Marriage License AND certificate?

[charity1214 3]

Heres a question are you the petitioner or the ben? where were you two married? You can easily walk into the court office or marriage restraition office and get a certified copy within minutes. Solving all your doubts and preparing you for the next stage as well.

I'm the Petitioner. Married in Sept. The obtaining won't be hard, but we had to travel a good bit to find a county that would marry us, so I really don't want to drive to pick it up and I was just hoping to mail our packet tomorrow.

[Filipinawife0210 15]

If I am not mistaken, the original certified copy will be required at the NVC stage of your petition. A photo copy of the certified certificate is required at USCIS.

[pushbrk 12,883]

I'm the Petitioner. Married in Sept. The obtaining won't be hard, but we had to travel a good bit to find a county that would marry us, so I really don't want to drive to pick it up and I was just hoping to mail our packet tomorrow.

You just threw up a huge red flag. What was the problem in getting married?

You can order the certified copy instead of driving. It's up to you.

If I am not mistaken, the original certified copy will be required at the NVC stage of your petition. A photo copy of the certified certificate is required at USCIS.

That is correct but you must have the certified copy to photocopy as the photocopy goes in with the petition. Don't send the copy of the wrong thing.

[charity1214 3]

You just threw up a huge red flag. What was the problem in getting married?

You can order the certified copy instead of driving. It's up to you.

That is correct but you must have the certified copy to photocopy as the photocopy goes in with the petition. Don't send the copy of the wrong thing.

It's not a red flag. Some counties in a state require a SSN from both parties to get married and others will be fine with passport. We just traveled to a county that allowed passports and driver's licenses and filed there. The license is good anywhere in my state, so it was fine. I just don't feel like driving 4 hours roundtrip if it's not necessary for the I-130. I have no issue getting a certified copy from the county for the NVC.

[OBX 51]

So I was getting my packet together (I-130) and making sure every last i is dotted and every t crossed and then I see... CERTIFIED marriage certificate.

So first I do a little searching on VJ...seems others had the same question. And most of the consensus is that a license ISN'T the same as a certificate because it doesn't prove marriage. Well, here's my question...

My marriage license is also a certificate of marriage because we take the license to the officiant and after the marriage, he signs it, we sign it, the marriage date is listed and then he presses his offical "SEAL" on it (in our case it was a Judge and he SEALED 3 copies for us and we signed all 3). We keep one, and send 2 back to the county it was filed in. The form even says at the top "STATE OF XXXXXX LICENSE AND CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE" on it. Soooooo....

Will it work???

Ours was similar; application, license and certificate of marriage all-in-one. Immediately following our ceremony the officiant allowed us to take the signed form back to the county office where they immediately registered it and gave us certified copies. This is what we photocopied and included with our I-130 petition.

From what you describe your form had not been registered yet. If you want to take a chance and send it in I would suggest you oder the certified copies ASAP so that you are prepared if you get an RFE.

Good luck!

Edited October 29, 2010 by OBX