I AM a law graduate from a university in London and intend to become a barrister. I am fortunate enough to be admitted to the Lincolns Inn and my classes are to commence from Sept 28.

In order to get the visa, I was issued a passport by the regional passport office in Peshawar with a spelling mistake in my name.

Actually, the person in charge has misspelled my name by missing the first A in Muhammad. Now my legal name and the name on my passport do not match.

It has caused me a great trouble and I am running from pillar to post to fix the matter.

I wonder how the passport office staff can misspell the name Muhammad. Now with a few days in hand, I have applied for a fresh urgent passport which would be issued to me within seven days. Once I get the passport, I will be intimating my law school to issue me my CAS letter, on the basis of which I would be issued a visa by the British high commission.

The CAS letter, which has the student’s passport number, is a pre-requisite for visa application. Furthermore, the visa application process itself takes about three weeks to complete under normal circumstances.

The entire procedure has become too much cumbersome for me. If I do not get my fresh passport and on the basis of that passport my CAS letter and visa, I may not be able to join the upcoming session for which I have already paid my fee.

In short, the misspelling of my name may cost me my career, or at least one precious year. I have received an email from my school, stating that I should attend the institute for my formal registration on Sept 13, which is by no means possible.

The matter is further exacerbated by the fact that no one is there in the department to apologise for such a serious mistake or at least admit the fault. I am at a loss of words to express my feelings for such negligent officers in the passport and immigration department.

They should have taken greater care and caution when it comes to the name of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Even the common sense demands that.

MUHAMMAD KASHIFPeshawar