AOS thru marriage

[nina1 0]

I'm just wondering...We only had a civil wedding at the courthouse....Have any of u done the same...Does that affect my AOS/INTERVIEW?

[Cassie 8]

Many people on VJ have had a civil ceremony, without it affecting their interview.

What you need to worry about is being able to establish that you have a shared married life, in a shared domicile. How or where you got married isn't important, the fact that you get married is.

[eau_xplain 2]

A civil wedding at the courthouse is as valid as one at a church/temple. It doesn't matter where you get married as long as the person officiating the ceremony has the authority to do so.

We were married at the courthouse too. In fact my husband found it so funny that we were married in the "small claims" court .. :lol: We did not have any problems with getting our application accepted. In fact, we were among the lucky ones who got transferred to CSC and later on approved without interview.

Edited March 8, 2006 by eau_xplain

[zyggy 9]

A civil wedding at the courthouse is as valid as one at a church/temple. It doesn't matter where you get married as long as the person officiating the ceremony has the authority to do so.

We were married at the courthouse too. In fact my husband found it so funny that we were married in the "small claims" court .. :lol: We did not have any problems with getting our application accepted. In fact, we were among the lucky ones who got transferred to CSC and later on approved without interview.

We got married in a Civil Ceremony by the mayor of our town in the City Council chambers.. and we got through just fine...

[nina1 0]

thanx guys..

Im getting more biometrics done this friday and our interview is next mth, so i was kinda concerned about being expected to have had a religious ceremony..

How about wedding pictures.. We also don't have any because we got married at the courthouse. I also wanted to save our $ for the house we bought. Are these valid reasons for not having pictures or even a wedding ceremony?

[Inlove_tx 0]

We had a civil marriage too, and everything was just fine. We had a SMALL wedding with only 10 people and had no problems. As far as the pictures are concerned, we brought the ones our friends/relatives took, we didn't hire any professional photographer.

[zyggy 9]

thanx guys..

Im getting more biometrics done this friday and our interview is next mth, so i was kinda concerned about being expected to have had a religious ceremony..

How about wedding pictures.. We also don't have any because we got married at the courthouse. I also wanted to save our $ for the house we bought. Are these valid reasons for not having pictures or even a wedding ceremony?

Don't know about that... we took pictures at our wedding... ourselves (well actually our relatives took them on our camera) on a normal camera... However, that's not near a good of evidence as mingling your finances, getting yourselves named as beneficiaries on each other's life insurance and 401k's, and having wills and medical and financial powers of attorney made for each other...

Edited March 8, 2006 by zyggy

[Steffi 0]

being expected to have had a religious ceremony..

What does religion have to do with anything? What would you do if you're an aetheist? Is that a crime now and you can't get married unless you're religious?

Immigration cares about a LEGAL wedding. That means if you ONLY had a religious marriage that the marriage would not be valid on government terms. You need to be married through the state. So yes, getting married through the courthouse is perfectly fine.

[nina1 0]

i did think about the aetheist part! i swear! lol

But I don't know the slighest thing about government documents when marrying, when dealing with immigration, when dealing with taxes...

thnx all, ure all great!

what's new with your immigration case steffi? Was it at least a pic of a female they had on ur greencard?

[hcj 0]

We had a civil ceremony. No guests, no witnesses, just the justice of the peace and the two of us.

We had a few photos that the JP took for us afterwards, but our AO didn't ask to look at them.

[Steffi 0]

i did think about the aetheist part! i swear! lol

But I don't know the slighest thing about government documents when marrying, when dealing with immigration, when dealing with taxes...

*L* Ok! I would't worry too much more about the civil wedding and no photos. You have the paperwork to show that you are married, so there's that. Then just bring along all the other supporting documentation to show that you are a true couple, like others have already mentioned. Buying a house in both your names would be a most perfect example of a true relationship - why else would you make such a huge committment with someone else unless you two are very close, right? Best of luck on your interview (when is it?) - I'm sure everything will turn out much easier than you anticipate.

what's new with your immigration case steffi? Was it at least a pic of a female they had on ur greencard?

Ahhhh (or rather aaaaaaaah!), don't remind me. *L* My mess has become an even bigger mess. They sent me an RFE for new passport photos (since they lost the old ones - ha!) which I sent back and for which I received a letter saying that they were received. Next thing I know I got a letter returning my I-90 package claiming that I never returned the RFE and that my file was closed (uhmmm, hello?! I have a letter right here saying you received them!!). Aaaaanyway, so now I re-filed the whole I-90 package after I went to talk to an officer down at the Atlanta office. Third time's a charm, right?

[Cassie 8]

I took copies of some of our wedding pictures, and a selection of pictures showing us, us with family, etc at different times during the year. Our adjudicator barely looked at the wedding photos, but he definitely looked through all the others. They are more concerned with if you are legally married, and if you have a bonafide relationship in a shared domicile.

[Kajikit 65]

A wedding is a wedding is a wedding... what matters is the certificate from the government, not where you had it or how much moolah you threw at it or how many photos were taken or where/if you went on your honeymoon... what comes after it is the important thing. Otherwise people would be able to throw a mega-wedding and then go their seperate ways and collect a greencard. It's the everyday things that count, like joint bank accounts and insurance etc.

[Autumnal 25]

I was married at the county courthouse, which I swear they have down to the art of a factory processing line. Here's your number, wait over there, in you go, 10 minutes later, out you come... I hope my immigration interview's a bit like that, it was easy as pie except I was giggling madly the entire time! *^^*

I don't have many wedding pictures either, and practically none from the original ceremony. Our digital camera opted to break right before and I still don't know if our witnesses actually have their pictures.

So, as I've been told by others on this lovely forum, it's more significant to demonstrate your status as a couple than it is to have a big wedding with photographers and formal stills. Can you show any proof that you and your spouse are, well, "spouse-y"? A few snaps of the two of you together with friends and family makes for a great start. Do you have a joint account, on the same insurance policies, and whatnot? Begin with things that have you listed jointly and you'll be pretty good I should think.

[Steffi 0]

I was married at the county courthouse, which I swear they have down to the art of a factory processing line. Here's your number, wait over there, in you go, 10 minutes later, out you come... I hope my immigration interview's a bit like that, it was easy as pie except I was giggling madly the entire time! *^^*

Makes that drive-through Vegas wedding sound a lot more exciting, doesn't it! *L* Damn, I should have gone for that!

Edited March 9, 2006 by Steffi