Time to get certified marriage certificate after wedding

[chadlaure 2]

On the FAQs, there is a question:

How can we file for Adjustment of Status "immediately" if we have to wait several weeks or more to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate?

A...Make sure to ask the priest/rabbi/judge who marries you to let *you* take the marriage certificate to the recorder's office yourself (You have to do this within 4 days of the marriage). Then, you can get certified copies right then and there while you wait. Otherwise the priest/rabbi/judge *mails* it to the recorder's office, where it sits for weeks without being opened and recorded, which is why it can take up to two months to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate.

Is it true?

If you didn't get married at the courthouse but an officiant married you and took care of taking the papers back to the courthouse to make it legal, how long after your wedding did you receive your certified marriage certificate?

[JERIII 8]

On the FAQs, there is a question:

How can we file for Adjustment of Status "immediately" if we have to wait several weeks or more to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate?

A...Make sure to ask the priest/rabbi/judge who marries you to let *you* take the marriage certificate to the recorder's office yourself (You have to do this within 4 days of the marriage). Then, you can get certified copies right then and there while you wait. Otherwise the priest/rabbi/judge *mails* it to the recorder's office, where it sits for weeks without being opened and recorded, which is why it can take up to two months to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate.

Is it true?

If you didn't get married at the courthouse but an officiant married you and took care of taking the papers back to the courthouse to make it legal, how long after your wedding did you receive your certified marriage certificate?

The rules about this vary from state to state. In Massachusetts, you cannot take the form yourself. How long it takes depends on the state and possibly the locality within the state.

[chadlaure 2]

We'll be in Michigan

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I think it probably even depends on the county in the state. We married on a Sunday and got the license signed by the officiant, who happened to be a judge friend. Then Monday morning we took the signed license back to the county clerks office (where we got it) and they registered the marriage on the spot and gave us the official certificate as well as a certified copy in about 15 minutes.

When you get the license, ask them what their procedure is for getting a quick official marriage certificate.

[TBoneTX 46,261]

During the juggling act of settling upon the date, time, location, and judge for the wedding, I asked every judge's representative, by phone, whether we could whip the signed papers down to the county courthouse ourselves. Most were receptive, and they said that they would ask the judge and let us know, and (if it was agreed) that we should remind them on the day of the wedding. Our Justice of the Peace was most accommodating. We went straight from the ceremony to the courthouse and got our SEVEN certified copies there.

Why seven copies? One for AOS, one for the bank to get the new wife onto the account, two for mothers' souvenirs, one for the new wife to carry with her AT ALL TIMES as part of proof of lawful status, one to misplace somewhere in the house, and one for the permanent file among important papers.

The courthouse clerk said that she had never had a request for so many certificates, but she produced them in good humor and in good time. The copies were only $7 apiece, and an excellent investment, per the paragraph above.

Edited May 29, 2009 by TBoneTX

[chadlaure 2]

Thanks! I'll call our officiant to know how long she would take, and if we can do it.

I'll also call the office clerk and find out how fast we can get the ceritified copies

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

On the FAQs, there is a question:

How can we file for Adjustment of Status "immediately" if we have to wait several weeks or more to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate?

A...Make sure to ask the priest/rabbi/judge who marries you to let *you* take the marriage certificate to the recorder's office yourself (You have to do this within 4 days of the marriage). Then, you can get certified copies right then and there while you wait. Otherwise the priest/rabbi/judge *mails* it to the recorder's office, where it sits for weeks without being opened and recorded, which is why it can take up to two months to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate.

Is it true?

If you didn't get married at the courthouse but an officiant married you and took care of taking the papers back to the courthouse to make it legal, how long after your wedding did you receive your certified marriage certificate?

Yes it is true, maybe. Some will depend on local rules and regulations and where the official recording place is. In Vermont it is the town office, very close to our house. We took it in the next day and they gave us a certified copy of the "certificate" which in Vermont is nothing more than the marriage license copied onto fancy paper and stamped by the town clerk. If the official registration office is 6 hours drive away, well that could affect your decision.