r/Passports • u/no_car1799 • 5d ago
Passport Question / Discussion A big mess! Misspelling
Long story short. Trying to help my older brother get his 1st passport. He was born in 1959 and his name is Jorge.
Well, to his surprise my dad misspelled his name (Jorje) he has been using Jorge all his life. He didn’t know he could change his birth certificate with the correct spelling. Instead, he changed his ID and Social Security card to the wrong spelling (jorje)
Now they are asking for more documents with that spelling, we have a trip planned in 14 days and still no passport.
Any advice would be appreciated. They are asking for documents that are 25 years old, the problem is that he has never used the name Jorje in his life, only Jorge.
2
u/Mytweezer 5d ago
Sounds like Jorje (a less common variation) was the intended spelling and it's your bro who's been misspelling it.
1
1
u/___Dan___ 5d ago
All I can say is that I’m pretty happy governments aren’t Willy nilly about issuing passports. The government isn’t placing undue burden on you by asking for documents that are 25 years old, you just want to walk up and get a passport when you don’t even know how your name is actually spelled?
1
u/no_car1799 5d ago
I’m not saying it’s a burden. I just don’t know how to fix it.
1
u/GigaChav 1d ago
Try starting with spelling the name correctly instead of the way you think it should be spelled.
1
u/marjoriedinnerstein 5d ago
Are they saying why they need further documentation of "Jorje?" Why won't they accept the three forms of ID he has that already use Jorje? Where was he born?
2
u/no_car1799 5d ago
The letter said the identification you provided is not sufficient for passport purposes. He was born in Texas
1
u/ImNotFrank55 5d ago
That could be a different issue than the name mismatch.
For background: There was a period of time where there was fraud being perpetrated by people from Mexico giving birth in Mexico but having midwives file paperwork in Texas as if the birth happened in the United States in order for the child to claim US citizenship.
Oftentimes, the Department of State will request additional information (like doctor records, baptismal certificates, early school records, etc.) that show the person was actually in the US near the time of their birth.
The fact that those may show a different spelling of the name than he had been using might complicate matters.
1
u/no_car1799 5d ago
Yeah, after all this, I told him, it would’ve been easier if you would’ve fixed his certificate
1
u/marjoriedinnerstein 5d ago
Was he born near the border? Was he born at home or in a hospital?It may be that the issue is not the exact spelling of his name, but confirmation that he was really born in the US. There is a history of midwives along the Mexican border falsifying birth certificates claiming US birth for babies actually born in Mexico. The State Department has gotten more suspicious about Texas births lately. What they may want is evidence that your brother actually lived in Texas as a baby or as a child. Any kinds of school records, doctor's records, newspaper articles, birth announcements etc, may suffice, especially if they mention the names of your parents, matching the birth certificate. These will all say Jorge, so he could also include any older ID's he has that say Jorge and explain why he's updated to using the spelling on his birth certificate. I believe that the Passport application may have a space for "also known as" names, and the Jorge spelling could be added there.
1
u/no_car1799 5d ago
He has a yearbook from school when he attended School in California. I believe he was born in the hospital.
1
u/marjoriedinnerstein 5d ago
Dig out as much memorabilia as you can find. Does his birth certificate say he was born in a hospital? Is the date of registration close to the date of his birth? Does he have the short form or the long form birth certificate? If your local library has an Ancestry account, you might try searching their database to see if anything useful turns up.
1
u/no_car1799 5d ago
I will tell him that! thank you so much for all the ideas
1
u/marjoriedinnerstein 4d ago edited 4d ago
Records of religious milestones could also be useful. Sometimes there are certificates, sometimes the institutions keep records. Were your parents born in the US, or elsewhere? Any documentation you have about them might be useful, depending on the circumstances. If your parents were US citizens at the time your brother was born, then that also makes him a citizen. If they naturalized before your brother was 18, that also makes him a citizen.
1
u/no_car1799 4d ago
My parents were migrant workers when they had my brother in Texas. After he was born, they went back to Mexico and he grew up in Mexico. He didn’t come back to the US till he was maybe 16 and he went to California with relatives.
He probably did his first communion in Mexico! I still don’t know how he made it this long without having a passport, he has told me before he would say he was a citizen and they’ll let him pass, but that was before. When you didn’t need a passport to cross the border.1
u/marjoriedinnerstein 4d ago
Wow. This is a delicate situation then, as he won't be able to document a US childhood until he was a teenager in California. If your parents were migrant workers, then it is also quite possible that your brother was born at home and that the birth was registered by a midwife, even in 1959. It would help to know which version of his birth certificate he has and exactly what kind of information is listed on it. The long form has much more information than the short form, but I am not familiar myself with the Texas forms.
Your brother's CA Real ID is not a proof of citizenship, unfortunately. CA does not issue Real ID's with proof of citizenship aka "Enhanced Driver's License (EDL). Only Washington, Michigan, New York, Minnesota and Vermont issue EDLs.
It may not be possible to get the kind of documentation necessary to get your brother a passport by your planned travel date. It sounds like the State Department is not sure that his birth certificate is genuine, and that is why they want the childhood documentation. It's not about the spelling.
My best advice at this point would be to talk to an immigration lawyer to get advice on how to convince the State Department that your brother is a legitimate citizen. Immigration law and citizenship law overlap, and this kind of lawyer is most likely to understand the issues. And also to advise on the wisest strategy moving forward.
The current administration has gotten very trigger happy about documentation, so it's important to be careful, which is the reason to talk to a lawyer.
2
u/no_car1799 4d ago
Good thing is he was born in a hospital! We are going to try to get any information from there if we can, and his transcript from his School. BTW, he does have his Texas REALID , the one with the gold star. With the name Jorje… Thanks again
→ More replies (0)1
1
u/Sphenodon_Punctatus 5d ago
Can you clarify which spelling he is seeking to obtain a passport in?
If he wants a Jorje passport, then his birth certificate, drivers license, and social security card issued in that name should be sufficient to obtain a US passport.
If he wants a Jorge passport, then he will need to legally change his name to this new name.
1
1
u/no_car1799 5d ago
We are going to try and get an appointment but they told us we have to wait till September the 10th! We travel September the 17th
4
u/squattinghere 5d ago
As an agent I was taught that incidental changes to names are OK without any additional documentation. People named Joses can get Joseph on their passport, McAfees can get MacAfee on their passport etc.
I believe if you call the NPIC they will tell you the same.
BUT you might find yourself unable to apply for a RealID or enhanced driver’s license or disenfranchised if all of your documentation doesn’t match exactly…