I'm very confused Now

[johnmarie 1]

i met a lot of people when i take my finger print they was late and overstay n there aos continue without prb about marriage cert... u can call them if its finished u can get copy it cost only 10 dollar not wait until u recieved in mail

[KayDeeCee 4,896]

I'm sorry but you're wrong.

The only requirement of the K1 visa is to get married within 90 days. This is the only requirement in order to be eligible to adjust status based on a K1 visa. It doesn't mean you are "legal" if the I-94 expires. "Out of status" means you have no lawful status as defined in the INA - you're not a non-immigrant, you're not a permanent resident, you're not a citizen or a national of the US. You're an alien whose permission to be in the United States has expired. What separates you from someone who overstayed their visitor's visa is that you would be eligible to adjust status, even though your I-94 had expired.

What happens is that you begin accumulating unlawful presence when the I-94 expires. You stop accumulating unlawful presence when the AOS petition is accepted, but that doesn't restore you to lawful status. What it does do is grant you permission to remain in the US until a decision is made on the AOS petition. In other words, you're "out of status" but not "unlawfully present". It is NOT an overstay which is a completely separate legal term and has very serious ramifications.

I am sorry, but you are actually the wrong one in this. Hypnos is correct.

This has been discussed many times on VJ. I agree, this info needs to be a sticky or somewhere everyone entering with a K-1 can read about it.

overstay = unlawful presence

Getting married within 90 days of entry is what makes you eligible to file for AOS. Being married does not in itself give you legal presence in the US. When the I-94 expires, you are out of status and begin to accrue days of unlawful presence. There is no special category for someone that entered with a K-1. Overstay and being out of status are unlawful presence, period. When you file for AOS, you then enter a new period of authorized stay and the unlawful presence stops accumulating, and does not matter at all once your green card is approved.

It is rare, but someone that entered with a K-1, has an expired I-94 and has not filed for AOS yet can be detained by ICE for unlawful presence. Here is an example > http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/485010-please-help-my-husband-was-detained-today/

9 FAM 40.92 N1 INTERPRETATION OF "UNLAWFUL PRESENCE"

a. INA 212(a)(9)(B)(ii) (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B)(ii)) provides the following construction for the term "unlawful presence": “… the alien is present in the United States after the expiration of the period of stay authorized by the [secretary of Homeland Security] or is present in the United States without being admitted or paroled." Under this construction, an alien would generally be unlawfully present if he or she entered the United States without inspection, or stayed beyond the date specified on the Form I-94, Arrival and Departure Record, or was found by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to have violated status.

Edited June 26, 2014 by KayDeeCee

[KayDeeCee 4,896]

So,

My wife had the I-94 we are now married.

The I-94 is expired but we haven't received our marriage certificate yet. Can we still file the AOS papers.

Is she illegal now? We literally married on her last day on the I-94. What to do?

thanks

You can go to the county court and see if you can get your marriage certificate from them already. If it is still not available, then you can wait until it is and have everything else ready to send and go as soon as you get it. Many people have filed a few days, weeks or months(some even a year or more) after their I-94 expired and had no issues. As was discussed in this thread already, you need to be aware that your wife is now unlawfully present. Stay away from border check points and taking bus trips to avoid the small chance of being detained. OR you can file for AOS without it, and then send it in when you get an RFE asking for it.

Edited June 26, 2014 by KayDeeCee

[mcuzin1985 13]

OP, your post has become hijacked by people that are just arguing back and forth and not giving you an answer that will allow you to sleep at night.

The certificate that you got from the court house when you got married will work 99% of the time and when you have your AOS interview you obviously need to bring in your "ORIGINAL MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE" that you will receive soon. I did this and did not get an RFE. As far as the overstay, don't worry about being illegal or not. That is all besides the case. I believe there has never been a case where the person gets deported because they didn’t file their AOS on the 91st day of landing stateside.

Good luck and hope you file your paperwork ASAP, to allow you to sleep good and not have that little voice in the back of your head worrying you about something you shouldn't be worried about.

Mike

[Hypnos 6,578]

The OP's question was answered some time ago.

[Stevephoto 230]

You can go to the county court and see if you can get your marriage certificate from them already. If it is still not available, then you can wait until it is and have everything else ready to send and go as soon as you get it. Many people have filed a few days, weeks or months(some even a year or more) after their I-94 expired and had no issues. As was discussed in this thread already, you need to be aware that your wife is now unlawfully present. Stay away from border check points and taking bus trips to avoid the small chance of being detained. OR you can file for AOS without it, and then send it in when you get an RFE asking for it.

Aloha OP!

There might be an on-line system in your state now. I was told that there would be a 4-8 WEEK wait to get the "Official" Certificate of Marriage. I then learned that Hawaii had started a system where the wedding officiant could enter the information online. We had an "unofficial" copy available for download in about two days. We chose to submit the unofficial certificate along with a printout from the Hawaii Department of Health showing the posted time frame and risk an RFE. We ordered 5 certified copies. The actual certified copies came long before the 4-8 week window and we had them ready at the interview. The consular never asked for them. The web copies were accepted. We now have several cool souvenirs!

As others have stated, get the papers filed as soon as you can for peace of mind...I don't think you are at a huge risk being out of status for a few weeks, but I am not the feds and all it takes is a cranky field officer to create a problem. Good luck!