Los Angeles/California Marriage Certificate - current wait times?

[StaceF 41]

Hi all,

 

I am just wondering if anybody that has recently received their marriage certificate in LA/California can let me know how long it took from registering your marriage to actually receiving your certificate?

 

I can see that the official processing times are stating 6-12 weeks, but I am wanting to hear what people are ACTUALLY experiencing please 🙂 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Stace

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

We haven't yet, but if the answers you get on this aren't to your liking, you might want to check into getting married in a neighboring county instead of in LA county (Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Ventura). You don't have to get married in the county (or even state) where you live, after all.

 

We're currently planning on getting married at the Riverside County Clerk's office in Temecula because that's the nearest one with an outdoor wedding area to where I live other than downtown San Diego, and the San Diego County Clerk's Office web site discourages using the downtown office due to a lack of parking.

[Ontarkie 14,369]

~~Moved to Moving Here and Your New Life, from AOS Progress Reports - the question is about registering a marriage and receiving the certificate.~~

[StaceF 41]

44 minutes ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

We haven't yet, but if the answers you get on this aren't to your liking, you might want to check into getting married in a neighboring county instead of in LA county (Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Ventura). You don't have to get married in the county (or even state) where you live, after all.

 

We're currently planning on getting married at the Riverside County Clerk's office in Temecula because that's the nearest one with an outdoor wedding area to where I live other than downtown San Diego, and the San Diego County Clerk's Office web site discourages using the downtown office due to a lack of parking.

Oh I love the Temecula Valleys, what a beautiful place to get married! 

 

I’m worrying a little more about getting our “certified” marriage certificate for the AOS. I’ve been reading that some people have had an RFE for only giving the copy that you get given in the day of the wedding and that they were requested to send a certified copy. 

 

Ok, so we register our marriage in the county/state we get married in and then wait for them to send the certified copy, rather than registering in the county we live in? (Potentially a silly question, so apologies in advance!)

[TBoneTX 45,845]

What you get on the day of the wedding is probably the signed marriage license, which differs from the certificate needed for AOS and subsequent stages.

 

I'm unsure of the California process.  In Texas, we married, asked the Justice of the Peace if we could hand-carry the signed marriage license to the courthouse ourselves (= OK), beelined for the courthouse, and ordered 7 (yes) copies of the marriage certificate.  These were prepared while we waited.  We ended up using 5 of the copies (AOS, banks, souvenirs for mothers).

 

If California (or your county of marriage there) doesn't allow "order while you wait," at least send off for multiple copies of your certificate.

[I.Kat 191]

Hi, I don't know if you already have your answer, but we got married in San Francisco City Hall about three weeks ago. The marriage license prior our marriage was done immediately (but we had to schedule an appointment for it online) and the certificate afterwards took about a week and half. We were told that the marriage certificate can be requested two weeks after the marriage (and that this process is NOT done automatically and you have to request it), yet we tried to call in a bit earlier and it was available. My guess is that it was done already a week after but because SF City Hall is incredibly busy, they rather use the two weeks wait period. Also, there was an option to have it mailed but I think that going and picking it up was the fastest. I know it is not LA but hopefully it helps a bit  

[StaceF 41]

 

1 hour ago, I.Kat said:

Hi, I don't know if you already have your answer, but we got married in San Francisco City Hall about three weeks ago. The marriage license prior our marriage was done immediately (but we had to schedule an appointment for it online) and the certificate afterwards took about a week and half. We were told that the marriage certificate can be requested two weeks after the marriage (and that this process is NOT done automatically and you have to request it), yet we tried to call in a bit earlier and it was available. My guess is that it was done already a week after but because SF City Hall is incredibly busy, they rather use the two weeks wait period. Also, there was an option to have it mailed but I think that going and picking it up was the fastest. I know it is not LA but hopefully it helps a bit  

Thank you! That seems super fast compared to what I have seen for LA so that gives me hope. We are actually thinking about heading out of LA for it now.

 

My main concern was us being delayed in applying for AOS whilst my I-94 is still valid if the certified marriage certificate was going to take so long to arrive, so you've given me hope that that shouldn't be the case.

 

Thanks for your help xx

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

3 hours ago, StaceF said:

Thank you! That seems super fast compared to what I have seen for LA so that gives me hope. We are actually thinking about heading out of LA for it now.

FYI - both Orange and Riverside county allow walk-ins at some locations (your post prompted me to check with Riverside county to see if I'd need to make an appointment well in advance for us). Don't know about San Bernardino or Ventura. You do need an appointment here in San Diego county, though.

[StaceF 41]

20 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

FYI - both Orange and Riverside county allow walk-ins at some locations (your post prompted me to check with Riverside county to see if I'd need to make an appointment well in advance for us). Don't know about San Bernardino or Ventura. You do need an appointment here in San Diego county, though.

Thank you so much for the info!

 

I'm just about to start doing some further research myself but from you saw for Riverside if you do walk in do they provide a certified copy for you there and then? How long after the wedding will they have them available?

[StaceF 41]

On ‎12‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 1:26 AM, TBoneTX said:

What you get on the day of the wedding is probably the signed marriage license, which differs from the certificate needed for AOS and subsequent stages.

 

I'm unsure of the California process.  In Texas, we married, asked the Justice of the Peace if we could hand-carry the signed marriage license to the courthouse ourselves (= OK), beelined for the courthouse, and ordered 7 (yes) copies of the marriage certificate.  These were prepared while we waited.  We ended up using 5 of the copies (AOS, banks, souvenirs for mothers).

 

If California (or your county of marriage there) doesn't allow "order while you wait," at least send off for multiple copies of your certificate.

Thank you, this I really helpful! Really good to know that we will need a few certified copies too as I wouldn't have thought of that!

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

8 minutes ago, StaceF said:

I'm just about to start doing some further research myself but from you saw for Riverside if you do walk in do they provide a certified copy for you there and then? How long after the wedding will they have them available?

Won't be able to walk out with one; two to three weeks they said in email.

[Bibijaan 19]

We got our first marriage license from LA county, when we got it we didn't know the wait time for the marriage certificate would be 10 weeks (this was in 2017). I completely stressed out after learning that, cause that would mean we'd get it after the end date of my I-94. I didn't know back then that that's not that bad. But that's why we decided to get our second marriage license in Orange County, they said the marriage certificate would take two weeks after turning in the license, but we could always call to see if it was registered earlier. We did, and got it about a week after we turned it in (we picked it up ourselves). 

[Mike E 11,742]

Since the subject is LA/California and not "LA, California", I will chime in.

 

This thread frightened me, as I wondered if most California counties were as dysfunctional as LA county when it came to marriage certificates. 12 week waits for the certificate are simply unacceptable for K-1 visa couples.

 

After a lot of research, I concluded that Santa Clara county (county of San Jose, the third largest city in the state) was the ideal place to get married. Timeline:

• Tuesday Jan 22 - applied for marriage license at county record and booked the county recorder's marriage chapel and associate justice of the peace for a ceremony. For an additional $10 got the recorder to provide a witness. Would have done this on Jan 21, but MLK day.
• Friday Jan 25 - marriage performed in a nicely decorated chapel at 10:30 am. We had a professional photographer come in. The justice of the peace had a nice set of vows preprepared and he gave us a copy of them.
• Morning of Wednesday Jan 30 - obtained 4 copies of marriage certificate. It was actually ready the afternoon of Jan 29, but the recorder's office gets very busy.

Most of the other SF Bay Area counties have similar turn arounds on the certificate. But few provide a witness and a chapel, so this was a no brainer. Very happy with the experience.

Edited January 31, 2019 by Mike E

[StaceF 41]

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 8:09 PM, Mike E said:

Since the subject is LA/California and not "LA, California", I will chime in.

 

This thread frightened me, as I wondered if most California counties were as dysfunctional as LA county when it came to marriage certificates. 12 week waits for the certificate are simply unacceptable for K-1 visa couples.

 

After a lot of research, I concluded that Santa Clara county (county of San Jose, the third largest city in the state) was the ideal place to get married. Timeline:

• Tuesday Jan 22 - applied for marriage license at county record and booked the county recorder's marriage chapel and associate justice of the peace for a ceremony. For an additional $10 got the recorder to provide a witness. Would have done this on Jan 21, but MLK day.
• Friday Jan 25 - marriage performed in a nicely decorated chapel at 10:30 am. We had a professional photographer come in. The justice of the peace had a nice set of vows preprepared and he gave us a copy of them.
• Morning of Wednesday Jan 30 - obtained 4 copies of marriage certificate. It was actually ready the afternoon of Jan 29, but the recorder's office gets very busy.

Most of the other SF Bay Area counties have similar turn arounds on the certificate. But few provide a witness and a chapel, so this was a no brainer. Very happy with the experience.

Hi, Thank you for this! That is super helpful info and definitely something for me to consider as like you say, 12 week wait time is just not acceptable for K1 visa couples! It's so nice to hear you had such a positive experience! 

 

We are most likely now going to head to Vegas for the ceremony. I've found some really pretty chapels...Elvis weddings and drive thru's are not our thing!!

We actually met in Vegas and we have some friends coming with us for a long weekend, so we are going to do the legal ceremony and have a fun weekend and then plan a more traditional style ceremony with all of our family and friends in a couple of years so people will have time to plan their travel etc.

They seem to also have a quick turnaround on obtaining your marriage certificate so we are staying positive that it will all go smoothly.

 

Thanks again for your post, it is much appreciated 🙂 

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

Sorry to tag on to your thread - but reading this has concerned me a little! 

 

I’m planning to enter the US on 25th November and we’re getting married in LA on 7th February 2019 (we’ll, assuming the visa is granted, etc), so I guess that means it will take 6-12 weeks for us to get our marriage certificate - what would be the downside/issue with this taking a while? I haven’t really looked into any of the stages after the visa to be honest, as focussing on doing the K1 application/interview etc correctly, before worrying about other stuff. I know we need to marry within 90 days of me entering and have sent off the initial form for AOS...but that’s about it.

 

Thank you!