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First Name Dilemma

txikipep

Newbie
Nov 26, 2014
6
0
Just to give some perspective I am a PR holder, who navigated his application via this forum and finally landed in Canada in September 2015.

Now I would like my parents to come visit me on a TRV during the summer. Going through the preparations I noticed that my father's passport has a bit of a problem as it states his First Name (or Given Name as it appears on the passport) as blank while his actual name appears in his Family Name (or Surname as it appears on the passport).

My dilemma is, what do I enter on the Given Name and Family Name fields on IMM 5257 document which is the Application for Visitor Visa document. My father happens to hold a US visitor visa too and going through his application (which was handled by a consultant) his Given Name was marked as FNU and his Surname was marked with his actual name which appears under Surname on his passport. Of course this was repeated on the actual US visa that was printed on his passport.

Anyone have any experience with such a situation? All assistance is appreciated.
 

canuck_in_uk

VIP Member
May 4, 2012
31,553
7,205
Visa Office......
London
App. Filed.......
06/12
You need to put his name exactly as it appears in his passport. Leave the given name field blank.
 

txikipep

Newbie
Nov 26, 2014
6
0
canuck_in_uk said:
You need to put his name exactly as it appears in his passport. Leave the given name field blank.
So does that mean I put his given name as FNU as stated in his passport/US visa application? Because leaving it blank would not allow me to validate the application I believe.
 

bellaluna

VIP Member
May 23, 2014
7,405
1,781
txikipep said:
So does that mean I put his given name as FNU as stated in his passport/US visa application? Because leaving it blank would not allow me to validate the application I believe.
Did you try it out to see what would happen? Did it generate an error when you left it blank?

According to this, you can leave the given name field blank, and write his name entirely in the surname field, which does appear as in his passport:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=014&top=4
 

txikipep

Newbie
Nov 26, 2014
6
0
Found this as well:

Question 4
If the person you are sponsoring doesn’t have a family name on their passport or travel document, enter all given names in the family name field and leave the given name field empty.

If the person you are sponsoring doesn’t have a given name on their passport or travel document, leave the given name field empty.



Guess my question is resolved then? Unless if someone has had a different experience?
 

bellaluna

VIP Member
May 23, 2014
7,405
1,781
txikipep said:
Guess my question is resolved then? Unless if someone has had a different experience?
Have you tried it yet? It's not like the application will be rejected if you try or mistakenly enter a name.