The Filipino middle name in Italian documents

If you are Filipino and live in Italy, this may already have happened to you: your passport shows three words, your residence permit two, your health card yet another combination. And at the counter they tell you that "the data does not match".

It is not your mistake. It is the middle name, which the Italian system does not know where to put. Two circulars of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, from 2010 and 2011, say how it should be handled. This guide explains them, and what you can do if your documents do not match.

What the middle name is

A Filipino citizen's full name has three parts: the given name, the middle name and the surname. The middle name is the mother's maiden surname, and it is written after the given name.

The example is the one the Ministry itself uses:

Part of the name	Example	What it is
Given name	Pedro	the first name
Middle name	Santos	the mother's surname
Surname	Cruz	the father's surname, the family one

For an Italian office, which only knows "name" and "surname", that Santos in the middle is a problem: it gets mistaken for a second given name, or for part of the surname. That is where the mismatches come from.

Why one extra word blocks a procedure

For a public office, two different names are, until proven otherwise, two different people. If your residence permit says "Pedro Santos Cruz" and your tax code was calculated on "Pedro Cruz", the two records do not talk to each other. And in Italy the tax code is the key that opens almost every door: the family doctor, enrolling your children at school, the employment contract, the bank, the pension institute, the tax return.

The moment the problem explodes is usually not the moment it is created: it is created at registration or at your first permit, and it surfaces years later, in front of an application that matters.

The first rule: the 2010 circular

With circular no. 29 of 7 October 2010 the Ministry of the Interior told municipalities what the Embassy of the Philippines had made known through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: to avoid the middle name being mistaken for a second given name, the Embassy asked the Italian authorities to leave it out.

So, according to that circular, Pedro Santos Cruz should be registered in Italy as Pedro Cruz: given name and surname, no middle name.

The rule that actually applies: the 2011 circular

Three and a half months later, with circular no. 14 of 24 January 2011, the Ministry came back to the subject for a practical reason: applying the new rule to the letter would have created differences between the registry and the residence permit, and would have put the cost of fixing everything on the citizen.

The resulting rule is easier to remember than to read: the registry must say the same thing your residence document says.

• If your residence permit or card contains the middle name, it is appropriate for the middle name to appear in the registry too, so that the two documents match.
• If you are registered with the middle name and the police headquarters issue you a document without it — typically when the permit is renewed — it is up to you to go to the municipality. The registry then aligns its data to the residence document, removing the middle name.

The general principle, however, does not change, and it is stated there too: a foreign citizen's personal details are taken from the passport (article 14 of the registry regulation, presidential decree 223/1989, restated by circular no. 20/2003). The passport remains the starting document; the 2010 and 2011 circulars say how to treat one part of it.

The paper to ask for, and never lose

When the municipality changes your personal details, the 2011 circular provides for two documents. They are the most useful thing in this whole story, which is why they are worth asking for:

• the notice of conclusion of the procedure, issued by the registrar after the change, showing that the previous details (with the middle name) and the new ones (without) belong to the same person;
• on your request, and at any time, a certificate under article 33, paragraph 2 of the registry regulation, which also states the details recorded before and after the change.

It is the sheet that ends the discussion when an office, a bank or an employer tells you that the name on an old contract is not yours. Ask for it, make copies, and keep it with your passport.

The tax code: who updates it?

The 2011 circular addresses the municipality, not you: when, at the time of registration, the municipality finds inconsistent data in the tax registry held by the Revenue Agency, it must update the tax code already issued.

And there is a consequence worth knowing, because it removes a fear: the update links the two records, so the Revenue Agency can certify that you are the same person and every document in which you used the previous tax code remains valid. The contract you signed, your payslips, the tax return from three years ago: none of it is thrown away.

What to do, in practice

1. Line up your documents and read how the name is written on each: passport, residence permit or card, health card, tax code, residence certificate.
2. If they match, change nothing. No rule obliges you to change a name that works.
3. If they do not match, the reference is the residence document. Go to your municipal registry office with your passport and permit and ask for the data to be aligned.
4. Ask for the notice of conclusion of the procedure and, if you can, the article 33 certificate as well: they are the papers proving that the two versions of your name are the same person.
5. Then bring the others up to date: the Revenue Agency for the tax code, the local health authority for the health card, the pension institute, your bank, your employer, your children's school.
6. When you fill in a form, write your name exactly as it appears on the document you will attach. It is not fussiness: it is the difference between an application that moves and one that stops.

A note for those who have just arrived

If you have just arrived in Italy and have not done anything yet, this is the right moment: ask that the registry, the residence permit and the tax code all carry exactly the same version of your name, from the start. It can be fixed later — that is what the circulars are for — but it costs time and journeys you can spare yourself today.

This guide explains two circulars of the Italian Ministry of the Interior addressed to municipalities. Your municipality applies them, but your particular situation can only be assessed by someone holding your documents: the registry office, a CAF or a patronato.