# Can I use last name as Family name in Visa Application? Guidance required!!!



## harishsidhartha (Jan 2, 2014)

In my mothers and daughters passport, 

1)	Surname/family name field is left blank 
2)	In the given name column her first name and last name is written. 

Example as in Passport

FAMILY NAME/SURNAME : ________________
GIVEN NAME : <First name> <Last name>

In the visa application, family name is mandatory and I have entered her first name as Given name and last name as Family name.
Will this create any problem? Should I submit form 1023(Notification of incorrect answer)?

Your guidance is required in this matter. 

Thanks and Regards,
Harish Sidhartha


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## shorefisher (Nov 11, 2014)

I guess you have passed that situation where you can get your passport corrected the way it has to be. So now the only option is to submit forms as the CO asks for it.

Ideally you should have gone for name change in passport prior submitting VISA. But there is no issue, you can submit forms in DIAC once CO is allocated.


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## harishsidhartha (Jan 2, 2014)

So should I wait for CO to be assigned? In India, we use our last name as Family name.

regards,
Harish S


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## amit9845 (Sep 19, 2014)

Hi,

Is there no option to submit the visa application with family name or Given name field left as blank.
While submitting EOI, i had left the "Given Name" field as blank and "Family Name" field as "my Full name".

Can't the same thing be done while filing Visa application? I have recieved invitation to apply for Visa. Please suggest me what should be done to rectify this problem (as i don;t have a surname in my passport)


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## shorefisher (Nov 11, 2014)

harishsidhartha said:


> So should I wait for CO to be assigned? In India, we use our last name as Family name.
> 
> regards,
> Harish S


Yes Harish, Please wait for the CO decision. Don't worry there wont be any issues


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## shorefisher (Nov 11, 2014)

amit9845 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Is there no option to submit the visa application with family name or Given name field left as blank.
> While submitting EOI, i had left the "Given Name" field as blank and "Family Name" field as "my Full name".
> ...


In south India, fathers name is added as surname usually, but not always. In other parts there would actually be a surname or a family name added as surname. You need to discuss with your family and change in your passport to fix this issue, but you have already been invited.
I guess while filling VISA application there might be an issue as you wont be able to leave the mandatory name fields. 
But there are options to provide other names by which you are called, not sure how will you manage to give them. try to file the visa and you should be able to explore options


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## harishsidhartha (Jan 2, 2014)

Deat Team,

Can any seniors guide me on whether i need to submit 1023 form....

Regards,
Harish S


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## Shakti1987 (Oct 27, 2016)

Hi Harish,

Did you face any issues with given name and surname? 
Please update as i am facing same issues (my name is given name and surname is blank)

Please help needed

Regrads,
Shakti


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## Abubakr (May 10, 2016)

My agent wrote my full name as Family name and no given names
And i got the grant without any problem

But in the egyptian passports there is no family and given , just full name


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## Shakti1987 (Oct 27, 2016)

Thanks for quick reply, I understood.

I think given name field can be left empty on EOI submission as well as at later stage.

Just for info.. In my passport(India) - Given Name: Shakti Singh Surname: Blank

Regards,
Shakti


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## staokeer (Sep 7, 2016)

Hi Shakthi,

Even I'm facing the same problem as yours.

Passport Surname - <Blank>
Passport given name - Syed Faizaan Arif

In my application, I filled the following which I'm not sure is right?
Surname - Syed
Given Name - Faizaan Arif

Can you tell me if I have to update the information in Immi ?
If no, should I inform the assigned CO about it?


Thanks
Faizaan


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## Shakti1987 (Oct 27, 2016)

staokeer said:


> Hi Shakthi,
> 
> Even I'm facing the same problem as yours.
> 
> ...


Hi Faizaan,

According to me if surname is blank in passport than your full name should be used in Surname and given name should be blank.

I have checked many threads , checked with many people .. hence reached to this conclusion.

Not sure though, please recheck

Regards, 
Shakti


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

harishsidhartha said:


> In my mothers and daughters passport,
> 
> 1)Surname/family name field is left blank
> 2)In the given name column her first name and last name is written.
> ...


You can mention your father name as surname in application.

It is common that first and last name is swapped in India in many documents and will not be any issues.

But there should not be any additions, deletions or change in the name.

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## staokeer (Sep 7, 2016)

Shakti1987 said:


> Hi Faizaan,
> 
> According to me if surname is blank in passport than your full name should be used in Surname and given name should be blank.
> 
> ...


@Shakti, @dreamliner
Thx 4 ur respons. CO has been assigned, I will check with them and let you know what they say about it.


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

Shakti1987 said:


> Hi Faizaan,
> 
> According to me if surname is blank in passport than your full name should be used in Surname and given name should be blank.
> 
> ...


Given name is mandatory.

Surname is optional.

If someone doesn't have surname his/her father name will be mentioned in that column.

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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

*surname is blank*

hi all,

I thought of trying for 189 skilled visa. But before i go for ACS submission i found that the name must be the same across all the documents. 
Now i have an issue where my passport does not have surname since my initials (parents name) when expanded does not fit in the number of characters. They have omitted the surname and last name and added just my name in the passport. Will this have any issues while filing ACS or visa application? Pls suggest


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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

Adding to my previous post, all other documents from birth certificate to sslc marksheet have full name with initials. Only in passport it is omitted due to character limitation. need your suggestion what can be done or if anyone of you have faced a similar issue, what was done. 
I cannot go for name change in passport, since name is not changed anywhere in records, but passport issuing authority here says that i need to apply for name change. So confused with this as to what to do


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

Passport will have sufficient number of characters to cover most of the Indian names. 

Have you tried to include your grandfather name also in the passport? Like father's surname?

Strange to know your name did not had either initial nor father name in passport.

Have you travelled to other countries with the passport you have?

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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

*blank surname*



dreamliner said:


> Passport will have sufficient number of characters to cover most of the Indian names.
> 
> Have you tried to include your grandfather name also in the passport? Like father's surname?
> 
> ...


No, the problem is all our names are lengthier when expanded will have 2-3 characters extra with spaces inbetween. Yes so they have not put even my fathers name in surname. In case they add only fathers name, then again it will not match with my other records which has both initials. 
However i would like to know if there is a way without applying for change of name to either get the new passport in India. or is it acceptable for Austrailan visa (skilled independent)


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

aadhimona said:


> No, the problem is all our names are lengthier when expanded will have 2-3 characters extra with spaces inbetween. Yes so they have not put even my fathers name in surname. In case they add only fathers name, then again it will not match with my other records which has both initials.
> However i would like to know if there is a way without applying for change of name to either get the new passport in India. or is it acceptable for Austrailan visa (skilled independent)


What do you mean by both initials?

Is your father name has two words apart from his surname?

You need to provide some info on letters like 'xxxxxxxxxx' is your name and 'yyyyyyyy' is your father name and so on so that it is easy to understand.

If passport itself doesn't have enough space then how did you got his name in certificate as certificate will have much lesser space.

Please provide more information.

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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

dreamliner said:


> What do you mean by both initials?
> 
> Is your father name has two words apart from his surname?
> 
> ...



Thank you actually for getting back to me so quickly. 
If my name is xxxx
Last name is y z 
y expansion is my mothers name
z expansion is my fathers name 
In all my records it is xxxxxx y z
which when expanded will be xxxxxxx yyyyyy zzzzzz 
So in full name section they have ignored "xxxxxxx yyyyyy zzzzzz"
and they havent added "yyyyyy zzzzzzz" in surname. 

Today i had met the assistant RPO in bengaluru to include my initials in expanded form at least in surname if not as full name. I got abused badly, and even when i say pls or request you to tell me what to be done next, she only said dont argue. I never argued too. She then asked me to produce annexure E for name change, but i havent changed my name. Then says "you dont order me".

Let me leave aside the incident at RPO, but would like to get your suggestion on what could be done next. 
In my 1st passport when they havent given the full name due to character limitation, they say it was my mistake to have not corrected it after that. Now when it expired and i submitted again in the same way with my name and surname, it was still not printed. I do not know what can be done next. 

Thanks once again for the quick response.


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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

aadhimona said:


> Thank you actually for getting back to me so quickly.
> If my name is xxxx
> Last name is y z
> y expansion is my mothers name
> ...


Adding to it. Expanded name will have 32 characters including 2 spaces. (xxxx yyyy zzzz)
But if it is surname that would have 23 characters (yyyy zzzz)


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

aadhimona said:


> Adding to it. Expanded name will have 32 characters including 2 spaces. (xxxx yyyy zzzz)
> But if it is surname that would have 23 characters (yyyy zzzz)


RPO is correct. Once passport is printer with particular name they cannot change or should not change until unless the applicant provide proper document and evidence.

They can only help for below ex:

If your name : xxxxxx
your father name: yyyyyy

these two 'xxxxxx' and 'yyyyyy' can be interchange between surname and given name or mention completely either in surname and given name. This happened for me as well.

my 1st Passport had 'fathername' in surname and 'myname' in given name. Then it was changed to given name fully and again changed to surname. So they never asked anything like annexture. 


If you passport does not have particular details at all, then RPO cannot do anything. 

What you can do is get you name change affidiviate with surname as your father name and given name as you name and change your passport.

Because, passport name change is easy. Changing in all certificate is very difficult.

Hope you got it.


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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

dreamliner said:


> RPO is correct. Once passport is printer with particular name they cannot change or should not change until unless the applicant provide proper document and evidence.
> 
> They can only help for below ex:
> 
> ...


Thank you. But the case is different here, they have printed according to what they want and not what was given to them in the first application 10yrs back or the 2nd application now when it has expired. I dont want to argue with them about any mistakes. But I was only trying to request them to include it since that is there in all the applications and the proofs and it might be required for visa. 

Right now there is no name change, there is a valid last name & first name, which they have omitted citing the number of characters. But i believe they will be able to include that either as part of my full name and surname instead of ignoring it while printing. Why was the name omitted in the first place when i had filled it in the application form? I may not get an answer from them though. But let me leave the incident where i met the Assitant RPO yesterday. 


In the grievance, since they mentioned in this case i can request them to include it, I had to go to RPO. However I did not get an answer except for the abuse which is ringing still in my ears. I can submit affidavit with notarization that to include the expanded initials as surname. But where do i submit. Is it by taking appointment or is it by submitting at the RPO. If it is online appointment, it would be better for me to do that. If there is no other option i have to decide for a name change itself. 

Thank you for patiently responding and trying to help me out here. This is the only place where i am getting some suggestions and ideas, else i am clueless on how to handle these.


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

aadhimona said:


> Thank you. But the case is different here, they have printed according to what they want and not what was given to them in the first application 10yrs back or the 2nd application now when it has expired. I dont want to argue with them about any mistakes. But I was only trying to request them to include it since that is there in all the applications and the proofs and it might be required for visa.
> 
> Right now there is no name change, there is a valid last name & first name, which they have omitted citing the number of characters. But i believe they will be able to include that either as part of my full name and surname instead of ignoring it while printing. Why was the name omitted in the first place when i had filled it in the application form? I may not get an answer from them though. But let me leave the incident where i met the Assitant RPO yesterday.
> 
> ...


Now the certificates has already your father name.

Create new application with your name in given name and father name in surname.

Fix appointment and submit it. Why would they deny to include your father name? 

But you can consider omitting mother name in the passport.



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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

should i still get the affidavit with the surname and submit it with change in particulars? 
They have omitted for the reason that it was not there in old passport.


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

I know they will refer old passport.

Tell them I missed out to include your father name by mistake and provide evidence of certificates. This should serve.

Don't try to prove that they are wrong even though they were. You know how how government in India works.

You need to file application with RPO and request them to include the surname.

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## aadhimona (Dec 2, 2016)

dreamliner said:


> I know they will refer old passport.
> 
> Tell them I missed out to include your father name by mistake and provide evidence of certificates. This should serve.
> 
> ...


Sure. thank you so much. Will try that out once again. 
Though i did not mention it was their mistake, and requested her to add the surname and i have brought the documents, she started abusing and never let me speak a word.


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## dreamliner (Mar 3, 2015)

They are not supposed to abuse applicants.

If they do consult lawyer and move your application legally.

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## Sifar (May 21, 2017)

staokeer said:


> @Shakti, @dreamliner
> Thx 4 ur respons. CO has been assigned, I will check with them and let you know what they say about it.


@staokeer, what did the CO confirm about the family/given name? What did you finally input in the application?

Thanks!


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