Last year when I received my permanent residency from the United States government, I was finally able to correct my name in their system, the way I had always wanted/needed it to be reflected on my paperwork. All it took was filling out the application form stating that my first name and my middle name (post-name, in my country), had be placed in the wrong order - according to U.S. standards.
The Immigration representative was very helpful and said, as long as I mark "previous name" on the application form and supply them with my original birth certificate as proof, I would be all set. I completed everything last year and after receiving my Green Card (permanent resident card's nickname), I used that to correct all my other documents in March of last year.
WELL... that didn't seem to be enough for my school... Nooo way, no how.
I received a nasty email from my school one random day in early March of this year, to tell me I was to call the Financial Aid department immediately because they could not process my financial aid payment. My name was different in the government education system as they had it at the school and blah blah blah... I explained the whole situation and asked them which documents they would need for me to confirm the change.
After talking extensively to several people in the FA office, and submitting more duplicates of my entire life documents (Social Security card, Permanent Resident card, Driver's licence, birth certificate, blood, heart, lungs, kidneys...), they finally told me that none of these would be acceptable to resolve the issue.
SAY WHAT NOW???
Needless to say I was completely frazzled, devastated, depressed because what else could I do? I was mostly and shocked that they refused to accept an original official document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security because "it was not a letter"... and because they were unsure that I was the same person. I even went to the Social Security Administration to ask them if they could write me a letter explaining that I corrected my name, which they did, but the school STILL wouldn't take it. I was at a loss.
Over the next few days, they had effectively locked me out of class, blocked me from making payments or doing anything on the virtual campus. They said it would take 30 to 60 days for everything to be reestablished and that in the meantime, I would be dropped out of school. I sat in tears every night in front of my computer, wondering what to do and how the heck I was going to get the strength to re-track my "count-down to graduation" from my Facebook page.
I have to give a shout out to my hubby for keeping me sane during the madness and trying everything to get the problem fixed. He even had people at his job trying to help me transfer to the university where he works. Thankfully, I did not need to start my entire degree program over. Last Tuesday, the school's financial aid called me again to let me know that my name was fixed with the Department of Education and that everything was back on track.
The moral of the story is - DON'T CHANGE YOUR FIRST NAME!!! Haha, just kidding. Kind of... but really, you should exhaust every option while making any type of update to your legal information. If you are a student in the U.S., make sure to find out from every department that has anything to do with your information, what they will need to make the updates seamless. I thought I had, but oh well... I'm just glad it's all over and I can get back to schoolwork. I have a ton to catch up on since I missed the first week and a half of school, but both my professors were kind enough to give me extensions.
Until next time :)
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