Will Marry a Mexican, Have Many Questions

[AlmostMex 0]

A religious ceremony in Mexico isn't legally binding? That's odd.

No, due to separation of church and state, in Mexico religious ceremonies are not legal. No marriage licenses issued, no rights conferred, etc. You have to be married in a civil ceremony in Mexico in order to legally be someone's spouse.

I read about that somewhere, too. I think that if the priest will marry you without a license it is not legal if you can find a priest that will do that. If you file for a marriage permit and then you have a religious ceremony than you are legally married. I was looking into it, because I would like to do the ceremony thing over in Mexico as well and then just come back here whenever they decide on giving him the visa and doing it legally through a justice of the peace. Let me know, on this matter because I am interested, I really rather have the religious ceremony over there because his family wants to be involved and it will be his first wedding. I believe it would be much more special and romantic to have the ceremony in Mexico for both of us.

Sometimes it's difficult to find a priest who will do a religious ceremony without a civil ceremony having taken place before, but I know people who've done it. Usually it happens more in small towns where the priest has known the family for years.

No Mexican priests can grant marriage licenses. Only the registro civil (civil registrar) can do the civil ceremony and issue marriage licenses.

The thing you need to be sure is that when dealing with US Immigration, you are clear that you are not legally married. There was someone on here before that had issues with referring to her fiance as her husband, and it caused problems with their application (which I believe later were straightened out but....) If you are not LEGALLY married, your significant other is still your fiance, you are not married and are still single (or widowed or divorced, etc what ever applies to your situation) I think it's important to note this, or you may open yourself up to having to PROVE that you are not married - which is always a can of worms. i.e. how do you prove something did not happen?

[nomanches 0]

Well if thats what we decide to do I just wouldnt mention it to anyone from immigration. If they ask if we are married I'd just say no. (Which technically would be true.)

They have to understand our need to get married in both places. Not all her family can come here and not all of my family can go to Mexico...

[Traviesa 0]

I have a question...is a Mexican legal marriage valid in the US???

[nomanches 0]

I have a question...is a Mexican legal marriage valid in the US???

If you do it in the "registro civil" and get a legal marriage license from the govt, then yes the US recognizes it.

If you just go to a church and the priest marries you but you dont have any legal papers from the Mexican govt, then no its not legally binding in the US or Mexico.

[AlmostMex 0]

Ditto to what nomanches said re: your question Melissa. If you get a marriage license from the registro civil (after getting permission from Mexican immigration to marry a Mexican citizen), yes, the US recognizes that as legally valid. When I got married, I thought I had to register our Mexican marriage license at a US courthouse, but I guess it's not needed. I did it anyway - went to the local courthouse and paid $18 to register it, to ensure the US recognized it as valid. Again I don't think it is a necessary step.

[crfmexico 0]

I read about that somewhere, too. I think that if the priest will marry you without a license it is not legal if you can find a priest that will do that. If you file for a marriage permit and then you have a religious ceremony than you are legally married. I was looking into it, because I would like to do the ceremony thing over in Mexico as well and then just come back here whenever they decide on giving him the visa and doing it legally through a justice of the peace. Let me know, on this matter because I am interested, I really rather have the religious ceremony over there because his family wants to be involved and it will be his first wedding. I believe it would be much more special and romantic to have the ceremony in Mexico for both of us.

Mexico legally recognizes only the civil marriage ceremony, so anyone who has just a church celebration or religious ceremony is not considered legally married. Only a Civil Registry judge can legally marry people in Mexico. And filing for a marriage permit but then having a priest instead of a judge perform the ceremony is not good enough, either.

[nelly 0]

I definitely think if you go with the k1 visa it will be faster, I mean she will have to go through the whole aos process once in the US and spend more money than the k3 but if you want her to come with you asap then I think that would be better. I was debating myself when I started this whole process and deiced to go with k1.. And about Juarez being dangerous I would say it's not really how they make it seem but I wouldn't let her go by herself it is pretty dangerous, but there are a lot alot of people ou there that are there for the same thing everyday. If you go to www.immigrate2us.net you will find almost everyone that is going though Juarez and also get helpful information like what to expect and where to stay etc. Good Luck with this journey!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Why are we unearthing a 3 year old thread?