# Spelling mistake in my father's name, help please..!!



## subhan7 (Sep 17, 2016)

Hi all,
My question is that in all of my educational documents (degrees, certificates), my father's name is xxx yyy wakkel, whereas his official name (as in identity card etc) is xxx yyy wakeel (mistake in surname). Will it be a problem during visa processing (study permit)? I've asked some seniors they told me to furnish an affidavit, as its not a serious mistake. Kindly have your say Thanks..


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

subhan7 said:


> Hi all,
> My question is that in all of my educational documents (degrees, certificates), my father's name is xxx yyy wakkel, whereas his official name (as in identity card etc) is xxx yyy wakeel (mistake in surname).



Why would your father's name be on your degrees and certificates? Shouldn't _your_ name be on them?




> I've asked some seniors



You asked some old people? Why would you do that?





> they told me to furnish an affidavit, as its not a serious mistake.



What makes them such experts?


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## subhan7 (Sep 17, 2016)

Thanks for your reply.
My name and father's name is printed on each and every educational document. As I said earlier, there is a mistake in my father's name. But all my other documents like identity card, passport, birth certificate etc. the correct name is printed. I am in doldrums that during visa processing, the visa officer may find this name contradiction. 
The people i've asked are not experts, but they have heard about this conflict before. Correction is also possible but this requires at least 5-6 months, but I've to apply in december. I don't know what to do.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

subhan7 said:


> Thanks for your reply.
> My name and father's name is printed on each and every educational document.


That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why would your father's name be on educational documents? He didn't earn the credentials, you did, so why would his name be included on them? This is completely nonsensical.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

colchar said:


> That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why would your father's name be on educational documents? He didn't earn the credentials, you did, so why would his name be included on them? This is completely nonsensical.


In official Pakistani documents, including passports and ID cards, the person's father's name or in case of married women, the husband's name is stated. 

Example: Frank Richard Miller, son of/father's name: Richard Jacob Miller

A completely foreign concept in the western world regarding people who are of age but nevertheless very common in Asia and the Middle East.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

ALKB said:


> In official Pakistani documents, including passports and ID cards, the person's father's name or in case of married women, the husband's name is stated.
> 
> Example: Frank Richard Miller, son of/father's name: Richard Jacob Miller
> 
> A completely foreign concept in the western world regarding people who are of age but nevertheless very common in Asia and the Middle East.



But on educational documents? So someone earns a degree and their dad's name goes on the degree too? That would be beyond ridiculous.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

colchar said:


> But on educational documents? So someone earns a degree and their dad's name goes on the degree too? That would be beyond ridiculous.


Yes.

It's mostly for identification purposes, because many people have the same or very similar names. Also, authorities are not bothered by using different spellings as they see fit, at least when using the Latin alphabet, so any additional identifier is welcome in helping keeping people's identity straight (not that this always works).

On my husband's university degree it also states his name and whose son he is. 

There is also some sort of sense of legal responsibility no matter how old a person is. I am not sure how officially this is ingrained in law as such but my husband is nearly 40 years old and still the authorities contacted his father and not him, when there was an issue with my husband's Pakistan Origin Card a few months back.

And, well, you can imagine how this pans out for women.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

subhan7 said:


> Hi all,
> My question is that in all of my educational documents (degrees, certificates), my father's name is xxx yyy wakkel, whereas his official name (as in identity card etc) is xxx yyy wakeel (mistake in surname). Will it be a problem during visa processing (study permit)? I've asked some seniors they told me to furnish an affidavit, as its not a serious mistake. Kindly have your say Thanks..


Can you ask your educational institutions for a corrected copy of your degrees?

My husband had to do just that for a Saudi visa and it was not a problem to get the certificates corrected.

Much easier than to risk wasting precious time and visa fees over something like this!


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## subhan7 (Sep 17, 2016)

It can be corrected but it is a long hectic process and can take up to 6 months, but I guess it is the only way now..! What I was thinking is to produce an affidavit which indicates that my name written on the educational docs. and the other belongs to one person only and get it notarized by a civil lawyer. Is it concrete enough?


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

subhan7 said:


> It can be corrected but it is a long hectic process and can take up to 6 months, but I guess it is the only way now..! What I was thinking is to produce an affidavit which indicates that my name written on the educational docs. and the other belongs to one person only and get it notarized by a civil lawyer. Is it concrete enough?


Have you contacted the Canadian Embassy about this at all?

Whether an affidavit will be sufficient is for the Canadian authorities to decide.

Could you maybe get something more official from NADRA?

General tip for the future: keep the spelling of your name (and that of your father wherever applicable) to the exact official version. Otherwise you might face difficulties later when dealing with countries that are less than relaxed about such things. My husband's naturalisation was delayed by over a year because of different spellings of his name in documents.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

ALKB said:


> Yes.
> 
> It's mostly for identification purposes, because many people have the same or very similar names.


That is seriously screwed up. How many people here have the same or similar names but have degrees without their father's name on them? I guess degrees don't have the same legal status there that they do here, where they are tightly controlled.






> There is also some sort of sense of legal responsibility no matter how old a person is. I am not sure how officially this is ingrained in law as such but my husband is nearly 40 years old and still the authorities contacted his father and not him, when there was an issue with my husband's Pakistan Origin Card a few months back.



At what point do people become adults who are responsible for themselves? And we think we have a coddled generation here that refuses to grow up...we've got nothing on the Pakistanis in that regard!


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## subhan7 (Sep 17, 2016)

Okay I'll try to establish contact with the embassy. 
In all the documents other than educational i.e. my father's birth certificate , my birth certificate (both issued by NADRA), his and my CNIC etc. the name is correct. The only issue lies in my SSC, HSC and university degree + transcripts. 
And yes you are right, even If I get my visa by furnishing affidavits, it can cause problems in future. So I guess its better to rectify it now.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

colchar said:


> That is seriously screwed up. How many people here have the same or similar names but have degrees without their father's name on them? I guess degrees don't have the same legal status there that they do here, where they are tightly controlled.


I lived there for a while. Believe me, THIS is nowhere near screwed up compared to a lot of other stuff. 

Things are definitely not very tightly controlled over there - absolutely anything can be bought for a price, including degrees and other documents. And if you can't afford to buy your own, you might be able afford to buy somebody else's documents and pass them off for your own. That's of course a bit more difficult if half your pedigree is mentioned on every single thing.




colchar said:


> At what point do people become adults who are responsible for themselves? And we think we have a coddled generation here that refuses to grow up...we've got nothing on the Pakistanis in that regard!


Coddled? Try oppressed, under the father's/husband's control, etc. Imagine you are a legal adult but as soon as you want to do... anything, they first contact your father or husband to make sure it's all right. Of course it doesn't happen with every little thing but it potentially can at any time and the concept is widely accepted.

When my husband had trouble getting his German naturalisation (due to several versions of spellings of his name across several documents), we tried to get documents corrected or some sort of official document about the discrepancies from Pakistan. My father-in-law just scoffed, and sent over - guess what - an affidavit stating magnanimously that all the documents are genuine and that he as the father allows his 32-year-old son to become a German citizen and that this should resolve all issues.

He could not understand that the German authorities would not take any notice of this (or be impressed by parental consent given to somebody in his 30s).


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

ALKB said:


> I lived there for a while. Believe me, THIS is nowhere near screwed up compared to a lot of other stuff.
> 
> Things are definitely not very tightly controlled over there - absolutely anything can be bought for a price, including degrees and other documents. And if you can't afford to buy your own, you might be able afford to buy somebody else's documents and pass them off for your own. That's of course a bit more difficult if half your pedigree is mentioned on every single thing.


And we accept those degrees for immigration to Canada?





> Coddled? Try oppressed, under the father's/husband's control, etc. Imagine you are a legal adult but as soon as you want to do... anything, they first contact your father or husband to make sure it's all right. Of course it doesn't happen with every little thing but it potentially can at any time and the concept is widely accepted.


You had made reference to your husband (your father in law being contacted instead of him) so I was referring to that when I said 'coddled'. I realize the position of women is far worse but didn't want to open that particular can of worms.





> When my husband had trouble getting his German naturalisation (due to several versions of spellings of his name across several documents), we tried to get documents corrected or some sort of official document about the discrepancies from Pakistan. My father-in-law just scoffed, and sent over - guess what - an affidavit stating magnanimously that all the documents are genuine and that he as the father allows his 32-year-old son to become a German citizen and that this should resolve all issues.
> 
> He could not understand that the German authorities would not take any notice of this (or be impressed by parental consent given to somebody in his 30s).




It is astounding that he was so arrogant as to think that his proclamations carried any weight or that he couldn't understand why the Germans thought his proclamations meaningless (which they were). If that is how things are done in Pakistan that is one thing (a stupid thing), but for him to think that other countries would allow something so ridiculous is another thing altogether.


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