Newsman: People with certain names across the United States are discovering that renewing or updating a passport is not an easy task anymore. They walk into a post office or passport agency with all the right forms and walk out with a “pending review” and no clear timeline. No arrest, no crime, just a glitch that doesn’t feel like a glitch.
On a larger scale, advocacy groups keep seeing the same patterns. People with Arabic, South Asian, Hispanic names are show up over and over in complaints. They’re not always on any real “list.” Their names just look too much like those of someone else who is. That tiny overlap, a few letters in common, can be enough to flip their lives into slow motion.
What’s really happening is a software system is cross‑checking each name against sprawling watch lists and databases. Some names hit a red light automatically. The human clerk can’t override it. The file goes into a back room, into a queue, into someone else’s hands.
The system doesn’t shout “no”. It whispers “pending” and leaves them hanging for weeks or months. No clear explanation. No precise accusation. Just an opaque “additional processing” note linked, in many cases, to their name.
Behind those quiet delays sits a mix of watch lists, automated filters, and security databases that cross-check every application in the background. On paper, it all sounds reasonable: protect borders, track threats, and keep people safe. In real life, it often looks like this: ordinary travelers unable to visit family, attend a funeral abroad, or take the job they were just offered in another country.
While visiting the support centers people are hearing “Your application has been flagged. We can’t process this today.” His or her name hasn’t changed, record is clean. The only answer they gets is a printed notice about a mysterious “security review” and a phone number that never picks up.
Clerks say “Your passport renewal is in automatic review. I can’t override it.”
The clerk shrugs, almost apologetic. “It happens with certain names.”
In such reality passport renewals and updates are being automatically blocked when an applicant’s current name does not match the name printed on their existing passport—and there is no legal proof of the change. And an increasing number of Americans and naturalized citizens are discovering that a seemingly minor name change can quietly disrupt their travel plans that many people view as a harmless adjustment made years ago for work, marriage, or personal reasons is now triggering strict federal checks within the U.S. passport system.
An Immigration attorney in New York told a story of a client who born in New Jersey never left the country for more than a week. When he tried to update his passport after marriage to add his spouse’s name, the system froze his application. No explanation, no criminal record, just a familiar, “You’ve been flagged for additional review.”
He missed a cousin’s wedding abroad. He spent hours on hold with the National Passport Information Center. The clerk at the post office just shook her head: “This happens with some names.” Months later, his passport finally arrived with no comment, no apology, no clue what had gone wrong. The next time he travels, the memory of that delay will be in the back of his mind.
A software engineer born in New Jersey also faced similar issues. His passport renewal should have been routine; he’d already had two passports before. This time, the online status turned to “under review” and stayed there. Weeks became months. His employer kept asking for updates on his transfer to the company’s London office. He kept refreshing the tracking page, watching the same vague message.
There was no letter asking for more documents. No phone call. Just a silent algorithm treating his very common Middle Eastern name as a potential match for one of the many names on US terror and sanctions lists. The resemblance was enough to flip an invisible switch. The trip, the promotion, the life plan he’d been building – all put on hold by a software rule he wasn’t allowed to see.
Technically, this isn’t a secret program. The State Department has long said that passport applications are checked against databases from law enforcement and national security agencies. That includes versions of the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database and other watch lists that most of us will never see. The systems look for name matches, close matches and sometimes partial matches. When the algorithm thinks it’s found one, the file is blocked automatically for manual review.
Legally, US authorities are allowed – even expected – to run names against huge databases: the Terrorist Screening Dataset, Interpol notices, sanctions lists, criminal records. The problem starts when automation turns a “possible hit” into an almost automatic freeze. Many of these lists are full of partial names, spelling variants, and duplicates. So when your name looks “close enough”, the system can lock your case by default.
On paper, a human agent should then quickly check whether it’s really you or just an unlucky name collision. In practice, backlogs, staffing gaps, and security culture mean those reviews can drag on. No one wants to be the person who clears a case that later makes headlines. people with certain names pay the price in silence.
