Obtaining Marriage Certificate After Marriage

[Piefre 15]

My fiance and I are getting married in Florida. My I-94 expires mid-February and our day to marry is next week. The records office that will be giving us our Official Marriage Certificate says they'll need 4-6 weeks to get us a copy. We don't want to wait that long to get the certificate because we want to file for AOS as soon as possible.

My fiance and I are going to the courthouse to get married, are we able to get them to put a rush on the Marriage Certificate so I can file ASAP instead of waiting and risk having my I-94 expire before I can file AOS? I know in Florida the clerk can give you a certified copy of the marriage license with all the seals on it. Can that be sent in lieu of the marriage certificate? Anyone else who has had to marry in Florida got any ideas? Thanks.

[Darnell 8,478]

this is a great question for the person marrying you (if a member of the court, such as a JP or judge) and the clerk of the court.

Ask for expedited service, ASK what the amount is to expedite.

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Please let us know why it's important to file AOS prior to I-94 expiration?

[Rachie07 4]

When I got married in Colorado, the certified copies were perfectly adequate for anything like name changes, driving licence etc so I would assume, without looking at the paperwork, the same would be said for immigration. However, if it says the original marriage certificate, send it. However, I think it say original or certified copy.

If you do require the original, be prepared to be calling and checking up. Our original took a little while longer coming back than we expected.

If you want to make sure, double check with immigration but I am confident if it says copy, a certified copy may be okay

Edited January 3, 2012 by Rachie07

[Dave&Roza 748]

For Colorado and Jefferson County, we received certified copies of the Marriage Certificate the day we were married and I filed the original. The origianl was received in the mail a few days later. FL may have a central clearing house that does all vitial records, but I asked them about the whole process before getting the marriage license. The marriage certificate will be signed by both the husband, wife, two witnesses, and the person conducting the marraige and then you file it along with the filing fee. I would take that document to a copy machine and make a copy of it or two or three and send one in with the AOS as a copy is fine. When you receive the certified copies and the original back, take the original and a certified copy to the interview, if you have one.

Good luck,

Dave

[Piefre 15]

this is a great question for the person marrying you (if a member of the court, such as a JP or judge) and the clerk of the court.

Ask for expedited service, ASK what the amount is to expedite.

---

Please let us know why it's important to file AOS prior to I-94 expiration?

We want to file AOS prior to I-94 expiration so I don't spend any time out of status without a pending case while in the US. On the more practical side, we don't want to wait any longer and I want to return to work so I need to file for EAD (I'm aware I need the physical EAD card before I can work etc.) and would like to do so at the same time as AOS.

Also I am asking if the filled out marriage license with all the seals on it is acceptable in lieu of the certified marriage certificate, not whether or not the marriage certificate copy is acceptable. It is my certified marriage certificate that the records office is giving me a quote of 4-6 weeks to send to me. I'll ask the county clerk that will be doing our marriage if they can do anything faster. But someone who has gotten married in Florida who can give me an idea of what they did and what proof of marriage document they sent in with their AOS forms would be very helpful.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Piefre

[Rara & Chym 3]

My fiance and I are getting married in Florida. My I-94 expires mid-February and our day to marry is next week. The records office that will be giving us our Official Marriage Certificate says they'll need 4-6 weeks to get us a copy. We don't want to wait that long to get the certificate because we want to file for AOS as soon as possible.

My fiance and I are going to the courthouse to get married, are we able to get them to put a rush on the Marriage Certificate so I can file ASAP instead of waiting and risk having my I-94 expire before I can file AOS? I know in Florida the clerk can give you a certified copy of the marriage license with all the seals on it. Can that be sent in lieu of the marriage certificate? Anyone else who has had to marry in Florida got any ideas? Thanks.

We got married in Florida Courthouse on September 16, 2011 and the marriage certificate arrived in our mailbox on September 27, 2011.

[Piefre 15]

We got married in Florida Courthouse on September 16, 2011 and the marriage certificate arrived in our mailbox on September 27, 2011.

Thank you, exactly what I needed! Did you have to request them to rush it back to you or did it just arrive that quickly without you having to request or do anything?

Edited January 3, 2012 by Piefre

[Rara & Chym 3]

Thank you, exactly what I needed! Did you have to request them to rush it back to you or did it just arrive that quickly without you having to request or do anything?

You are welcome! No, we didn't request for any speeding up/rush of our marriage certificate. It was just arrived on that day. They will tell you 4-6weeks but it won't reach that long. They told us the same thing.