Copy of marriage certificate

[Jesse and Hema 2]

Greetings.

(fiancée is applying for a K-1 visa)

Just got my marriage license today, so w00h00 for that!

The nice lady at city hall told me that the person performing the ceremony has to mail the original marriage certificate back to the clerk's office, and that we would get the certified copy in the mail two to four weeks later.

Of course, we want to file for Adjustment of Status as soon as possible and don't want to wait around for a month if we don't have to. I will call city hall tomorrow to see if they allow us to bring the original copy in ourself, and get the certified copy right away (I didn't think to ask today).

So, just curious...

If we have to wait a few weeks for the "certified copy" in the mail, do you suppose it would be insufficient to file the I-485 one of the "duplicate" copies of the marriage certificate that's distributed to the parties at the ceremony? Or are these copies pretty much worthless? (I'm guessing they are, since they won't have the stamp/whatever from the county clerk, but thought someone might have insight)

Thanks!

--Jesse G.

[Dan J 277]

Greetings.

(fiancée is applying for a K-1 visa)

Just got my marriage license today, so w00h00 for that!

The nice lady at city hall told me that the person performing the ceremony has to mail the original marriage certificate back to the clerk's office, and that we would get the certified copy in the mail two to four weeks later.

Of course, we want to file for Adjustment of Status as soon as possible and don't want to wait around for a month if we don't have to. I will call city hall tomorrow to see if they allow us to bring the original copy in ourself, and get the certified copy right away (I didn't think to ask today).

So, just curious...

If we have to wait a few weeks for the "certified copy" in the mail, do you suppose it would be insufficient to file the I-485 one of the "duplicate" copies of the marriage certificate that's distributed to the parties at the ceremony? Or are these copies pretty much worthless? (I'm guessing they are, since they won't have the stamp/whatever from the county clerk, but thought someone might have insight)

Thanks!

--Jesse G.

You will get souvenir copies, but since they have separate signatures, i don't think they will work.

At least in Hennipen county, they stamp the back of the copy indicating that its a certified copy, so i don't know if a copy of a certified copy is going to be enough. But you can go to one of the county service centers and request as many copies as you want for a few dollars.

They do send you one certified copy, but you may be able to go into the county offices a week later and request certified copies. You would save the couple days or so that it takes for the certified copy to be sent to you.

[Jesse and Hema 2]

You will get souvenir copies, but since they have separate signatures, i don't think they will work.

At least in Hennipen county, they stamp the back of the copy indicating that its a certified copy, so i don't know if a copy of a certified copy is going to be enough. But you can go to one of the county service centers and request as many copies as you want for a few dollars.

They do send you one certified copy, but you may be able to go into the county offices a week later and request certified copies. You would save the couple days or so that it takes for the certified copy to be sent to you.

Thanks for the reply

All the I-485 instructions say is "copy of the marriage certificate" and doesn't mention a certified copy. If I can get certified copies right away, I will definitely just do that. They are $9 apiece, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the other immigration expenses.

Dan/Gemvita, were you able to get the certified copy relatively soon?

[MarkNAshley 0]

We just photocopied our copy of the marriage certificate and sent it in to get the process going. We figure the worse that can happened is we will get RFE'd and by that time we will have most likely received the certified copy and will just send that off to them. We figured there is no harm in getting the process started right away.

The copy we have has all the same signatures, date and information that the certificate had on it that the judge was going to hand in.

I do not believe you can hand that in on your own. The person performing the ceremony needs to be the one to send it in.

This information is from Arizona...each state is different.

[Jesse and Hema 2]

We just photocopied our copy of the marriage certificate and sent it in to get the process going. We figure the worse that can happened is we will get RFE'd and by that time we will have most likely received the certified copy and will just send that off to them. We figured there is no harm in getting the process started right away.

The copy we have has all the same signatures, date and information that the certificate had on it that the judge was going to hand in.

I do not believe you can hand that in on your own. The person performing the ceremony needs to be the one to send it in.

This information is from Arizona...each state is different.

Ahh, so you must have used one of the "duplicate" copies I was pondering. Never thought of the fact that we could just deal with an RFE if it comes up for it. Worth considering!

I looked at your timeline... Just married!! Congratulations on that!

[Dan J 277]

You will get souvenir copies, but since they have separate signatures, i don't think they will work.

At least in Hennipen county, they stamp the back of the copy indicating that its a certified copy, so i don't know if a copy of a certified copy is going to be enough. But you can go to one of the county service centers and request as many copies as you want for a few dollars.

They do send you one certified copy, but you may be able to go into the county offices a week later and request certified copies. You would save the couple days or so that it takes for the certified copy to be sent to you.

Thanks for the reply

All the I-485 instructions say is "copy of the marriage certificate" and doesn't mention a certified copy. If I can get certified copies right away, I will definitely just do that. They are $9 apiece, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the other immigration expenses.

Dan/Gemvita, were you able to get the certified copy relatively soon?

It was pretty quick, within a couple weeks. From what I understand is that certificates are stored by county, so it may vary in your county. You can get married in another county if you want to.

[tom_g 3]

What we did:

The day after getting married, we took the signed and dated marriage license into the county offices and filed it, at the same time getting two certified copies. The original went into the county files, one copy stayed with us, and another copy went off with the AOS

You only need to photocopy a certified copy, not send in an original, but we sent a real one anyway.

[pushbrk 12,872]

Greetings.

If we have to wait a few weeks for the "certified copy" in the mail, do you suppose it would be insufficient to file the I-485 one of the "duplicate" copies of the marriage certificate that's distributed to the parties at the ceremony?

--Jesse G.

Yes. Wait.

[mapanti 0]

Congratulations!

[malego77 2]

If we have to wait a few weeks for the "certified copy" in the mail, do you suppose it would be insufficient to file the I-485 one of the "duplicate" copies of the marriage certificate that's distributed to the parties at the ceremony? Or are these copies pretty much worthless? (I'm guessing they are, since they won't have the stamp/whatever from the county clerk, but thought someone might have insight)

Thanks!

--Jesse G.

The same day that we got married we went to the vital statistic office and they registered our marriage license. We got the certified copies on 15 minutes, the same day. Maybe it is different in every state but you can ask first.

Good luck in your K1 interview!!

[TOMN 0]

They are $9 apiece, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the other immigration expenses.

our certified copy came in the mail a week after the wedding ceremony. I'm from twin cities as well. I would get more than one copy, extra copies after the first one are just $2.

[Cécy 44]

Everything depends on your county.

Discuss with the person marrying you and ask if you can take the signed marriage license straight to the register of deeds. That's what we did.

You do need to use the certified copy; however you can send a photocopy of that certified copy, originals are no longer required by USCIS.

[DavidsPrincess 1]

We got married and brought the license downstairs in the same building to the county clerk. They finished filling it out, filed it, and gave us 2 certified copies. Took like 10 mins.

Not sure if it's the same there, I'd take everyone else's advice and ask. Let them know you need the copy rather urgently. I can't imagine they'd give you much trouble about it.

[Jesse and Hema 2]

Thank you all for the replies.. I'll call the county clerk in the morning to see what the options are.

[Abby-Ron 8]

We got married yesterday (civil ceremony) in Norwalk, CA Recorder/County-Clerk Office under a Deputy Commissioner, and could not get a certified copy on the spot. Even though we did a civil ceremony service under the County Clerk and submitted the marriage license to the County Clerk, we still have to wait 4 to 6 weeks to get our certified copy. They do have an option to expedite the service cost additonal $15 and cut it down 2 weeks, but you have to supply own postage to send back to you. It sucks to be in Los Angeles, 1 month to get a copy of the marriage license, and got married in the County Clerk Office .. dont know how much more authentic the ceremony can get.