Need Emergency Help ~ Marriage License and Adjustment of Status Timeline issues

[Cathi 5,784]

False. If she has come on the Visa Waiver Program, she must leave the North American continent. Crossing the border to either Mexico or Canada DO NOT RESET THE 90 DAY TIME LINE!

You will be challenged on the "marrying when entering the US on the VWP". Technically you are not allowed to Adjust Status if you have entered under the VWP. There are exceptions to this, but be prepared to get hassled. Especially since you said you were not engaged for very long. Do everything in your power to collect all your co-mingling-of-finance records now. Write each other into your wills. Put each other on your insurance policies.

Good luck.

Sukie

wrong. The beneficiary had no intent to marry and adjust status before entering the US. As long as no intent exists, what they are doing is perfectly legal, they will not get "hassled"

[Cathi 5,784]

By the way, if you file for AOS and your wife leaves the US right after, her case will be considered abandoned. She MUST stay in the US until her AOS is approved, or her AP granted.

If you guys want to get married and your wife to return to her home country right after, then you have to chase a CR-1 visa.

These are 2 different processes.

Harpa, please correct if I am wrong.

the OP was talking about his fiance's sister returning home

[KayDeeCee 4,896]

~ Moved from AOS from Family Based to AOS from Work, Student & Tourist Visas ~

[didopage 337]

"my fiancee would be all good to wait in the country for their response"

My bad, for some reason I had understood "in her home country".

[Cathi 5,784]

"my fiancee would be all good to wait in the country for their response"

My bad, for some reason I had understood "in her home country".

yeah the OP had stated "she will go home" but he meant his fiance's sister...it's confusing when you first read it

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

"my fiancee would be all good to wait in the country for their response"

My bad, for some reason I had understood "in her home country".

I had to read it a few times too. I think he means "in the country" as "in the US."

Detective work!

[drewmark 0]

I feel I need to clarify since my wording has been confusing. I should not have mentioned my fiance's sister, the only reason I did was to put into context why we are waiting until 2 days before my fiance's ESTA VWP expiration date; so her sister can be there with us at the ceremony.

My fiance arrived June 19th and her ESTA runs out on Sept. 16th; we are planning to be married on Sept. 14th. According to Harpa and others it doesn't matter if I send in the paperwork a few days after her ESTA expires; all will be forgiven since we are married before then. She will not be going back to Denmark immediately following our marriage and paperwork; we are applying for a permit for her to go back over christmas just in case she doesn't have our green card by then, as we suspect she probably won't.

I hope this helps make things clear; and I really appreciate all of your support

[h13rma 35]

That was how I read it the first time, it should all be easy enough with he resources that are on here, the only things that caught us out were the vaccination records for the civil surgeon, I ended up just getting re-vaccinated, and forgetting to put in photocopy of POE stamp. Good luck and have a great wedding.

[RomaSkirsky 6]

Hey Guys,

I am really panicking right now; have been diligently getting all of my paperwork in order and speaking with friends who have gone through all of this and I have come across one big fat wrench in my best laid plans.

I proposed to my Danish girlfriend a couple weeks ago and we have been planning on being married on the 14th (so her sister can be at the ceremony); and she is set to go home to Denmark on the 16th. Speaking with a few friends of mine who have gone through this all they told me they were married and then mailed all of their paperwork out on the same day right after the ceremony. I thought this was all good, we would be married then overnight guarantee the documents to arrive monday (16th of september) at USCIS and my fiancee would be all good to wait in the country for their response.

Well, now after speaking with my county clerk's (san diego) office they have said they will need a few weeks to register and certify the marriage. I remember reading that USCIS wants a certified marriage license with the application; and given our timeline I feel like we are kind of screwed at this point. Does anyone else know anything about the filing process and how they did it? Did you wait a few weeks between being married and filing your paperwork because my friends did not and I am very confused!

PLEASE HELP!!

Drew

P.S. ~ sorry for caps I am very stressed right now haha, thank you all in advance

It must depend on the state you're in because in Florida when you get married if you do it outside of the courthouse, you bring your marriage license once completed and signed by the minister who married you, and the clerk put it in their system that same day that we dropped the paperwork off. They gave us 10 certified copies right then and there. The certified copy was just a copy of the original license plus the signature of the clerk who was helping us. It took us 30 minutes. Not sure why it would take any longer than that to get a certified copy, but I'm not familiar with the laws where you are. Best of luck.

Edited September 6, 2013 by RomaSkirsky

[RomaSkirsky 6]

I feel I need to clarify since my wording has been confusing. I should not have mentioned my fiance's sister, the only reason I did was to put into context why we are waiting until 2 days before my fiance's ESTA VWP expiration date; so her sister can be there with us at the ceremony.

My fiance arrived June 19th and her ESTA runs out on Sept. 16th; we are planning to be married on Sept. 14th. According to Harpa and others it doesn't matter if I send in the paperwork a few days after her ESTA expires; all will be forgiven since we are married before then. She will not be going back to Denmark immediately following our marriage and paperwork; we are applying for a permit for her to go back over christmas just in case she doesn't have our green card by then, as we suspect she probably won't.

I hope this helps make things clear; and I really appreciate all of your support

From what I've heard it doesn't matter for immigration purpose's if you send in the paperwork a little late, but for example in Florida, if you don't file before her original visa expires then things like getting a driver's license or SS# are out of the question, till she gets her green card. Again this is in Florida, and if she has all that stuff already then you shouldn't worry. It's only followup stuff that she'd maybe want to get done in the meantime while she waits for her EAD or Green card that it would affect. Best of luck

[Billyk 6]

By the way, if you file for AOS and your wife leaves the US right after, her case will be considered abandoned. She MUST stay in the US until her AOS is approved, or her AP granted.

If you guys want to get married and your wife to return to her home country right after, then you have to chase a CR-1 visa.

These are 2 different processes.

Harpa, please correct if I am wrong.

I agree here after reading all the thread. You can not adjust status living outside US or if you have filed AOS with USCIS and is pending you do need AP to leave the country. It is not a best thing to do to leave US during this process unless have to. You are adjusting the status during her legal stay and overstay is not the issue once you are married. By the way I am little confused here why would you let your wife go away after two days of wedding ??????????? If I am you then I won't care where the process will take me but I won't let my girl go away that quick !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mrjack 9]

I just want to say the advice given to relax and file the paperwork when you get the marriage certificate is all good.

I do want to add one thing. Have you thought of a trip to Vegas or Laughlin to get married? You used to get an original marriage certificate right after your ceremony(I doubt that has changed but call them to make sure). A copy of that suffices for USCIS. A trip to Vegas or Laughlin might be worth more than waiting a couple of weeks to get your marriage certificate so you can file I485, especially if your wife plans on working....2 or 3 weeks of income is worth more than the trip....

One quick correction to your original post: You are wrong, USCIS does not require a certified copy of your marriage certificate. All they want is a copy of your marriage certificate. Read the directions. Usually people use a copy of the certified copy but others use a copy of the original marriage certificate.

Edited September 6, 2013 by mrjack

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

The cert they give you in Vegas immediately after marriage isn't actually a legal one. A lot of ppl come on here complaining about that.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Harpa Timsah

[newacct 688]

ou will be challenged on the "marrying when entering the US on the VWP". Technically you are not allowed to Adjust Status if you have entered under the VWP. There are exceptions to this, but be prepared to get hassled.

WRONG.