Application of Chan, 606232.
| Decision Date | 29 September 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 606232.,606232. |
| Citation | 426 F. Supp. 680 |
| Parties | Application of Woodrow CHAN, For an Order amending and correcting the Certificate of Naturalization so that the same should reveal his true birth date and for a change of name. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Maurice F. Kiley, Dist. Director, Immigration and Naturalization Service, New York City; by Nina Rao Cameron, New York City, of counsel.
Woodrow Chan, pro se.
In accordance with 8 C.F.R. § 334.16(b) (1976), Woodrow Chan has applied to this court for an order amending his petition for, and certificate of, naturalization. He desires to have his name changed to Chan Chung and the entry for his date of birth changed to July 12, 1919. From the papers before me, it appears that the petition and certificate presently list his birth date either as July 2, 1909 or July 12, 1909. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is opposed to the proposed amendments.
Chan explains that he used the name Woodrow Chan in his petition for naturalization because it was easier than Chan Chung for native-born Americans to pronounce. It was of course lawful for Chan to change his name at the time he filed his petition.1 Although he now regrets that decision, finding that most of his associates are unable to pronounce the name "Woodrow," I am unwilling to alter the name which appears in his naturalization papers. See Petition of Garcia, 65 F.Supp. 143 (W.D. Pa. 1946).
Chan retains his common law right to adopt any name he wishes provided that its use constitutes neither fraud nor interference with the rights of another. Smith v. United States Casualty Co., 197 N.Y. 420, 90 N.E. 947 (1910); Application of Green, 54 Misc.2d 606, 283 N.Y.S.2d 242 (Civ.Ct. 1967). He may also petition the courts of this state for leave to assume another name. N.Y.Civil Rights Law § 60 (McKinney 1948). If such a petition is granted, he may then apply to the Attorney General of the United States for a new certificate of naturalization. 8 U.S.C. § 1454(d).
Chan's proposed modification of his recorded birth date is a more interesting problem. This is not a case where the petitioner seeks to add to his years in an effort to hasten the availability to him of government benefits for senior citizens. Indeed, if his application were granted Chan would be ten years younger in the eyes of the the government.
Chan says that he never paid any attention to his recorded date of birth from the time of his arrival in the United States until the Spring of 1966. Then, while on a visit to Hong Kong, he claims to have learned from his older sister Kam that he was born in the Year of the Sheep. Upon consulting a Gregorian calendar he determined that to be the year 1919. Since than Chan has used July 12, 1919 whenever he has had to record his birth date. To support his claim, he has supplied the court with his own translation of a recent letter from his sister Kam. It confirms that he was born on the twelfth day of the fifth month in the Year of the Sheep, but notes her inability to convert that to an equivalent date...
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Kennedy v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs.
...change after a person's naturalization. In support of its position, Respondent places heavy reliance on the case, In re Chan, 426 F.Supp. 680, 681 (S.D.N.Y.1976) (‘Chan ’). In that case, the court found in favor of the government because the Court was “unwilling to alter the name which appe......
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Kennedy v. United States Citizenship & Immigration Servs.
...change after a person's naturalization. In support of its position, Respondent places heavy reliance on the case, In re Chan, 426 F. Supp. 680, 681 (S.D.N.Y. 1976) ('Chan'). In that case, the court found in favor of the government because the Court was "unwilling to alter the name which app......
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Omar v. Tillerson
...person, and the certificate of naturalization shall be issued in accordance therewith.28 U.S.C. 1447(e); see also In re: Chan, 426 F. Supp. 680, 681 (S.D.N.Y. 1976) ("It was of course lawful for Chan to change his name at the time he filed his petition"); In re Holland, 237 F. 735, 736 (E.D......
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Hussain v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Servs.
...four possible birth dates and petitioner's own previous testimony was consistent with the date on his certificate); In re Chan, 426 F.Supp. 680, 682 (S.D.N.Y.1976) (denying petition where petitioner's only evidence was that his sister had told him that he was born in the Year of the Sheep);......