Name Fields Job Aid | Study in the States

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SEVIS Help Hub

Name Fields Job Aid

Name Fields Job Aid

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Fields

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Field	Captures	Standards
Surname/Primary Name	Surname/family name From the passport/Primary identifier contained in the passport’s machine readable zone Note: The only name for someone without another name.	Latin (Roman) alphabet No hyphens No apostrophes No special characters One space between names No names of: LNU, Unknown, Not Applicable, or None UNK and NA entries require confirmation that UNK or NA is the nonimmigrant’s name 40-character limit
Given Name	Any name components not included in Surname/Primary Name field	Latin (Roman) alphabet No hyphens No apostrophes No special characters One space between names No names of: FNU, Unknown, Not Applicable, or None UNK and NA entries require confirmation that UNK or NA is the nonimmigrant’s name 80-character limit
Suffix	Personal suffix (i.e., Jr., Sr., III, etc.), if the individual has one Does not include a professional or educational suffix (i.e., MD, PhD, SJ, etc.)	Latin (Roman) alphabet Selected from drop-down list
Preferred Name	Nonimmigrant’s full name Allows entry of the name used by the school if different from fields above Examples: Susan Zhang instead of Yibin Zhang Hélène Müller-Garçon	Latin (Roman) alphabet Hyphens allowed Apostrophes allowed One space between names Comma and one space allowed before suffix Period allowed in suffix Also allowed: alphabetical characters with: ¨, ^, `, ´, °, ¸ 145-character limit
Passport Name	Name exactly as it appears in the machine readable zone of the passport (Surname/Primary Name Given Name)	Latin (Roman) alphabet No hyphens N apostrophes One space between names 39-character limit

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