Marriage/GC application before wedding ceremony

[agh3q 0]

I am in the u.s. legally on an H-1B and engaged to marry a u.s. citizen. We are having the ceremony in August (maybe even later) depending on venue/family members coming from abroad. We want to get married sooner than that and file the petition (I-130) and adjustment of status, so we are planning on getting married through a civil servant and filing the paperwork.

My question is, does anyone have any experience with a similar matter? Will we have trouble with our application without sending pictures/receipts,etc. of our wedding reception, and could this delay the application process, or worse, cause a rejection for lack of evidence?

Thank you in advance

[Anh map 2,098]

Married is married. There is no requirement for the type of ceremony. We had 5 people including the two of us in my mom's living room.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I personally believe that photos of a wedding reception are very helpful at AOS, but you can't build your entire case around them. You need to look at your cards and if they look good make your move.

Since you are legally in this country with a current H1-B, I don't see any problem in going forward with your plan successfully. However, please also allow me to be frank in stating my opinion that, although it shouldn't be the case, somebody from Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan will have to expect a closer scrutiny as somebody from Sweden, England, or Italy, just to name a few examples, for obvious reasons.

Still, the way you stated your case, it should be smooth sailing all the way.

Good luck.

[Dakine10 5,452]

I am in the u.s. legally on an H-1B and engaged to marry a u.s. citizen. We are having the ceremony in August (maybe even later) depending on venue/family members coming from abroad. We want to get married sooner than that and file the petition (I-130) and adjustment of status, so we are planning on getting married through a civil servant and filing the paperwork.

My question is, does anyone have any experience with a similar matter? Will we have trouble with our application without sending pictures/receipts,etc. of our wedding reception, and could this delay the application process, or worse, cause a rejection for lack of evidence?

Thank you in advance

We didn't send pictures with the application, but we took them to the AOS interview. The interview was about 4 months after filing. If you time it that way you should be OK with having pictures for the interview.

Is your H1B going to expire soon? .You can probably have the civil marriage, and then time the wedding ceremony and filing of the AOS paperwork better if you have enough time left on the H1B.