EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields

on the residence permits of a uniform format

according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence
permits of a uniform format according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002
Requested by EL EMN NCP on 27th July 2017
Miscellaneous
Responses from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway (22 in total)

Disclaimer:
The following responses have been provided primarily for the purpose of information exchange among EMN NCPs in the framework of the
EMN. The contributing EMN NCPs have provided, to the best of their knowledge, information that is up-to-date, objective and reliable.
Note, however, that the information provided does not necessarily represent the official policy of an EMN NCPs' Member State.
 EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

Background information:

Migration authorities to which applications for residence permits are submitted often face difficulties on how to register name and surname of third-
country nationals in the relevant information system and the residence permit in the format of the stand-alone document (e-Residence Permit). In
particular, in various passports mainly issued by India or Pakistan or Bangladesh authorities, the field of the name or surname is blank and the full
name of the passport holder is filled in the remaining field. For example, there are cases where the field for surname is blank and the field for the
name registers either the full name of the holder, which may consist of two or more (different) names, or only one-word name (e.g. the name).
As the information system does not allow at this stage fields of name or surname to remain blank, this is temporary solved, either by separating the
name(s) - when consisted of two or more words – or by repeating the one-word name in the blank field. As long as the residence permit was in the
form of a sticker affixed on the travel document, this procedure did not affect its reliability. Since, however, residence permits are in the form of a
standalone document (E-Residence Permit) and in comparison to the passport, there is a risk to cause problems to its holder in the event of controls
run either by national, or foreign police authorities, as far as the reliability of the document is concerned.

Questions

1. Have you encountered cases where relevant fields on passports are blank (name or surname field);
2. If yes, is it found in passports issued by specific countries?
3. How do you practically resolve such cases?
4. Is it possible to leave the name or surname field blank, both by technical and administrative practice point of view?

Responses

Wider
Country Response
Dissemination
Austria No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have
requested that it is not disseminated further.
Belgium No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have
requested that it is not disseminated further.
EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

Bulgaria Yes 1. The names of the foreigners in the Bulgarian personal documents shall be written by order and
number as written in the travel documents by which they have entered the Republic of Bulgaria. In
the residence permits issued to foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria, the names are written in one
field, so have not a problem with blank fields in the foreign citizens’ passports.

2. N/A

3. N/A

4. N/A

Croatia Yes 1. No.

2. N/A.

3. N/A.

4. N/A.

Czech Yes 1. YES. As regards the residence permits for third-country nationals with biometric features, the
Republic only obligatory detail is “surname”, not the “first name”. If the foreign national has it in this way
stated in his/her passport, then it is not a problem to keep it in this way. If for some reasons, he/she
did not have a surname stated in his/her passport, but only first names, then we have to change it in
the document, thus from a first name becomes a surname.

2. Such cases happened for example in passports issued by India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan.

3. See the answer 1.

4. See the answer 1.

EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

Estonia Yes 1. Yes.

2. Yes, mostly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt.

3. In cases were according to the Passport, foreigner does not have a name or surname, we insert a
symbol “-“ in the field of that name on the residence permit card and also in our database. Our
policy is to document the persons name similarly to the national passport – in case we do not use a
specific letter in the name, we have a under the Names Act a table of substitute letters to use.

4. It is not possible to leave the name or surname field blank, but it is possible to insert “-” instead
of a name or surname, indicating that the name or surname doesn’t exist.

Finland Yes 1. Yes

2. Apart from the mentioned countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), Finland has also
experienced the same with Indonesia.

3. The names are entered into the system according to guidelines given by the Population Register
Centre

4. Yes, it is possible to leave one field blank. The Finnish Immigration Service enters the name as it
is written in the passport of the person, i.e. leaving either the name or surname field blank.

France No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have
requested that it is not disseminated further.

Germany Yes 1. Yes.

2. This is known from passports for stateless persons of the State of Kuwait.

3. The name of the passport registered in the machine-readable zone of the passport is transferred to
EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

the machine-readable zone of the electronic residence permit (eAT). If the foreigner according to
his passport has only one name (without distinction between first and last name), this name is
entered in the field "Name" in the eAT.

4. In the case described in the answer to question 3, the "first name" field is provided with three
horizontal lines in the eAT(- - -).

Hungary Yes 1. Yes, we have.

2. Yes, we experience this issue related to passports mainly issued by India.

3. We repeat the one-word name in the blank field, or separate the names according to the machine-
readable zone of the passport or according to the completed application form. If it is needed we ask
the client to declare their surname.

4. No, it is not.

Latvia Yes 1. Yes, we have.

2. Yes, from India and Pakistan.

3. In databases it is not possible to leave blank place for name or surname, but technically it is
foreseen to put a sign "-" in it. But on a residence permits (ID cards) it is blank place (without a
sing "-") as it is in foreigner's passport. From administrative point of view there are no specific
problems.

4. See answer on question 3.

Lithuania Yes 1. Yes.

EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

2. There were cases of blank relevant fields in travel documents of Indian citizens.

3. It is mandatory to present a travel document with the relevant fields filled. Therefore, the third-
country national has to change his/hers travel document to the document with the relevant fields
filled.

4. No.

Luxembourg Yes 1. Yes.

2. It is found in passports issued by India.

3. In our national personal register (RNPP) system the surname field is filled and the name field
remains blank even if in the passport the name field is filled.

4. See answer to question 3: Filling in the surname field remains the only option.

Netherlands Yes 1. Yes

2. Several nationalities, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

3. Good identity investigation, including an interview. Often, nationality statements have to be

filled in as well.

4. No, the Identification and Labelling Protocol does not allow this and a registration cannot be
completed (all fields have to be filled in order for the system to issue a v-number.

Poland Yes 1. Yes. It should be noted as a preliminary point that in Poland, temporary residence permit is
issued at the voivodship office in the division responsible for foreigners competent for the place of
residence of the foreigner. There are 16 voivodship offices in Poland. In most voivodship offices
there were cases where the fields in the passport were blank (name or surname). At the same time,
EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

it should be pointed out that there are cases of passports of citizens of India, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Libya in which only the field “full name” or
“name” are completed.

2. Yes, mostly India, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Vietnam

3. Cases which are conducted in IT system POBYT v.2 enable to register the application of people
without name or without a surname and issue a residence card where the surname or name field is
blank. In that case officials insert “unkn.” instead of a name or surname. The authorities have not
reported any problems, neither administratively nor technically, in issuing residence cards to such
foreigners.

4. See answer to the question 3.

Portugal Yes 1. Yes. There are situations where the full name of the passport holder is just one name.

2. Mainly, in the Pakistan passports.

3. Due to the obligation of insert at least one name and one surname, the procedure is to repeat the
name in both fields.

4. No. The system does not allow such blank fields.

Slovak Yes 1. Yes.

Republic
2. Yes, as stated in the background, the Slovak Republic has also such experience especially as
regards Indian and Bangladeshi passports. However, it is not thoroughly monitored which countries
it concerns.

3. If there is one field blank e.g. name, we put in the blank field in the residence system and also
when issuing the residence document the same name as stated in the filled field. E.g. Name: Singh
EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

Duritu Surname: Singh Duritu

4. No, it is not possible.

Slovenia Yes 1. We have notices few cases of blank fields in some Indian passports. In some cases name or
surname fields were blank.

2. See above

3. We deem such passports valid. Such passports are subject of thorough checks. No special
measures apply.

4. Our information system currently allows these fields to remain blank in case of residence permit.

Spain Yes 1. Yes

2. We encounter this problem with several countries, such as those mentioned above, but also Arab
countries.

3. Sometimes a separation between name and surname can be found in the MRZ. If not, all words
are included as name and the field for surname is left blank.

4. Yes (the surname field).

Sweden Yes 1. Yes, it can happen occasionally that passports only having first name is encountered.

2. In the cases mentioned the issuing country was India.

3. If the person is registered in the Swedish population registry it is the information there that is
valid. If the person is not registered in the population registry the normal procedure is to enter the
EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

name as both first name and surname.

4. In the central foreigners database of the Swedish Migration Agency the first name or surname
fields can NOT be blank. As a consequence of this something must be entered in the fields for both
first name and surname when it comes to proof of residence permit and visa.

United Yes 1. Yes. We have encountered cases where there is only a single given name and no family name, or
Kingdom only family names and no given names.

2. It is certainly more common with some nationalities than others. The Indian, Pakistan and
Bangladesh authorities that you mention are among those that we see most commonly only giving
single names. However, we have also noted this in Indonesia. In Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei and
Malaysia we have seen all names designated as given names (no family name indicated). In
Indonesia, they sometimes designate everything as a family name. In addition to this, where
someone who was Indian at birth and was only known by their given name, then acquires another
nationality, you may see a single name appearing in the new nationality’s passport. This list is not
comprehensive, but is what we have that is easily retrieved.

3. We do not use Schengen systems, so have different constraints, but this is our method: A single
given name is entered into the family name field. We do not repeat single given names. Multiple
given names and no family name are entered into the family name field Multiple family names and
no given name are entered into the family name field.

4. Again, as we use our own systems, this may not be possible for all. The e- residence permit only
has a single name field; it designates the family name by putting it first. Therefore whether the
name is actually a single given name, just family names or just given names, it will appear
correctly, if it is entered into the production system in the same order that it appears in the passport.
The bigger problem is usually the IT system used to produce the e-residence permit. This may
require a minimum of both a family name and a given name to be entered, which then causes
problems in the order in which the names appear on the e-residence permit. If the holder only has a
single given name, there may be a need for a filler word to be put into a mandatory family name
EMN Ad-Hoc Query on Ad-Hoc Query on practices followed for entering the name or surname in the respective fields on the residence permits of a uniform format
according to Regulation (EC) 1030/2002

field. We have had problems with this in the past, and the solution that we have found is to make
one or both name fields optional rather than mandatory in our feeder systems. This has been
implemented as new IT systems have been introduced.

Norway Yes 1. No, this problem seems to be virtually unknown.

2. See rely above

3. See reply to 1.

4. See the reply to 1.