successful AOS with confidential marriage certificate

[myjourney2018 52]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm just doing some pre-planning prior to my K1 getting approved.  I'm just curious how many couples were successful with getting their AOS approved with a confidential marriage license because I read about one case where the original poster believed they got pulled into a stoke interview because of having a confidential marriage certificate.  The reason I'm interested in having a confidential marriage license/certificate is because of convenience, not having to have a witness and for privacy reason considering all the identity theft that occurs nowadays. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[eckoin 211]

What's a confidential marriage license/certificate? 

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

19 hours ago, myjourney2018 said:

The reason I'm interested in having a confidential marriage license/certificate is because of convenience, not having to have a witness and for privacy reason considering all the identity theft that occurs nowadays. 

How many cases of identity fraud do you know have been the result of having a public marriage license?   

[C90 376]

2 hours ago, eckoin said:

What's a confidential marriage license/certificate? 

The record of your marriage is a public record meaning everyone could just go to the clerk and request to see your marriage record. A confidential marriage record is not public, only the clerk knows about it and you don't need witnesses to get married. It's only legal in CA. All my info is from Google, so if I made a mistake then I'm sorry lol

[C90 376]

21 hours ago, myjourney2018 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I'm just doing some pre-planning prior to my K1 getting approved.  I'm just curious how many couples were successful with getting their AOS approved with a confidential marriage license because I read about one case where the original poster believed they got pulled into a stoke interview because of having a confidential marriage certificate.  The reason I'm interested in having a confidential marriage license/certificate is because of convenience, not having to have a witness and for privacy reason considering all the identity theft that occurs nowadays. 

 

Thanks in advance!

It's highly unlikely there would be any identity fraud with your marriage record, especially since there's no SSN on it. But in the end it's a legal way of getting married. I don't know if you would be more likely to get a stoke interview with a confidential marriage record, but expect to raise some questions other people won't get regarding why you chose this option. 

[myjourney2018 52]

2 hours ago, missileman said:

How many cases of identity fraud do you know have been the result of having a public marriage license?   

Unfortunately I do not have stats to your question, I mainly used it as an example.

52 minutes ago, C90 said:

It's highly unlikely there would be any identity fraud with your marriage record, especially since there's no SSN on it. But in the end it's a legal way of getting married. I don't know if you would be more likely to get a stoke interview with a confidential marriage record, but expect to raise some questions other people won't get regarding why you chose this option. 

The biggest plus for wanting the confidential is not needing a witness. 

[K1visaHopeful 2,814]

Just now, myjourney2018 said:

Unfortunately I do not have stats to your question, I mainly used it as an example.

The biggest plus for wanting the confidential is not needing a witness. 

What do you mean not needing a witness? In most states the officiant acts as your only witness. Is that not the case in your state? 

[myjourney2018 52]

Just now, K1visaHopeful said:

What do you mean not needing a witness? In most states the officiant acts as your only witness. Is that not the case in your state? 

As far as I know or atleast what i've been researching, in california, if you opt to have it done at the court house, you would need a witness if you do the public marriage license.  Hence having a confidential marriage license, you do not need a witness.  

[K1visaHopeful 2,814]

2 minutes ago, myjourney2018 said:

As far as I know or atleast what i've been researching, in california, if you opt to have it done at the court house, you would need a witness if you do the public marriage license.  Hence having a confidential marriage license, you do not need a witness.  

A simple Google search of "Can I get married in a California courthouse without a witness?" states the officiant is your witness. That is all that is required. Have you googled your courthouse and talked to a human? 

[C90 376]

Just now, myjourney2018 said:

As far as I know or atleast what i've been researching, in california, if you opt to have it done at the court house, you would need a witness if you do the public marriage license.  Hence having a confidential marriage license, you do not need a witness.  

May I ask why you don't want witnesses? Most people don't want one when they want to hide their marriage (from what I read online) That can be a huge question mark for USCIS

Edited February 5, 2019 by C90

[myjourney2018 52]

21 minutes ago, C90 said:

May I ask why you don't want witnesses? Most people don't want one when they want to hide their marriage (from what I read online) That can be a huge question mark for USCIS

This is mainly out of convenience, don't have to ask anybody to take a day off from work to attend to be a witness and sign the marriage license.  Fiance and myself are pretty simple hence why we opted not to have a wedding but just go to court to sign.   I understand the concern how it may look to USCIS hence I'm asking about it, worst case scenario is, I can get a witness.  

 

22 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

A simple Google search of "Can I get married in a California courthouse without a witness?" states the officiant is your witness. That is all that is required. Have you googled your courthouse and talked to a human? 

On the court's services page, they state that a witness is needed for a public marriage license and the court house will not provide one under any circumstances.  

[C90 376]

Just now, myjourney2018 said:

This is mainly out of convenience, don't have to ask anybody to take a day off from work to attend to be a witness and sign the marriage license.  Fiance and myself are pretty simple hence why we opted not to have a wedding but just go to court to sign.   I understand the concern how it may look to USCIS hence I'm asking about it, worst case scenario is, I can get a witness.  

In the end it's your own choice. To come back to your original question, I'm not sure if USCIS just randomly does stoke interviews or that there are factors that play a role. I didn't read many stories on here of people them, but I wouldn't be surprised if USCIS will question the reason of your choice a little more.

 

If I were the USCIS officer I would think it's one of the most important days of your life, you would think that friends and/or family would want to take a day off for that. 

 

They can't deny you on it, they can give you a harder time and check a little more if your marriage is real. But if your marriage is real then it shouldn't matter if you get a confidential marriage record or a stoke interview. If this is going to give you more stress about the interview, I would just go with the normal license and take a witness (in CA apparently you only need 1, double check at your local clerks office) I'm sure they would be honored to be witness at your wedding.

[myjourney2018 52]

5 minutes ago, C90 said:

In the end it's your own choice. To come back to your original question, I'm not sure if USCIS just randomly does stoke interviews or that there are factors that play a role. I didn't read many stories on here of people them, but I wouldn't be surprised if USCIS will question the reason of your choice a little more.

 

If I were the USCIS officer I would think it's one of the most important days of your life, you would think that friends and/or family would want to take a day off for that. 

 

They can't deny you on it, they can give you a harder time and check a little more if your marriage is real. But if your marriage is real then it shouldn't matter if you get a confidential marriage record or a stoke interview. If this is going to give you more stress about the interview, I would just go with the normal license and take a witness (in CA apparently you only need 1, double check at your local clerks office) I'm sure they would be honored to be witness at your wedding.

I'm definitely leaning more toward the public because of the whole thing with USCIS like you mentioned.  You are definitely correct in that if the marriage is real, it doesn't matter if it's confidential or stoke interview but of course, I just want things to run smoothly.  Greatly appreciate all your responds also!