Help!!! Freaking out...

[Narikta 7]

I entered the US 19th June 2012 and we were married on 30th June 2012 - 1 1/2 weeks after I arrived.

We were married in our church's temple in MA (hubby's home state) and my hubby's grandfather from CA performed the ceremony (he's is licensed to perform marriages and he had permission from the church to do so). They problem is - the temple forgot to submit the paperwork to the State so he would have permission from MA to perform the ceremony, being a celebrant from out-of-state. The paperwork was submitted the day before the wedding and the back dated permission was granted mid the following week. Then the Comedy of Errors began.

The didn't allow grandpa to sign the certificate in case back dated wasn't granted, so they posted the certificate to CA to be signed. The certificate has been from one side of the country to the other, lost in the mail, found, returned to sender, sent to the temple again. It turned out then that the temple has put a random, non-matching address for us on the permission request and sent it to the State, so the certificate was rejected because of the addresses. It was sent back to the temple, the Town Hall Clerk has reissued and identical certificate to the first, the permission request has been corrected and they're both now on their way back to CA to be signed AGAIN. All whilst we've moved to another State entirely, onto hubby's college campus as he starts classes in a few weeks,

In short, exactly 6 weeks left before my 90 days runs out and, whilst we've been married for over 5 weeks, we don't have a certified married certificate to support our marriage occurring. I'm starting to really stress out about this. We're not sure when the certificate will be ready. If it's not finalised in time, will I have to return to Australia? If it comes through just in time, but the AOS docs aren't submitted before the 90 days expire, will I have to return to Australia?

Thanks for any thoughts you might have in advance

K

[TracyTN 237]

You do not have to submit the AOS documents before the 90 days. Heck, some folks wait a year or two before submitting the AOS paperwork. (Not advisable, and it comes with it's own set of circumstances, but still can be done.) All you have to do is marry before that 90 days which you have done. Just get the paperwork ready and mail it off once you finally do receive the certificate. Just do not leave the US in the meantime obviously.

Relax. It'll all be ok!

*edited for typo*

Edited August 6, 2012 by TracyTN

[Narikta 7]

You do not have to submit the AOS documents before the 90 days. Heck, some folks wait a year or two before submitting the AOS paperwork. (Not advisable, and it comes with it's own set of circumstances, but still can be done.) All you have to do is marry before that 90 days which you have done. Just get the paperwork ready and mail it off once you finally do receive the certificate. Just do not leave the US in the meantime obviously.

Relax. It'll all be ok!

*edited for typo*

Thank you! That is a huge comfort