Work Authorization

[Nicodemus 0]

Hey Everyone -

My fiancee will be entering the country the first week of April and she luckily has a job that starts in July. Do you think it is possible to get the work authorization (not the temporary 90-day one, but the more permanent one) by that time? Are there any hurdles that I should watch out for? I know the work authorization card takes about 10-weeks to get after you send in your application, which would give us a 2-week cushion. Would it just be a matter of going down to city hall and getting the marriage certificate? I'm from NY if that helps any as I want to know if I should be making any special appointments or such. Any help on what "surprises" to expect would be great.

Thanks again everyone!

[Reba 2]

we'll need a bit more information to go on here.

When do you plan to get married and send in the AOS applications? Is she coming here on a K1 visa, or just skipping over the border? How is she planning on getting the work authorization?

At any rate, I'll assume she's coming here on a K1. You two need to get married asap, and then she needs to send in all the applications for AOS and EAD. The EAD will be about 90 days after she sends in the application. Give or take.

[Nicodemus 0]

Reba -

Sorry for the lack of information. She is coming in on a K-1. Interview is last week of March, so she'll be coming in right after. Actual wedding will be a few months out, but we want to do marriage certificate immediately. So we want to have the application ready to go the day we get the certificate. What I'm fearing is something such as it taking 1 month to get the marriage certificate or something of that sort. Just wanted to have all bases covered!

Thanks guys!

[Saddle Bronc 124]

(slimly) possible if you have NO RFE's.

Edited March 8, 2007 by CherryXS

[CanuckmeetsYank 0]

Reba -

Sorry for the lack of information. She is coming in on a K-1. Interview is last week of March, so she'll be coming in right after. Actual wedding will be a few months out, but we want to do marriage certificate immediately. So we want to have the application ready to go the day we get the certificate. What I'm fearing is something such as it taking 1 month to get the marriage certificate or something of that sort. Just wanted to have all bases covered!

Thanks guys!

I might be misunderstanding the marriage certificate part, if so forgive me. I just want to clarify, You DO have to get Married to get a Marriage Certificate. Which you will need in order to send in the AOS paperwork. They will not accept a Marriage license which is what you have to apply for before you get married. Once married you can go to City Hall and get the Marriage Certificate which states you were legally married.

I might just have read that part wrong but wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Goodluck!

Edited March 9, 2007 by CanuckmeetsYank

[Reba 2]

yeah, you don't get a marriage certificate unless you're actually married, and you can't apply for AOS and EAD until after you're married.

If the "actual wedding" as you say, is not planned for a few months out, I do hope you're planning an "actual marriage ceremony" at the courthouse at least in order to get the marriage certificate?

[Nicodemus 0]

I guess to clarify we want to have the marriage ceremony in the October/November time frame, but at the same time we want to make sure that the work authorization goes through in time as well. We're happy to get a certificate at city hall today and have the ceremony with extended family later in the year.

yeah, you don't get a marriage certificate unless you're actually married, and you can't apply for AOS and EAD until after you're married.

If the "actual wedding" as you say, is not planned for a few months out, I do hope you're planning an "actual marriage ceremony" at the courthouse at least in order to get the marriage certificate?

[misa 2]

To clarify, you will be having a legal civil wedding (i.e., courthouse) asap and then a bigger reception/ceremony in October, correct?

Right now, you'll want to see how much time it takes to get a marriage license (varies from state to state and city to city I believe) and book the courthouse wedding in advance of your fiance entering the U.S. so you can get that done and over with. Most states/municipalities require both people to be present to get the license.

Also you will want to see how long it will take to get the certified marriage certificate (also varies) after you get married so you can file EAD/SSN/AOS right away.

Edited March 9, 2007 by misa

[mercy 1]

My suggestion is prepare all the AOS/EAD forms in advance of her arrival. Get copies of your tax returns now, fill out the forms, gather as much of the evidence as you can, etc. Find out if you both need to be present to apply for a license (if not, you can get it ahead of time) and how long it takes to get one (we both had to be there, but got it about 10 minutes before civil ceremony) and also how long it'll take to get a copy of the marriage certificate. Inquire as to whether you can take it to be registered, because sometimes it can take them a couple weeks to do it, whereas we walked it down to the registrar ourselves and had it within a couple minutes. Literally get married the day she arrives, or as close to as possible and send out the applications that very day. There is no way to guarantee she'll get work authorization in time, so it's the best you can do.

[misa 2]

Oh! Forgot to mention that some states have a waiting period between the license and when you can get married. In VA where I was married, there was no waiting period. I mentioned in another thread that they didn't even ask to see my ID!

[Reba 2]

yeap, I'd suggest if getting her an EAD is so important that you two get married as soon as she arrives, or shortly after. Just go to the courthouse and get the legal part of it out of the way, and save the big party reception until October or November. You can't wait that long for the "legal" part of it anyhow, her K1 will be long expired and then she'll be technically illegal and out of status. Plus, you can't apply for the work authorization without first getting married and filing AOS.

[mozplay 29]

Mercy stole my advice .

But to reiterate - as much as I had studied the paperwork before hand, I still neglected to realize that our joint sponsor had to give us his birth certificate and it really held us up. Just fill out ALL the forms now, that way you are ready to go the nano-second you do a civil ceremony. Also figure out now what the rules are for getting a marriage license and then getting married. What ID will you need? Is there a waiting period etc.

Mo

[mercy 1]

Mercy stole my advice .

But to reiterate - as much as I had studied the paperwork before hand, I still neglected to realize that our joint sponsor had to give us his birth certificate and it really held us up. Just fill out ALL the forms now, that way you are ready to go the nano-second you do a civil ceremony. Also figure out now what the rules are for getting a marriage license and then getting married. What ID will you need? Is there a waiting period etc.

Mo

Great minds think alike!

Good point about joint sponsors needed proof of citizenship. I hadn't realized either, but bless my father in laws heart, he noticed it in the instructions.

It can seriously be done, we went straight from the court house to UPS and sent out the applications immediately. It just takes a little bit of prep.

[Emancipation 2]

Don't forget to enjoy the journey in all the rush to "get legal".... It's the one thing we insisted on.. taking time to laugh and enjoy our "legal" ceremony. I didn't want it to be just something we "did" for paperwork. But another step in our relationship and our time together. Just wanted to caution you guys in all this race to the Visa/AOS finish line

[mercy 1]

Don't forget to enjoy the journey in all the rush to "get legal".... It's the one thing we insisted on.. taking time to laugh and enjoy our "legal" ceremony. I didn't want it to be just something we "did" for paperwork. But another step in our relationship and our time together. Just wanted to caution you guys in all this race to the Visa/AOS finish line

Totally agree. We'd already had our non-legal ceremony, so for us it felt like a technicality at that point. But if you're not planning a ceremony until later, definitely make something special out of it. Enjoy it, go out for a special dinner, have family there, whatever.