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Name in the employment pass / card / in-principal approval

Relocating, travelling or planning to make Singapore home? Discuss the criterias, passes or visa that is required.
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nuscape
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Name in the employment pass / card / in-principal approval

Post by nuscape » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 8:38 am

Hi there,

I am an Australian and recently received the In-principal approval letter from MOM. However I am wondering why they wrote my name in the order of 'surname given_name' instead of the usual 'given_name surname' (at least the Australian/ western way of writing). eg. the MOM letter wrote 'SMITH John' instead of the usual 'John SMITH'.
I realized that Australian passport does not specifically wrote 'surname/family_name' and 'given_name/first_name' in the passport personal detail page instead it wrote the 'surname/family_name' on the 'first line' and 'given_name/first_name' on the 'second line'. Therefore if someone is not familiar with Australian passport since the surname is at the top of the list then it will be read first.

If the person is a female gender I guess it will be more confusing with surname in front. eg. Susan Jackson will be written as Jackson Susan??

I am wondering if other fellow Australians in the forum are experiencing the same?

I can see the potential issue when it comes to creating bank account, drivers license, ID cards etc. I did have similar issue here in Malaysia when I have to explain it some many times to the institutions (eg. bank, authorities, or lawyer when comes to buying property). However finally i can get my Malaysian working permit corrected the name after.

I would appreciate it if someone in this forum can give me a bit of advise, Thanks, cheers!

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Strong Eagle
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Post by Strong Eagle » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 8:47 am

It doesn't make any difference. My personal account is LAST NAME, first, as is one of my credit cards. As signatory on my company account, the other way around, as it is on another card I hold.

And, US passports are last name first, and the locals, being used to passports the other way around, call me Mr. Wayne.

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Post by nakatago » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 8:51 am

Strong Eagle wrote:call me Mr. Wayne.
Yes, Bruce is right.

Here in Singapore, when it comes to formal documents, you will need indicate which is your surname/family name so the order wouldn't make a difference. Although, it just feels weird to be called "Mr. (your first name)" but otherwise, it's no big deal.
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Post by Mad Scientist » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 8:55 am

A family name (in Western contexts often referred to as a surname or "last name") is typically a part of a person's name and indicates the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is common in many cultures around the world. Each culture has its own rules as to how these names are applied and used.

Having both a family name (surname) and a given name ("first name", "forename", or "Christian name") is far from universal. In many countries it is common for ordinary people to have only one name (a mononym).

As long as they have your surname you are OK. It usually follows the PP which is surname comes first then your own name. MOM follows ICA which in turn follows what is on the PP.

This not a major . Do not be too overly worried about this
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Post by Barnsley » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:37 am

nakatago wrote:
Strong Eagle wrote:call me Mr. Wayne.
Yes, Bruce is right.

Here in Singapore, when it comes to formal documents, you will need indicate which is your surname/family name so the order wouldn't make a difference. Although, it just feels weird to be called "Mr. (your first name)" but otherwise, it's no big deal.
My first trip to the hospital the nurse was calling for Mr Andrew, I didnt realise she meant me. She seemed a bit miffed and wasn't looking too happy, she finally got my attention by coming to stand right in front of me and saying it a bit louder. :)
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Post by the lynx » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:48 am

Having a fairly uncommon name AND structure, which is neither a first name + surname (or vice versa), nor a surname + name 1 + name 2 (like a Chinese), I have observed, in amusement, attempts by most people to address me.

So I gave up and highlight my surname in BOLD in my e-mail signatures and name cards. It is supposed to be a no-brainer. Anyone could just look at it and figured out that I can be addressed as Miss (my surname as highlighted in BOLD).

Yet, still, some fail.

*facepalm*

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Post by JR8 » Mon, 19 Dec 2011 1:49 pm

They had the name the wrong way around on something official too, either my EPEC or LTVP. I wondered too. But it doesn't matter there is no consistency to the style used...

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Post by nuscape » Wed, 21 Dec 2011 8:04 am

thanks for the reply guys.

ok, i just want to make sure it won't cost trouble in the long run.

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Post by Mi Amigo » Wed, 21 Dec 2011 2:16 pm

As others have stated, it's easier to just 'go with the flow' on this; as long as things are consistent there shouldn't be any problems. It can be confusing for some people newly here when they see their name in the LAST NAME | FIRST NAME | MIDDLE NAME format, but it's also confusing for local people dealing with my wife, who often has to explain that she (being Spanish) has two last names (but no middle name). After a year or so of being here we just gave up and answered to whichever name was used. No big deal at the end of the day.
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Post by beppi » Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:55 am

Chinese going to Europe have much bigger problems with their names and buerocrats' ignorance (as, I imagine, have some Indonesian and other Mononyms):
Despite explaining that her "Last Name" is NOT her "Family Name" and then asking how she should fill this into the forms, my wife got two social security numbers there, two email accounts at her employer and a number of other funny things that then had to be sorted out.
Of course those buerocrats made it sound like it's all our fault ...

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