For K-1 Visa Holders: Do You Have a Plan to Get Married in Florida?

[Girl from Celebes 588]

My fiance and I just got married last week (yay). My immigration process is pretty smooth so far. Also, my husband being in the military is really helped us a lot. If one of you have a plan to get married in Florida, here some tidbit that might be helpful.

In 1998, The Florida legislature decided that a law was needed to recognized how important the marriage is to family in the state. With Chapter 98-403 Laws of Florida, whoever wants to get married in Florida has to follow some rules that actually is really simple. While they make easier to get married also want to educate people about a marriage with the handbook that they give away to bride-to-be and groom-to-be.

With the new laws, you have to read the handbook and could save $32.50 for marriage license (normal fee is $93.50), if you take a pre-marital education course. But, if you don't have take a course and under circumstances you might have to wait three days for marriage license to be effective. If either of you are Florida residents, you need a three day waiting period before you can get married whereas if you are both from out-of-state, you can get married as soon as you get the license.

As for our marriage, first of all, my husband is not a Florida resident. He is in the military and now stationed in Key West. Though it is not a mandatory, we had two sessions of pre-marital counseling program through the Command Religious Program of USCG, Sector Key West, with Reverend Peter W Dietz LT, CHC, SN. We then provided the certificate to Monroe County Marriage License Office when we applied for marriage license.

With the certificate, we got discount for our marriage license and could get married in the day they issued the marriage license ( applied April 30, 2014 and effective at the same day until June 29, 2014). But I still do believe about good date and good day that's why I chose May 2, 2014, as the date we tied the knot.

The employees in Monroe County Marriage License Office were very nice and friendly. We came to the office at 4:30 PM ( they were close around 5:00 PM). The lady was still accepted us and working through to our marriage license application and told us that we could get married in that day.

Note:

1. Same-sex marriage is not recognized in Florida. So if your fiance(e) is a Florida resident or have a plan to get married in Florida, you might be need to change your plan.
2. For identification, my husband only showed his military ID and I had my passport with the K-1 visa
3. If either of you have been married before, they don't need to see the paperwork, however you will need to know exactly day, month, and year of death or divorce (neither my husband nor I had been married before)
4. If you have any children born together in the State of Florida, you will need to fill out an additional form
5. The process of marriage license only took less than 30 minutes and we had our marriage license in that day
6. If you choose to get married in the courthouse, you have to pay $30 ( no discount)
7. After married, you have mailed your marriage license within 10 days. Before they received it, your marriage is not in the system yet.

[TBoneTX 45,267]

*** Thread moved from K-1 Process forum to the Moving Here & Your New Life forum -- topic involves a stage after entry with use of the K-1 visa. ***

*** Thread moved from K-1 Process forum to the Moving Here & Your New Life forum -- topic involves a stage after entry with use of the K-1 visa. ***