Truncated Last Name on TWIC Card: Names Limited to 19 Characters

Recently, TSA posted the following information of concern to persons with lengthy last names, at http://www.tsa.gov/stakeholders/transportation-worker-identification-credential-twic. (TSA does not date the bulletins on its website so I am unable to state the exact date of this posting.)

Truncated Last Name on TWIC Card: Since TSA began issuing the new version 2.03 TWIC® cards in May 2014, only the first 14 characters (including spaces, hyphens, and apostrophes) of the applicant’s last name are printed on the card.  The last name is always followed by a comma.  If a person’s last name exceeds 14 characters, all after the 14th character are not printed, and a comma follows immediately after the 14th character.  This has caused some Transportation Workers to have their credentials questioned at facilities because the name on the card does not match the person’s full name.

On October 17, 2014, a system change will be made to extend the last name as printed on the TWIC® to a maximum of nineteen (19) characters, followed immediately by a comma.  Last names containing fewer than 19 characters will continue to be followed immediately by a comma.  TSA is looking into ways to include full last names, regardless of the number of characters, given the limited space available on the card for printing.  Until a satisfactory solution is developed and implemented, the last name printed on TWICs® beginning October 17, 2014 will be limited to the first 19 characters of the last name.