Swedish citizen moving to the NVC Stage

[Darnell 8,478]

Gotcha. Thanks for your input guys, I really appreciate it.

I know technically and for all intents and purposes we already are married. It really is a bonafide marriage. Maybe renewal of vows is a better way of looking at what kind of ceremony we want to have in the US.

How do you do that? We didn't have a church wedding here in Sweden, we had a civil marriage at Västerås City Hall. Can we get like a Justice of the Peace to lead the ceremony?

anyone licensed in that state can marry you. A Renewal of Vows isn't any legal thing, so it could be a man dressed up as Chewbacca, the Wookie, for all anyone cares (from a legal standpoint) . Doesn't need to be a licensed officiant.

May I suggest a Dr. Who Party, instead? Have the officiant (licensed or otherwise) dress up as The Supreme Dalek, then you and yer lass dress up as Cybermen, with a nice Tardis 'open door' to be married in.

If yer lass' parents are religious, then a 'renewal of vows' ceremony in her parents' church is a nice thing to do to show them some courtesy and respect.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Saylin, Darnell, thank you so much for your input. I really do appreciate it.

Maybe a better way for me to look at the legal side of my marriage is this: my wife and I got married in Sweden, but the US sees it as a legally binding marriage anyway, thus no need to "have it legalized" (no pun intended) since it is already recognized as a bonafide marriage (and I assume my wife is registered as married by US authorities by now).

My wife and I have talked about having our ceremony at a place in a park in Pittsburgh, and I am fairly sure Melissa talked about having a justice of the peace precede over the ceremony. "Technically" I believe my wife and my wife's parents are catholic, but they are not practicing catholics. So we won't have a church wedding, but from my perspective, out of respect for my wife's family, I want the ceremony to be as genuine as possible, so to speak. There will be no Dr. Who or Star Trek or Viking weddings or anything like that (and I am not really familiar with Dr. Who I'm afraid). Even if the ceremony will have no technical legal purpose, and even though we are not going to have a church wedding, I still want it to be a somewhat traditional type of ceremony, if you know what I mean. So I guess what I was wondering if it is possible to get someone who's licensed to marry people be in charge of the ceremony. Even if it seems we could, we don't wanna grab a random person waking down the street and have him/her perform the ceremony.

And I apologize for the length of this. It may not be necessary information that you guys need to be able to help me. It's just that the whole process is confusing and there are so many details that you want to have done the right way. I just need somewhere to vent and get things out of my system, and this board (and this thread particularly) seems like a suitable place for that. I really do appreciate your time, your patience and your help.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Another Swede here! A couple of miles north of Västerås:).

When I lived in the US I heard of some Swedes getting their marriage registered in the US. I don't know how they did this or what it's called, but something you can look further into.

By marriage certificate, what do you mean? All I have is the personbevis. Though I got married in a church, perhaps what you have is issued at the town hall.

I noticed your I-130 took about 5 months--did your wife use a US address on the petition?

Cool. Where do you live exactly, if you don't mind my asking?

I went to the local Skatteverket office and asked for a complete personbevis (printed out in English). According to what I have read (http://travel.state.gov/visa/fees/fees_5455.html?cid=9711) a personbevis fills the same function as a marriage certificate, birth certificate etc. I may have been able to get a marriage certificate from the office of my parish (even if we didn't have a church wedding), but I felt a personbevis would be easier for me to obtain and it is more useful since it covers the information I would otherwise get in different certificates, so... you know. (ADD: Your marriage should be registered with Skatteverket too btw, even if you had a church wedding.)

And yes, my wife filed our petition using her address in Pittsburgh, which is where we intend to live. We did not file from overseas or anything like that. My wife lives in the US (Pittsburgh, PA) and I currently live in Västerås, Sweden. We did take time (after my visit in the US in the summer of 2010) to figure out what type of visa was the best route for us and we decided on the IR-1/CR-! visa (I think technically it's the CR-1 that we are applying for) was what would be the best for us. We then got married here in Sweden in the summer of 2011, and as you can see in my timeline, my wife filed our petition for a visa in November, 2011.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Mr. Borkström

[Saylin 1,605]

Saylin, Darnell, thank you so much for your input. I really do appreciate it.

Maybe a better way for me to look at the legal side of my marriage is this: my wife and I got married in Sweden, but the US sees it as a legally binding marriage anyway, thus no need to "have it legalized" (no pun intended) since it is already recognized as a bonafide marriage (and I assume my wife is registered as married by US authorities by now).

My wife and I have talked about having our ceremony at a place in a park in Pittsburgh, and I am fairly sure Melissa talked about having a justice of the peace precede over the ceremony. "Technically" I believe my wife and my wife's parents are catholic, but they are not practicing catholics. So we won't have a church wedding, but from my perspective, out of respect for my wife's family, I want the ceremony to be as genuine as possible, so to speak. There will be no Dr. Who or Star Trek or Viking weddings or anything like that (and I am not really familiar with Dr. Who I'm afraid). Even if the ceremony will have no technical legal purpose, and even though we are not going to have a church wedding, I still want it to be a somewhat traditional type of ceremony, if you know what I mean. So I guess what I was wondering if it is possible to get someone who's licensed to marry people be in charge of the ceremony. Even if it seems we could, we don't wanna grab a random person waking down the street and have him/her perform the ceremony.

And I apologize for the length of this. It may not be necessary information that you guys need to be able to help me. It's just that the whole process is confusing and there are so many details that you want to have done the right way. I just need somewhere to vent and get things out of my system, and this board (and this thread particularly) seems like a suitable place for that. I really do appreciate your time, your patience and your help.

Yeah, you should still be able to get someone that's licensed to oversee the "wedding". Just explain to them that you're renewing your vows and that you're already married. That should be all they need to know (plus your names )

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Will do.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

This is the message my wife sent me:

OK... well some news at least...

We have a case # and invoice #.

I will get a notice in the mail for the 864. I send that in with the fee. Once that it paid, I believe he said that it will generate the invoice for the $230 fee, then I can send the IV Package. They will then forward all the docs to Stockholm where you do your interview. Either of us can file the IV package. So we can figure that out when the time comes. I think it might be easier for you to send the stuff to me? But I guess for the 864 all I really need is my most current W2 (earning statement) and tax return. I have no idea how long this will all take. But... I'm not holding my breath. But it seems at least that the wheels are moving.

These seem to be the steps though.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_5161.html

OK my wife got a case # and invoice # from the NVC yesterday. Am I correct in thinking the next thing we need to do is e-mail the Choice of Agent form the NVC?

[Saylin 1,605]

This is the message my wife sent me:

OK my wife got a case # and invoice # from the NVC yesterday. Am I correct in thinking the next thing we need to do is e-mail the Choice of Agent form the NVC?

Well grats on getting the case number! Yes, now the beneficiary sends the DS-3032 email. Follow the email template here on VJ. Keep an eye out on the payment portal as the AOS bill will be invoiced soon (most likely next week, but could be sooner).

I'd suggest clicking on the last two links in my signature. One goes to a post full of links to guides and such for the NVC process, while the other goes to another post with a FAQ I put together. I'd suggest you send the two links to your wife as well so she knows the procedure too.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Thanks Saylin. I have read these guides several times. I just got a little confused and I find it hard to think straight when something happens with our case.

I've tried getting my wife to read more too but she doesn't like it and unfortunately she doesn't have the same faith in the VisaJourney board as I have. She says she prefers talking to the CSC/NVC/whatever person. I'll continue trying to bring her up to date though.

[Saylin 1,605]

Thanks Saylin. I have read these guides several times. I just got a little confused and I find it hard to think straight when something happens with our case.

I've tried getting my wife to read more too but she doesn't like it and unfortunately she doesn't have the same faith in the VisaJourney board as I have. She says she prefers talking to the CSC/NVC/whatever person. I'll continue trying to bring her up to date though.

Don't worry about it. I remember when I first joined here and was overwhelmed by everything too. If it's easier for you, print out the guides and highlight the important bits. I find that always helps

Although CSC/NVC/etc are more "official" than the VJ boards, tell your wife that the members here are generally much more knowledgeable about this process than those operators.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Don't worry about it. I remember when I first joined here and was overwhelmed by everything too. If it's easier for you, print out the guides and highlight the important bits. I find that always helps

Great idea. I'll do that at work tomorrow. It's easier to read on paper vs. a computer screen.

Although CSC/NVC/etc are more "official" than the VJ boards, tell your wife that the members here are generally much more knowledgeable about this process than those operators.

Will do, although I think if she just took the time to read the guides, she'd come to that conclusion on her own.

[Saylin 1,605]

Great idea. I'll do that at work tomorrow. It's easier to read on paper vs. a computer screen.

I feel the same way! It's easier to sort things out by highlighting and makes the important things stand out a lot better.

Will do, although I think if she just took the time to read the guides, she'd come to that conclusion on her own.

Print the guides out and mail it to her

[Mr. Borkström 63]

THe IV package is only documents the beneficiary needs to send in, right? Is there any point in me mailing them to my wife and for her to then send them to the NVC? Isn't it better to mail them directly to the NVC (once the bills have been paid)?

Print the guides out and mail it to her

[Saylin 1,605]

THe IV package is only documents the beneficiary needs to send in, right? Is there any point in me mailing them to my wife and for her to then send them to the NVC? Isn't it better to mail them directly to the NVC (once the bills have been paid)?

Yup, the IV package is all about the beneficiary and nothing about the petitioner.

If you want to send directly to NVC, that's 100% fine. Some beneficiaries just prefer mailing it to the petitioner first.

If you have your whole IV package ready NOW, I'd suggest sending it to your wife now, so that way, once the fee is paid and appears as so in the payment portal, she can send it right away from the US. This might shave off a few days, but only if your IV package is ready.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

Aha, I see. I think I have everything, but I'll check it multiple times over the weekend.

[Saylin 1,605]

Aha, I see. I think I have everything, but I'll check it multiple times over the weekend.

Sounds good