Maybe you can help me!

[MrsAmera 41]

I posted this in the AOS but they don't seem to willing to give out help . So the honey is here and we want to get married soon but we are sort of unsure of how the next process goes. So if we get married say February 14th, how long do we have to file the AOS papers? What if we were married closer to the end of his 90 days (end of April) does teh same amount of time apply? Will we have to send the I-864 right away or do we wait until the interview. Anyone who went through St. Paul (rhama and others!) how long did it take from filling to get your interview? Thanks for your help!

[honeyblonde 0]

Amera, You need to marry and file the papers within the 90 days after he arrives. I read in the AOS forum that some people have filed a little after the 90 days ends and haven't had any problems.

I wouldn't wait too late to marry. It will take 2 weeks to a month to get a copy of the certified marriage license, and you will need that to file AOS.

I'm in the same boat you're dreading. We need to mail our papers by Friday to make our 90 day window, so I'm frantically copying and making tabs to send off our packages.

Are you filing just the AOS, or the EAD & AP too?

[raymaga 25]

I posted this in the AOS but they don't seem to willing to give out help . So the honey is here and we want to get married soon but we are sort of unsure of how the next process goes. So if we get married say February 14th, how long do we have to file the AOS papers? What if we were married closer to the end of his 90 days (end of April) does teh same amount of time apply? Will we have to send the I-864 right away or do we wait until the interview. Anyone who went through St. Paul (rhama and others!) how long did it take from filling to get your interview? Thanks for your help!

We got all the AOS/AP/EAD documents all ready to go before we even got married, and then all we had to attach was the marriage certificate. We got married on Saturday and mailed off our package on Monday morning, after we picked up our marriage certificate. If you want to get your marriage certificate quickly, just ask whoever marries you to give YOU the signed copy of the marriage certificate for you to take to the court house yourself. The person who marries you would normally mail the signed papers in to the court house, and that's where the delay comes in. If you take it to the court house yourself, they will provide you with as many certified copies as you want for a very minimal fee.

So, if you want to get married as close to the end of the 90 days as you can, just prepare all the paperwork now and then you can mail them in right after your wedding.

Good luck.

[LaL 418]

If you want to get your marriage certificate quickly, just ask whoever marries you to give YOU the signed copy of the marriage certificate for you to take to the court house yourself. The person who marries you would normally mail the signed papers in to the court house, and that's where the delay comes in.

good advice. I tried my best to get the officiant to give us the paperwork so we could file to no avail. But certainly try!

edited cuz i don't understand the quoting at all

Edited January 31, 2006 by lal_brandow

[honeyblonde 0]

Marriage certificate copies are one of those things that varies by state and possibly even by county. I did take ours in, and the lady told me she would mail it to us and it would be there before we got back from our honeymoon. She was right. When I went yesterday to get a certified copy for the AOS, I had to pay $10 for one! That was crazy since copies of divorce papers from the same courthouse have always been about fifty cents a page. I guess it's just a different department so they have different prices. The divorce group will get the papers ready before I go down, but the marriage license won't do them until you are sitting there waiting.

Good luck and I'd recommend calling and checking in advance so you know what you're dealing with.

[Jenn! 918]

We got married at city hall so that we could get our certified copies immediately (they gave us 2 on the spot, no charge).

You must get MARRIED within the 90 days, so as not to violate the terms of your K1 status, but there is no rule as to the exact deadline for submitting your AOS paperwork. It just says within a reasonable amount of time, which is why people don't have any problems submitting after the 90 days are up.

The I-864 must be sent with the AOS paperwork as far as I am aware.

[myfellah 0]

Just adding in my 2 cents worth. You are supposed to file within 90 days of his arrival. When we went for our marriage license they had us tell them how many copies we wanted of our marriage certificate then, I think they were like $3 a copy. She suggested we get a few now instead of trying to get more later, which we did.

Anyway the 90 days start their countdown upon his arrival. Just give yourself enough time to have all the paperwork ready. We just did the AOS and EAD at the same time. The instructions are on the form at the www.uscis.gov web site. Maybe here too, I haven't looked.

Good Luck.

Doreen

[zyggy 9]

Just adding in my 2 cents worth. You are supposed to file within 90 days of his arrival. When we went for our marriage license they had us tell them how many copies we wanted of our marriage certificate then, I think they were like $3 a copy. She suggested we get a few now instead of trying to get more later, which we did.

Anyway the 90 days start their countdown upon his arrival. Just give yourself enough time to have all the paperwork ready. We just did the AOS and EAD at the same time. The instructions are on the form at the www.uscis.gov web site. Maybe here too, I haven't looked.

Good Luck.

Doreen

The I-485 does not need to be submitted during the period authorized on the I-94. However, the marriage must take place within that timeline. However, each day between the date on the I-94 and the date that the I-485 has been received by USCIS is considered time out of status. If you accumulate more than 180 days out of status, you would face a ban on reentry into the US if you leave no matter if you have AP or not.

[jula 0]

What does it mean "Islamic wedding"? Are you two already married ?!

"August 2005 - Amanda goes to Morocco to spend 6 weeks with Youssef and have our Islamic wedding" - from your timelime

Edited January 31, 2006 by jula

[UmmSqueakster 54]

What does it mean "Islamic wedding"? Are you two already married ?!

"August 2005 - Amanda goes to Morocco to spend 6 weeks with Youssef and have our Islamic wedding" - from your timelime

Some muslims (and non muslims I would venture to guess as well) want to make the commitment to each other and to God ASAP, so they have unofficial weddings that aren't government sanctioned.

I married my husband Islamically in August of 03. That way, we could stay together in an apartment while waiting for the visa stuff, without breaking any rules in our religion. Why didn't we go the K-3 option? Because it took way too much time and running around between different egyptian bueracracies for a foreigner and an egyptian to get married in Egypt and we just didn't have that time to spare in our short visits together.

I can't speak for Amera, but that was my experience.

PS, Amera, I answered in the AOS forum. I would say get married asap, file the AOS/EAD stuff and have a fancy wedding later. The sooner you send in the forms, the sooner Youssef gets his green card and employment auth.

[MrsAmera 41]

Thanks for all the help - we're still considering options. (I lose my health insurance the day we're married so I'm trying to hold onto it a bit longer until we have plan B). Our situation was the same as you rhama. We got married in the faith so that it would be acceptable for us to stay together etc. and it made things better and easier with his family too. Didn't do K3 because of the time constraints and gathering all the documents and signatures to get married in Morocco took at least a month!!

[tnh9479 1]

Just make sure to get married in the 90 days.

Something else to think about...when adjusting from K-1, you can only file for the EAD when you file for AOS (edited to add...you can file the EAD after filing for AOS, but not before). So...you need to think about the financial aspect of not having your loved one working for a long period of time.

Best wishes in your decision!

Twila

Edited February 1, 2006 by tnh9479

[sara535 15]

for what its worth, we filed the AOS paperwork almost 5 months after Adnan got here and had no problems, except for the additional time he spent with no job. We had our interview in December and no one ever said a word about the extra time we waited.