Different Latin spellings of my name: what do I do?

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Mismatches come from changed transliteration rules: the new passport spells your name one way, an old visa and diplomas another. Per community experience this is not a name change: you attach copies of both passports, show the surname never changed, and explain the transliteration rule. The patronymic is a separate case - English has no such field, so you explain it as a part of the name that is not used in Latin script. Company names are taken in the official English form from the register; if there is none, they are transliterated rather than translated.

Community member (anonymized) · Answer

My new passport uses the new transliteration while an old visa carries the old one. On paper they may not find me in the database, although the surname never changed.

Community member (anonymized) · Answer

Attach copies of both passports and a reference to the transliteration rule. That explanation is enough for the officer: different spellings of one surname are not different names.

Community member (anonymized) · Answer

For the patronymic the logic is: it is used in Russia and in Russian, and it is absent in English transliteration. It is not another name but a part of the name that does not exist in Latin script.

Community member (anonymized) · Answer

The Moscow consulate kept its own transliteration lists for patronymics and wanted that exact spelling rather than an arbitrary one. It is worth checking in advance how the name appears in documents already issued to you.

Community member (anonymized) · Answer

For company names: take the official English name from the register if there is one, otherwise transliterate. Do not translate it; at most convert the legal form.

Different Latin spellings of my name: what do I do?

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