Marriage certificates

[I love my Canuck 2]

I'm hoping someone can help answer a quick question.

My Canadian fiance and I (I'm American) are to be married in Ottawa in a couple weeks. I'll arrive a few days early and we'll apply for our marriage license in Ontario, to use in Ottawa. After we're married, I understand the officiant fills in the license and mails it to the Office of the Registrar General for registration, while giving us a Record of Solemnization. Next, we'll apply for the marriage certificate.

My almost-husband will be immigrating to the U.S., and our intention is to file the papers for the CR-1 visa shortly after we obtain the marriage certificate.

My question is this -- Do we need to do anything on the U.S. side with the certificate of marriage? Asked differently, once the province of Ontario validates the completed license and issues the certificate, there's no "next step" we have to do on the States-side with just the certificate, is there? USCIS will accept the marriage certificate of another country, no problem, right?

And any other last-minute advice for us two weeks out that will ease the immigration paperwork to follow?? I'm all nerves on THAT part!

Thanks everyone. I'm encouraged to know you all have similar life experiences in many instances and are all here to help. It's a huge comfort.

Anne

[ollie 47]

I can't find the exact page in the instructions but foreign marriage certificates are accepted, although if they are a non-english document you would require an official translation.

[caly 48]

I'm hoping someone can help answer a quick question.

My Canadian fiance and I (I'm American) are to be married in Ottawa in a couple weeks. I'll arrive a few days early and we'll apply for our marriage license in Ontario, to use in Ottawa. After we're married, I understand the officiant fills in the license and mails it to the Office of the Registrar General for registration, while giving us a Record of Solemnization. Next, we'll apply for the marriage certificate.

My almost-husband will be immigrating to the U.S., and our intention is to file the papers for the CR-1 visa shortly after we obtain the marriage certificate.

My question is this -- Do we need to do anything on the U.S. side with the certificate of marriage? Asked differently, once the province of Ontario validates the completed license and issues the certificate, there's no "next step" we have to do on the States-side with just the certificate, is there? USCIS will accept the marriage certificate of another country, no problem, right?

And any other last-minute advice for us two weeks out that will ease the immigration paperwork to follow?? I'm all nerves on THAT part!

Thanks everyone. I'm encouraged to know you all have similar life experiences in many instances and are all here to help. It's a huge comfort.

Anne

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

If the marriage certificate is in english, you don't need to do anything with it.

As for advice... I found that compiling separate checklists of all documents that needed to go with each form helped us to stay organized throughout the process (especially when you are reading ahead and don't want to forget anything later!) Being proactive also helps to speed things up alot, if that's what you are after. This is especially true during the NVC stage.

A couple of links that were invaluable to us during our journey:

Loto's Spousal Visa Guide

LingChe NVC shortcut

Good luck!

[I love my Canuck 2]

All very helpful thus far. THANK YOU guys!

[I love my Canuck 2]

From start to finish, for those who are going through a similar process, what is the timeline like? I thought I saw approx 9 months elsewhere on the site? Sigh.

[ollie 47]

It all depends on which processing center you will be using, but the current processing times are listed here..... http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

[MCMLXXXII 29]

I got married in Toronto on July 24th. They had told me that it takes about 10-12 weeks for the marriage certificate to be issued. However I received mine (mailed to the US) on September 9th. (About 6 weeks or so). I filed for my I-130 on September 11th and received the NOA1 on the 13th.

What needs to be done with the marriage certificate in the US? Nothing at all. You got married in a foreign country and the US accepts marriage documents from foreign countries so there is nothing you need to do to change your marital status in the US.

[gad33 47]

Saylin wrote a guide for filing in Canada. You can found it here

[I love my Canuck 2]

Thanks again for the replies. I had a wee bit of anxiety this week as I contemplated the quick shift we'll have to do after our marriage in two weeks to getting ducks in a row and papers out the door. MCMLXXXII and gad33, did you both use the weeks between marriage and marriage certificate issuance to gather your documents and fill out your forms and basically get the I-130 filing out the door just as soon as you had it in hand? Are you both using lawyers or going it without? I tend to think we could navigate it ourselves, but am I kidding myself?

Edited January 30, 2012 by I love my Canuck

[I love my Canuck 2]

It all depends on which processing center you will be using, but the current processing times are listed here..... http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

Ah, very helpful, thank you. Looks like things are going "quickly" right now, but I guess the 5 months it cites doesn't include the NVC and Consulate steps, right? How much more time does that tack on? Is there a track record or chart for that? Thanks again, Ollie.

[canafornia 7]

My husband and I got married in Ottawa at city hall, the lady who married us was a sweet, tiny french lady. We took a printout of the required docs for the I-130 (highlighting the marriage certificate part) and a quick note asking for our marriage certificate to be rushed, we filled out the order form for the certificate (they'll give you one) and the officiant sent it all away with the licence. We got our certificate in the mail in less than two weeks.

Also, if you are getting married at city hall the Embassy Hotel and Suites is only half a block away and very reasonable.

Good Luck!

[gad33 47]

gad33, did you both use the weeks between marriage and marriage certificate issuance to gather your documents and fill out your forms and basically get the I-130 filing out the door just as soon as you had it in hand? Are you both using lawyers or going it without? I tend to think we could navigate it ourselves, but am I kidding myself?

I've been married quite a while so don't have that issue. As you will have to wait for the marriage cert I suggest you use that time to gather and copy all the docs needed for the I-130. Then when that is sent off start gathering the docs for the next stage. Then you won't be stressing and confusing yourselves about what is needed for what. The wiki links and the Canada specific link are really helpful so you have time to read up before submitting anything.

Good luck.

[Tony&Darquise 1]

My wife (Canadian) and I were married in Ottawa on December 3, 2011 and the officiant said that she was including a note with the marriage license asking that the certificate be expedited for immigration purposes. We received the marriage certificate about 2 weeks later. I used a copy of this with my I-130 application.

As a side note, the marriage certificate is a scaled-down copy of the marriage license printed on legal size paper and bearing the seal of Ontario.

Good luck on your journey!

[I love my Canuck 2]

Thanks for relaying your stories! It makes it feel a lot less scary! Congrats to you Tony & Darquis and Canafornia! Thanks for the helpful tip about expediting the certificate. I think we'll try that, too, and see if we have similar success.

Another question -- Am I correct in reading and understanding that while in the CR-1 application process, he must stay put, but I can go back and forth to see him? Am I also correct, then, in understanding that in the time between the marriage and the application being filed, he can come to the States (would simply say at the border he was coming to visit his wife but we haven't filed our papers yet), but as soon as we file, that can't continue?

Thanks so much!

[canafornia 7]

No, he can visit you too. He should bring proof of ties to Canada, ie letter from employer, lease etc. I have actually never been asked for these things but bring them with me just in case. There are stories of people getting denied entry at the border, because in the end it is up to the border guard, I was paranoid the first time I had to say I was visiting my husband but the guard was really nice and let me through no problem, we hadn't even filed our I-130 yet so I was making myself sick thinking I would get denied for suspicion that I was heading over to stay and do AOS.

This process would be unbearable if we couldn't visit each other, some days it feels like it's going to drag on forever.