

Z

P.S. Those that are starting this MAKE SURE ALL THE TRANSLATIONS MATCH.

[tfcrew]

... in response to Any suggestions re: changing I129F info?, posted by Zoidberg on Feb 4, 2004

Mentioning it to begin with.
My wife's name was the same spellings.
I petitioned her as Svetlana.

[Zoidberg]

... in response to Your mistake?, posted by tfcrew on Feb 4, 2004

Wouldn't it have caused problems later if we did not mention it? What I mean is I did petition her as Svetlana but her Ukrainian passport has it as Svitlana. We petitioned her as Svetlana because her Russian birth certificate showed it with an E. If her paperwork is all approved with an E wouldn't she have problems at the interview when her passport showing a different spelling?

I thought about not saying anything at all but then I didn't want problems that could slow us down. It never even dawned on me that they'd tell us to resubmit everything from the start.

[tfcrew]

... in response to Re: Your mistake?, posted by Zoidberg on Feb 4, 2004

The way I see it, the Ukrainian passport people should have used the Russian spelling..(CbetëaHa) like it is on the birth cert..then translated that to English..so they screwed it up.
I would suggest that you should push the petition 'as is' if you can.
Get snotty..call your congressional office..whatever.

I submitted my "Svetlana" on the petition before I ever saw her birth certificate or passport info...  spelled   "Svitlana") and there were minor problems yeah... but not a rejection of the entire petition.
I suppose the problem apparently stems from there being no letter "e" in Ukrainian (not sure).

Karl

[tfcrew]

... in response to Maybe not 'your mistake'..., posted by tfcrew on Feb 4, 2004

According to my wife, there IS an E (strange)..I...and Y in the Ukrainian.
There is no "I" in the Russian.
Go figure.

[John F]

... in response to Maybe not 'your mistake'..., posted by tfcrew on Feb 4, 2004

We had the same problem and it went through.

This is the kind of thing you should notify your congressperson about because resubmitting will cost you a lot of time and another filing fee.  You can call, but if your congressperson is like mine was when our folder was lost in Warsaw he/she will not be able to proceed without a letter from you describing the problem and requesting his/her investigation and monitoring in writing.

[Zoidberg]

... in response to I Agree, posted by John F on Feb 4, 2004

Thanks for the suggestions. Since you both made it what happens later with her passport spelled with an I and all her paperwork is spelled with an E when she tries to enter this country? I guess they don't check that or do they only take the passport with Visa? Did the embassy at the interview cause her any problems?

I will contact my congressmann. Sveta got a new translation of her birth certificate to spell her name SvItlana. Hopefully I can just submit this new one and not have to start over. Just thinking about it today was making me angry as this is rediculous if we have to start over.

Thanks!
Z

[John F]

... in response to Good idea... , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 4, 2004

Nothing happened.  My wife's translated birth certificate and ALL the papers we submitted spelled her name as IRINA.  The english translation in her international passport spells her name as IRYNA.  We had absolutely no problem entering the US the first time.  She had absolutely no problem returning after her visit home two years ago.  Her green card and everything else spells it IRINA.  We have been through AOS and we had no problems getting her 10 year green card.  When my wife went to Poland for her interview, I met her in Kiev and escorted her so I know it was never mentioned.

Now, the disclaimer.  You have already alerted BCIS of the mismatch so I can't say it will be smooth sailing as it was for us.  However, if you notify your congressperson and explain that it's only a translation error in the english translation side of the passport and now BCIS wants you to resubmit everything and pay another whopping big fee they should be able to help.

Warsaw "lost" our I129F approval.  After an email from my congresslady it suddenly "popped up" out of nowhere.

[romachko]

... in response to Good idea... , posted by Zoidberg on Feb 4, 2004

I had much more complex problem. My fiance is a Ukrainian of ethnically Russian background. Her name (both first and last) have been spelled various ways in Cyrilic as well as in Roman characters. Her old documents spelled her name in Russian whereas her recent one in Ukrainian. Her name is also spelled differently on her domestic passport, needed to travel between Ukraine and Russia, and on her international passport, which is used to travel outside FSU like Turkey. So, on two passports her name is written in two different Cyrilic spellings and two different Roman spellings. I filed K1 petition using the international passport version with explanation to calarify the possible confusion. Recently the Nebraska Service Center asked me to submit an amendment, unrelatd to the name, but they did not mention about the name problem. So, I assume they took my explanation. I am just hoping that the name problem don't haunt me later.