This is with regards to "My Tax returns for getting Refund" along with my Wife's W-7 for her ITIN ( as I got married last year Dec 2008 and she is not earning ).

I got my wife's passport copy certified by U.S. embassy in India and the same was rejected saying "Name did not matched". ( even tough I have typed in her name in W-7 and NOT handwritten. The W-7 copy was very much clear with her name )

I called IRS and was suggested to talk to Legal Dept.

Legal Dept has suggested to get her passport copy certified by the issuing agency or official custodian of the original record. i.e. I feel should be "Indian Immigration Department"

Please advice me on following:

Q1. How can I get her Passport certified, will Indian Notary do Or I have to get it stamped / sticker stamp by "Indian Immigration Department" ?

Q2. Any suggestions for how can I resolve this name mismatch with IRS ?


Please advice.

Did you put exactly same name of your wife on Form W7 and your tax return as it was on the passport?

Yupp I did put exactly the same name of my wife as in Passport. Rather I typed it in and W-7 form was not in handwritting.

Any advice ?

Did your wife's name CHANGE when she married you?

If so, you need to list BOTH names on the W-7 (a separate line is provided for the pre-marriage name).

Nope I didn't changed her name. Her name before Marriage and after Marriage is same.
I didn't do that to avoid such name change complications.

Now IRS does not accept copies signed by Consular offices at U.S. Embassies and Consulate overseas.

This is from the instructions of Form W-7 (March 2009):
You can submit the copies of the original document if you do any of the following.

* Have the copies certified by the issuing agency or official custodian of the original record.
* Have the copies notarized by a U.S. notary public legally authorized within his or her local jurisdiction to certify that the document is a true copy of the original. To do this, the notary must see the valid, unaltered original document and verify that the copy conforms to the original. Consular offices at U.S. Embassies and Consulate overseas may not certify true copies of foreign public documents and will refer applicants to the foreign authority that issued the document.
* Have the copies notarized by a foreign notary. However, foreign notaries are only acceptable as outline by the Hague Convention. The Hague Convention provides for the simplified certification of public (including notarized) documents to be used in countries that have joined the Convention. A certification will be issued in the form of an "apostille," which will be attached to the copy of the doucment. If the document originates in a country that is not party to the Convention, applicants should have the document certified by the foreign authority that issued it.

Note. The apostille must stay attached to the copy of the document when it is sent to the IRS.