Self uniting marriage AOS K1

[C90 376]

Hi all,

 

My fiancé and I are getting married soon in Pennsylvania. I know PA is one of the only states where you can do a self uniting marriage, but I want to make sure this is just as legal for USCIS as a court house wedding where we could be married by a judge. Philly courthouse is very busy and they don't know when they will be able to marry us, the county I live in doesn't do courthouse marriages so this seems the best option.

Is there anyone who did a self uniting marriage while entering the country on a K1 visa and can confirm this is just as legal as getting married by a judge? I don't want to get problems with my AOS or ROC because of this.

 

Thanks!

[JMCKNG 156]

21 minutes ago, C90 said:

Hi all,

 

My fiancé and I are getting married soon in Pennsylvania. I know PA is one of the only states where you can do a self uniting marriage, but I want to make sure this is just as legal for USCIS as a court house wedding where we could be married by a judge. Philly courthouse is very busy and they don't know when they will be able to marry us, the county I live in doesn't do courthouse marriages so this seems the best option.

Is there anyone who did a self uniting marriage while entering the country on a K1 visa and can confirm this is just as legal as getting married by a judge? I don't want to get problems with my AOS or ROC because of this.

 

Thanks!

I'm not sure what a self uniting marriage is unfortunately, but that is unfortunate about the courthouse! I would explain to the court how particular the time limit is for getting married due to the circumstance and push for any available time slot or to have them try and MAKE a time slot available. Are you able by chance to try a surrounding county? My county has a few days I believe a month in which they do court house weddings, but it sounds like they should be able to do it with a time frame of a week or two in advance! We will doing that as soon as he arrives! 

[C90 376]

4 minutes ago, JMCKNG said:

I'm not sure what a self uniting marriage is unfortunately, but that is unfortunate about the courthouse! I would explain to the court how particular the time limit is for getting married due to the circumstance and push for any available time slot or to have them try and MAKE a time slot available. Are you able by chance to try a surrounding county? My county has a few days I believe a month in which they do court house weddings, but it sounds like they should be able to do it with a time frame of a week or two in advance! We will doing that as soon as he arrives! 

Thanks! A self uniting marriage means you get a special license that you take home, the couple and 2 witnesses sign and that’s it. There’s no officiant. Afterwards you take it back to the marriage license bureau and they make it into a legal document. Since you are legally married this way I would think this shouldn’t be a problem, but I just wanna make sure USCIS thinks the same way.

I’m not in the country yet (I move in 3,5 weeks) but I called Philly marriage bureau and they said July and August are fully booked and they don’t know yet when we can come over to book a September court wedding. We prob can do it in other county’s, which county are you in? My fiancé lives in Delaware County (they don’t even do the court weddings) 

[Nouchigang 200]

Hello,

 

I am not sure how it works here Pennsylvania but I am thinking this should be similar in most states.

We had the same issue when we wanted to get married last summer ( Maryland, Montgomery county), our county courthouse was full because summer is one their busiest season; so we ended getting married in a neighboring county courthouse that was less busy and everything worked out well. We had to drive about an hour, but I am glad we did the courthouse was nicer and less crowded.

So check other courthouses in your area and what are the requirements, if they do accept residents of other counties.

Edit: You will have to get a marriage license from that other county and not the one you are living, in. I hope I made sense

Edited July 17, 2018 by Nouchigang

[Nouchigang 200]

Or the other option is to hire a wedding officiant, that will come to your house or place of choice to officiate the wedding.

[little immigrant 801]

Hi there my husband and I did a self uniting marriage in Colorado. We didn't even have witnesses. We are currently in the AOS process for him and so far I haven't gotten any negative word or RFE for our marriage license. Hope this helps 

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Hire a state licensed wedding officiant. (200 bucks or so)  In Hawaii we are licensed to perform weddings anywhere anyone wants one.  Then we file the necessary documentation with the State of Hawaii.  Easy peasey...  Come to Maui I'll marry you for 200 bucks on the beach at sunset.  hahaha  david

[C90 376]

On 7/17/2018 at 2:38 PM, C90 said:

Thanks! A self uniting marriage means you get a special license that you take home, the couple and 2 witnesses sign and that’s it. There’s no officiant. Afterwards you take it back to the marriage license bureau and they make it into a legal document. Since you are legally married this way I would think this shouldn’t be a problem, but I just wanna make sure USCIS thinks the same way.

I’m not in the country yet (I move in 3,5 weeks) but I called Philly marriage bureau and they said July and August are fully booked and they don’t know yet when we can come over to book a September court wedding. We prob can do it in other county’s, which county are you in? My fiancé lives in Delaware County (they don’t even do the court wedding

Edited August 19, 2018 by C90

[C90 376]

On 7/17/2018 at 2:54 PM, little immigrant said:

Hi there my husband and I did a self uniting marriage in Colorado. We didn't even have witnesses. We are currently in the AOS process for him and so far I haven't gotten any negative word or RFE for our marriage license. Hope this helps 

Thanks, helps a lot! Did you get any update yet since filing? We’re prob gonna do a self uniting wedding, since it’s still means you’re married by law. We’ll do a party later (we just bought a house so there isn’t really a budget  ) 

[little immigrant 801]

4 minutes ago, C90 said:

Thanks, helps a lot! Did you get any update yet since filing? We’re prob gonna do a self uniting wedding, since it’s still means you’re married by law. We’ll do a party later (we just bought a house so there isn’t really a budget  ) 

Hello we got married in June 2015 however I filed AOS for him in July 2017. He received his EAD/AP in November 2017. We already applied for renewal and we're still waiting for our green card interview.

 

We bought a house instead of having a ceremony too  We are hoping to have a ceremony later in his home country at his mom's house.

 

I hope everything goes well for you two! ❤️ 

[C90 376]

21 minutes ago, little immigrant said:

Hello we got married in June 2015 however I filed AOS for him in July 2017. He received his EAD/AP in November 2017. We already applied for renewal and we're still waiting for our green card interview.

 

We bought a house instead of having a ceremony too  We are hoping to have a ceremony later in his home country at his mom's house.

 

I hope everything goes well for you two! ❤️ 

That’s good to read, that means they did accept your marriage certificate (sorry, I didn’t get that you filed last year) 

 

Thanks, I hope for you guys he’ll have his GC soon and you’ll have a nice ceremony!

 

Can I ask what you did instead when you did the self uniting wedding? We thought about just signing at home for now and go out to dinner, then next month or so do a little gathering with his family / friends (not really a ceremony) I figured it’s good to have some pics as proof for GC interview. And then maybe in a few years do a party for both mine and his family. 

Edited August 19, 2018 by C90

[little immigrant 801]

3 hours ago, C90 said:

That’s good to read, that means they did accept your marriage certificate (sorry, I didn’t get that you filed last year) 

 

Thanks, I hope for you guys he’ll have his GC soon and you’ll have a nice ceremony!

 

Can I ask what you did instead when you did the self uniting wedding? We thought about just signing at home for now and go out to dinner, then next month or so do a little gathering with his family / friends (not really a ceremony) I figured it’s good to have some pics as proof for GC interview. And then maybe in a few years do a party for both mine and his family. 

After signing and turning it in at the court we went out for dinner and went back to our State. It was more difficult to get married in our state that's why we went to Colorado. We have a few pictures from that day but not many. 

 

You can always message me if you have more questions :) 

[liora11 1]

Little immigrant are you done report your marriage abroad