K1 Visa - AOS & driver licence in LA

[Rebecca & Kelvin 136]

Hi, I came to US at the end of August, and got married in LA on Sep. 5th. After we submitted our completed marriage certificate to county office, we were told it would take around 4-6 weeks for them to mail marriage certificate to me.

 

So my question is

1.  Do I have to wait to submit my aos package after I receive the certified marriage certificate? Or is it ok to use my marriage licence (customer copy) to file?

2. If I want to get California driver licence, driver handbook says "The I-94 expiration date must be no more than 2 months from the DL/ID card application date". Since our K1 only have 90 days on I-94. After this 90 days period, will my driver licence (assume if I have enough time to pass knowledge test, not sure if i need to pass the actual driving test) become invalid, and I need to use EAD to renew? Currently EAD takes 4-6 months, so does it mean there will be a gap, maybe 2-3 months that I can not use my driving licence?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

 

[Naes 12,205]

@kemm360 tagging you so you can follow, this is a similar situation 

[Naes 12,205]

13 minutes ago, Rebecca & Kelvin said:

Hi, I came to US at the end of August, and got married in LA on Sep. 5th. After we submitted our completed marriage certificate to county office, we were told it would take around 4-6 weeks for them to mail marriage certificate to me.

 

So my question is

1.  Do I have to wait to submit my aos package after I receive the certified marriage certificate? Or is it ok to use my marriage licence (customer copy) to file?

2. If I want to get California driver licence, driver handbook says "The I-94 expiration date must be no more than 2 months from the DL/ID card application date". Since our K1 only have 90 days on I-94. After this 90 days period, will my driver licence (assume if I have enough time to pass knowledge test, not sure if i need to pass the actual driving test) become invalid, and I need to use EAD to renew? Currently EAD takes 4-6 months, so does it mean there will be a gap, maybe 2-3 months that I can not use my driving licence?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

 

1. I’m not sure cause mine didn’t say customer copy, they gave us certified copy on the date we gave them to register our license.

 

2. Yes your assumptions are correct. It will expire with the i-94. California lets some countries use their DL for about 6 months. You can research on this. However because it is an international license and not local, you will need someone to register the car with you, and car insurance may become a bit more expensive.

[Rebecca & Kelvin 136]

12 minutes ago, Naes said:

1. I’m not sure cause mine didn’t say customer copy, they gave us certified copy on the date we gave them to register our license.

 

2. Yes your assumptions are correct. It will expire with the i-94. California lets some countries use their DL for about 6 months. You can research on this. However because it is an international license and not local, you will need someone to register the car with you, and car insurance may become a bit more expensive.

Hi Naes, we went to LA county to register the marriage. Which office did you go? I did see you marry on 8/18 and file all documents on 8/29. 

[TM92 527]

41 minutes ago, Rebecca & Kelvin said:

If I want to get California driver licence, driver handbook says "The I-94 expiration date must be no more than 2 months from the DL/ID card application date". Since our K1 only have 90 days on I-94. After this 90 days period, will my driver licence (assume if I have enough time to pass knowledge test, not sure if i need to pass the actual driving test) become invalid, and I need to use EAD to renew? Currently EAD takes 4-6 months, so does it mean there will be a gap, maybe 2-3 months that I can not use my driving licence?

Highlights from https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffdl32/ (corroborated by my personal experience):

• The expiration date will match the I-94 expiration date.
• It will say "LIMITED-TERM" in between CLASS and END (Endorsements).
• The last 2 digits of the DD (Document Discriminator) code will be "23", as in the year 2023. Since you will pay the license fee in September 2018, the fee will be valid until your birthday in the year 2023. So no need to pay any fees when you renew the limited-term license.

Yes, there will be a gap between I-94 expiration and EAD approval.

 

I personally don't recommend it, but some users have said to apply for an AB 60 license instead:

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by TM92

[Naes 12,205]

13 minutes ago, Rebecca & Kelvin said:

Hi Naes, we went to LA county to register the marriage. Which office did you go? I did see you marry on 8/18 and file all documents on 8/29. 

We went to Ventura probably that’s why it’s different. I asked them specifically when I was getting the license about when I can get the documents and they told me if I register myself I can get it that day. So we just registered and got everything the same day.

 

i know @Daniel P also waited ended up getting it in person, and @kemm360 that I tagged is also in the same situation with you. 

[Daniel P 2,022]

1 hour ago, Rebecca & Kelvin said:

Hi, I came to US at the end of August, and got married in LA on Sep. 5th. After we submitted our completed marriage certificate to county office, we were told it would take around 4-6 weeks for them to mail marriage certificate to me.

 

So my question is

1.  Do I have to wait to submit my aos package after I receive the certified marriage certificate? Or is it ok to use my marriage licence (customer copy) to file?

2. If I want to get California driver licence, driver handbook says "The I-94 expiration date must be no more than 2 months from the DL/ID card application date". Since our K1 only have 90 days on I-94. After this 90 days period, will my driver licence (assume if I have enough time to pass knowledge test, not sure if i need to pass the actual driving test) become invalid, and I need to use EAD to renew? Currently EAD takes 4-6 months, so does it mean there will be a gap, maybe 2-3 months that I can not use my driving licence?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

 

 

33 minutes ago, Naes said:

We went to Ventura probably that’s why it’s different. I asked them specifically when I was getting the license about when I can get the documents and they told me if I register myself I can get it that day. So we just registered and got everything the same day.

 

i know @Daniel P also waited ended up getting it in person, and @kemm360 that I tagged is also in the same situation with you. 

@Rebecca & Kelvin I wouldn't use the customer copy to file your AOS package, if you do so you'll get a RFE for sure. You need the certified copy. For what I understand you hand-carried the completed marriage certificate (the one completed by the person who married you) to the county office and they told you to wait? That's weird since they should be able to do it that very moment, it literally takes 1 minute. That's what we were told at the county's office, our problem was that the judge wouldn't allow us to hand-carry it there, but once there, if you go there's no reason for them to not do it right there, especially if you explain your situation and say you need it, for immigration purposes, as soon as possible. Maybe they are extremely busy at that office or they just don't wanna bother go out of the "normal" procedure? 🤷‍♂️

Edited September 10, 2018 by Daniel P

[Rebecca & Kelvin 136]

Yes, we have been told that LA county was extremely busy, and certified copy would take 4-6 weeks to be mailed to us.

[kemm360 144]

I am in the same boat, got to California on August 25th, got married at LAX Courthouse by the airport on September 7th. They said it takes 4-6 weeks to get the MC. All we were given is one that says certificate and license of marriage but has "Customer Copy" written across it on the background, i have heard people use this and some got RFE and some were fine. We will be calling them(USCIS) tomorrow to find out what they think. We want to do this thing once and get done with it. If we have to wait we will wait... RFE is not a good feeling. In the meantime we will be busy filling all other forms and gathering documents and doing joint bank accounts, lease and all to present a very good AOS submission, who knows they might wave our AOS interview lol 

Edited September 10, 2018 by kemm360

[Rebecca & Kelvin 136]

8 minutes ago, kemm360 said:

I am in the same boat, got to California on August 25th, got married at LAX Courthouse by the airport on September 7th. They said it takes 4-6 weeks to get the MC. All we were given is one that says certificate and license of marriage but has "Customer Copy" written across it on the background, i have heard people use this and some got RFE and some were fine. We will be calling them(USCIS) tomorrow to find out what they think. We want to do this thing once and get done with it. If we have to wait we will wait... RFE is not a good feeling. In the meantime we will be busy filling all other forms and gathering documents and doing joint bank accounts, lease and all to present a very good AOS submission, who knows they might wave our AOS interview lol 

Wow~~~ very similar timeline! Please keep me posted on this issue. Thanks for your reply.

[kemm360 144]

7 minutes ago, Rebecca & Kelvin said:

Wow~~~ very similar timeline! Please keep me posted on this issue. Thanks for your reply.

Will do. Please do too if you have any updates. My wife said its always slow to get things done in this LA. Too many people  

[Rebecca & Kelvin 136]

8 minutes ago, kemm360 said:

Will do. Please do too if you have any updates. My wife said its always slow to get things done in this LA. Too many people  

It took me an hour and half to just open a joint account on Saturday. I am wordless....

 

Regarding marriage certificate, my gut feeling is it's better to wait until we receive the certified copy. Even if you call USCIS, one day they say it's ok to just send customer copy, when the case office eventually review your case, you might still get a RFE. 

[ajay007 43]

56 minutes ago, kemm360 said:

I am in the same boat, got to California on August 25th, got married at LAX Courthouse by the airport on September 7th. They said it takes 4-6 weeks to get the MC. All we were given is one that says certificate and license of marriage but has "Customer Copy" written across it on the background, i have heard people use this and some got RFE and some were fine. We will be calling them(USCIS) tomorrow to find out what they think. We want to do this thing once and get done with it. If we have to wait we will wait... RFE is not a good feeling. In the meantime we will be busy filling all other forms and gathering documents and doing joint bank accounts, lease and all to present a very good AOS submission, who knows they might wave our AOS interview lol 

yes thats a good idea to avoid any RFE.you have to get marriage certificate not licence for filling AOS.

[kemm360 144]

3 hours ago, Rebecca & Kelvin said:

It took me an hour and half to just open a joint account on Saturday. I am wordless....

 

Regarding marriage certificate, my gut feeling is it's better to wait until we receive the certified copy. Even if you call USCIS, one day they say it's ok to just send customer copy, when the case office eventually review your case, you might still get a RFE. 

Which bank did you open joint account with? Do you have your SSN already? If yes how long did it take? We submitted for mine at the SSA 2 days after my POE... 

[Rebecca & Kelvin 136]

Just now, kemm360 said:

Which bank did you open joint account with? Do you have your SSN already? If yes how long did it take? We submitted for mine at the SSA 2 days after my POE... 

 I opened the joint account with US bank. The bank office said they did require ssn to open an account, but I told him I would apply ssn in the next couple of days. He modified something in the system and I was allowed to open an account. I need to give my ssn to the bank once I get it.