Having a Private Ceremony Before K-1 is Approved & Nexus Card

[Ontarkie 14,304]

55 minutes ago, AstroCanada said:

I think in countries like Canada, where the traditions of marriage are so similar to the US, you'd be exposing yourself to little risk of having a private, purely ceremonial marriage.  Most of the posters who are expressing concern (which is rightly noted) are referring to places in which "traditional" marriage is common...often in the context of African or Asian cultures.  Canada and the US both have very rigidly established procedures for getting legally married.  The US does not recognize common law marriage for immigration, and common-law marriage in Canada is established by living together in a conjugal/financial relationship for some length of time that depends on the province.  So common-law marriage has no bearing on this situation.  

 

Basically, to sum it up, marriage for legal purposes in Canada and the US is sufficiently clear and codified that any private ceremony should hold no legal weight nor have any implications for a K-1 visa.   

 

 

This is not true. In Canada even just having the ceremony is considered a legal marriage. Any person whether it is a priest, minister, JP will not do a ceremony unless it is the real thing and they will register it. She wants the whole wedding, white dress walking down the isle everything that a wedding is. 

You do not have to have a marriage license to make it a legally binding marriage. 

[Transborderwife 4,666]

8 hours ago, zilchfox said:

Regarding ceremony in Canada: Should be totally fine, but make sure your SO brings proof of ties to the US (i.e. the NOA you got, proving that it's actually YOU who is then moving down, not vice-versa). HOWEVER SIGN NOTHING AND DO NOT ACTUALLY GET MARRIED (You probably know this already).

 

As a NEXUS cardholder myself, it did absolutely nothing to speed anything up. I obtained my NEXUS card I believe shortly after the NOA2. It was handy to use to fly to Montreal to skip security, however...

Nope.  In Canada this ceremony would likely be legally binding.  Most will not do it without a marriage license.  Do not do this 

[Transborderwife 4,666]

2 hours ago, Kathryn Banman said:

It wasn't my idea, my fiance suggested it. He feels that either we're obligated to have both families there, or neither. 

I live in an incredibly small town, if someone gets pulled over for speeding everyone knows about it, let alone getting arrested. My dad hardly does anything, and when he went in to get a Criminal Record Check done after being told he could no longer enter the USA, it came back totally clear except for his arrest in 1984 (which US Border Patrol say would have no impact on his ability to enter the USA since he received no jail time). The officer at the RCMP office did say that there was someone in the country with the same name that had committed a horrendous crime not long ago, so the officer thinks it has to do with his name and they flagged it. Border Patrol refuses to tell us what he has supposedly been arrested for, so it's incredibly annoying trying to get a pardon for something you don't even know you apparently did.  

He can get a redress number and try to visit

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Also as a side note, I wouldn't say the US has rigidly established procedures for marriage. In some states, only one person has to be there to sign the marriage license application, and as long as you have a registered officiant (not incredibly hard to do, we had a friend who was one that was just a regular college guy going to school for geology), you could easily get married to a person by using a "stand-in". They don't ask for ID's when you get married, so if person A wants to marry person B, but they live in a state where person B doesn't have to show up, they can have person C stand in as person B, and tada, thanks to identity theft they're married now. It's actually very easy in the US to marry multiple people because not all states and county data-bases connect. That's why you have stories of people who are married to others in different states and it doesn't come to light for years. The marriage system in the US is really bad lol.    

Luckily I live in a state where both people have to be present, and it still took a whole maybe 10 minutes to give the lady my driver's lisense, my at-the-time fiance's passport, paid for it and we got the license then and there, all we had to do was get married and have any registered officiant sign it. It wasn't hard and I'd say it's probably the easiest "official" document to get.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Ash.1101

[caliliving 606]

Are you willing to do all that to risk immigration...if that was your plan them do the cr1!!!! 

Lots of Canadians get married there and do the cr1! Then you are married and enter the usa with a greencard! Based on what you are saying, the k1 is NOT the right visa for you.

 

I would suggest researching and doing the cr1 and cancel the k1 petition...it seems as though you will have real regrets I  the future if ur dad isn't there to walk you down the aisle! Having a ceremony lile that is not legal and can severely impact your K1 process!!!

 

[caliliving 606]

I feel like this is a case of "you can't have your cake and eat it to" if you do the k1 you are forgoing a marriage and ceremony before the wedding in canada. Decide what bus more important...if u work in canada it's prob best to get married like this week in canada so your father can be there and apply for cr1! As long as you have ties and a job back home u shouldn't have a problem visiting the usa during the process either. I have many canadian friends that did cr1 and worked out better as they had a greencard and could work right away. 

[caliliving 606]

1 hour ago, Transborderwife said:

He can get a redress number and try to visit

That has happened to my friends uncle...every time he goes in he gets red flagged but they let him in eventually...has the same name as someone on America most wanted list lol 

[NikLR 13,228]

It's not just the USCIS you have to worry about, it is the CBP too.  They can deny you entry on a K1 if they think you're married even if the USCIS didn't. 

In Colorado, you can marry yourselves at the dmv so no, not every wedding is a certain procedure.

 

I'll be honest I see zero issue with eloping or having a very private marriage ceremony with no family, and having a big ceremony later.  People don't have to know you're already married. I mean marrying in the USA and having a ceremony in Canada later. 

Edited January 11, 2017 by NikLR

[Cathi 5,771]

Not sure why you're so upset your dad can't be there when you knew that you had to marry in the US when you applied for that K-1. If it was such a big issue for you, you should have married and filed for a CR-1. Do not have a ceremony of any kind ahead of time, you'll be denied. If you bend the rules, you'll regret it.

[caliliving 606]

1 hour ago, mimolicious said:

Not sure why you're so upset your dad can't be there when you knew that you had to marry in the US when you applied for that K-1. If it was such a big issue for you, you should have married and filed for a CR-1. Do not have a ceremony of any kind ahead of time, you'll be denied. If you bend the rules, you'll regret it.

Exactly, get married and apply for a cr1 problem solved. Seems like u want to get married in canada anyways. 

It's like people read the rules and think they can change it:/

Good think about a cr1 u can plan the wedding better and u should be able to still visit while it's processing 

[aaa2zzz 27]

16 hours ago, databit said:

A "common law marriage" actually has legal weight in some states.

States That Recognize Common Law Marriage

Only a few states recognize common law marriages, and each has specific stipulations as to what relationships are included:

• Alabama
• Colorado
• District of Columbia
• Georgia (if created before 1/1/97)
• Idaho (if created before 1/1/96)
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Montana
• New Hampshire (for inheritance purposes only)
• Ohio (if created before 10/10/91)
• Oklahoma (possibly only if created before 11/1/98. Oklahoma’s laws and court decisions may be in conflict about whether common law marriages formed in that state after 11/1/98 will be recognized.)
• Pennsylvania (if created before 1/1/05)
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Texas
• Utah

Alabama as of January 1, 2017 has abolished common law marriage

[Will_and_Tu 46]

12 hours ago, AstroCanada said:

I think in countries like Canada, where the traditions of marriage are so similar to the US, you'd be exposing yourself to little risk of having a private, purely ceremonial marriage.  Most of the posters who are expressing concern (which is rightly noted) are referring to places in which "traditional" marriage is common...often in the context of African or Asian cultures.  Canada and the US both have very rigidly established procedures for getting legally married.  The US does not recognize common law marriage for immigration, and common-law marriage in Canada is established by living together in a conjugal/financial relationship for some length of time that depends on the province.  So common-law marriage has no bearing on this situation.  

 

Basically, to sum it up, marriage for legal purposes in Canada and the US is sufficiently clear and codified that any private ceremony should hold no legal weight nor have any implications for a K-1 visa.   

 

 

This is terrible advice. It's all the CO's discretion, and if he has even a whiff that something shady is going on, he can deny this.

[Will_and_Tu 46]

14 hours ago, Kathryn Banman said:

Because he can't come to the USA, I really hate the idea of getting married without him there. And to have him walk me down the aisle after the fact (after we've officially gotten married in the USA) just seems dumb to me, because the whole point in it is for him to "give me away" to the groom before we're married, not after. My fiance has no intentions of having another ceremony after the wedding in the USA and wants my father to "give me away" as well (he's traditional), which is why we thought having a private ceremony in Canada would allow my father to participate and do just that.

This makes zero sense to me.

 

Either:

1. The insistence on having this private ceremony before the actual wedding is because the private ceremony isn't as unofficial as you're suggesting, in which case you're trying to pull a con.

2. The insistence on having the "giving away" before is because you believe that makes some critical difference in the reality of your marriage, in which case it's something you just need to do your best to overcome, as harsh as that may sound (and/or also still suggests that you're doing something more formal at this ceremony than you're copping to).

 

In either case, though, if an additional reason you can't do it after the marriage is because your fiance refuses to ("has no intentions" - yikes!), despite it being something clearly important to you, then you have problems with your engagement that have nothing to do with USCIS.

[Ortolan 381]

OK, using your own logic, you consider yourself "married" if your dad walks you down the aisle and gives you to your fiance. That's really important to you, and you give that "pre-ceremony" a lot of weight and emotion. Why wouldn't you think that the CO wouldn't take your own logic and consider it a "marriage" as well? If you read the forums, you'll see that this semi-formal commitment ceremony, while not paper-legal, has tripped a lot of people up.

 

Don't do it.

[B&Z 201]

If the symbolism is so important to you, why not just get together with your fiance and your mom & dad (just the 4 of you), have your dad write a little speech about giving you away and then your dad reads the speech aloud, he then places your hand in your fiance's hand, then your fiance can say something about his acceptance of the responsibility, etc. Just a tiny little meaningful interaction between the 4 of you with NO PICTURES and no one else present, and not resembling an actual wedding in any way, but more of like a blessing of the future union.

Edited January 11, 2017 by B&Z