[treshawks]

My husband's name on his birth cert is Ricardo. He has never gone by this, but by Richard. All of his other documents are under the name Richard (driver's license, passport, social security, etc.), and I am just wondering if BCIS will allow us to use the name Richard, or will we have to change everything to Ricardo? We are adopting from Ukraine and they do not require a birth cert in the dossier, only the marriage cert, and that also has the name Richard on it.

[ISAIAH30_18]

We are adopting from China, so I can't specifically speak to your case. But we have a similar situation. My husband's name on his birth certificate is spelled differently from any of his other documents. Our agency told us to have the home study directly address this in the adoptive father section of the home study, that was all we had to do.
Your agency should be able to help you .

[treshawks]

Immigration actually answered my question last week. Names on all documents must be EXACTLY the same on the I600a,I600,I171,ect as they appear on the birth certificate and marriage license submitted (also fingerprinting approval). We were not going to have a problem with Ukraine, but we did have to get a court order for a name change and attach it to his birth certificate for the United States immigration.

[Shaggydog]

Just to prove the point that the INS is never consistent in its application of the rules, we were faced with the exact same problem and were told by the INS not to worry about it. They issued the I-171 to match the name on the birth certificate but every other document we submitted had a different name.

[samuelcv]

As an adoption attorney and immigration specialist I can honestly say that the issue of minor descrepencies between documents and the proper resolution is generally at the descretion of the local INS office. Minor mis-spelling or illegiblity is not a major issue as long as the rest of the data matches the demographic data presented. However glaring differences in name, birth date or birth place will make the process more arduous, and especially when a naturalized citizen is involved as the naturalization certifcates are worth their weight in gold and must be precise. It is best to bring it to the attention of the service personnel and ask for their "kind assistance" and suggestions. Good luck.

[qs mom]

I didn't want to have to do a re-adoption. It isn't required in my state, but is suggested.

There is a mis-spelling on the translation of my son's birth certificate and on the adoption decree. They translated an "I" as "Y". However, his passport from birth country, visa and green card are all correct.

When I called BCIS to ask when filling out the form for certificate of citizenship, one person told me its not a problem as long as it is correct on his green card, another told me it wasn't. Go figure.

I guess I will have to re-adopt. Should be just as easy.

[samuelcv]

Simplier might be a petition for declaratory judgment. The order would state that the court finds that the error is merely procedural and not substantive and then could be used as the legal document for the name correction. In fact the order could have as part of it's mandate such a correction and order to compel the documents correction. Check with local counsel for your specifics states' requirement. I would have to believe this is easier than a "pro forma" adoption since in many states a re-evaluation and it's inherent paperwork would be required due to the "best interests" of the child standard and its' inherent requirements and reviews by the various state agencies. Check it out. Good luck

[Military Momma]

My husbands middle name was mis-spelled on his Birth Certificate. all we had to do is provide a baptismal record or school record before his 7th birthday that had his correct spelling and they "amended" the certificate.

This is in the State of Rhode Island.

Hope this helps,
Lisa

[schroeder]

My husband is a II- only his birth certificate shows the II but on all the papers we received after the adoption shows him as the II and the INS papers show the II. This casued a lot of questions- because everything else we have does not have the II.

After this I have learned that if the paper is important we are adding the II.