AOS & marriage certificate delay

[Rodney1 4]

We were married July 10th. Los Angeles County says it usually takes 6 to 8 weeks to receive official marriage certificate, and today, 4.5 weeks after marriage, we have not yet received it. The K1 visa entry was for 90 days, which expires tomorrow, Aug. 11th. AOS requires a copy of the official marriage certificate, so we can't file that yet. No one is likely to ask about immigration status, but it seems that we can't prove legal residence starting Aug. 12th until we receive the marriage certificate. Am I missing something?

[K1visaHopeful 2,815]

Your lawful presence will end when the I94 expires on Aug 11th and you will be out of status.

Once you have the I485 Noa1 receipt notice you will have entered a period of authorized stay pending the approval of your I485. You wont have lawful presence but authorized stay is as good as it's going to get.

Being married and being able to prove it with the MC does not give you any benefits. You need to file AOS and have that Noa1 as evidence of authorized stay to be considered "safe" as far as immigration enforcement is concerned.

Until you have the Noa1, I'd recommend you lay extremely low.

[K1visaHopeful 2,815]

This is a recent VJ'ers experience.

Not to scare you at all but just so you fully understand the implications of your situation:

 

 

 

 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

17 hours ago, Rodney1 said:

We were married July 10th. Los Angeles County says it usually takes 6 to 8 weeks to receive official marriage certificate, and today, 4.5 weeks after marriage, we have not yet received it. The K1 visa entry was for 90 days, which expires tomorrow, Aug. 11th. AOS requires a copy of the official marriage certificate, so we can't file that yet. No one is likely to ask about immigration status, but it seems that we can't prove legal residence starting Aug. 12th until we receive the marriage certificate. Am I missing something?

FWIW, this is why when anyone asks here, I (and a few others) strongly recommend not getting married in LA County on a K-1 (some people were able to get their marriage certificate more quickly, but that doesn't appear to be the norm).

In any of the neighboring counties (we married in Riverside County for other reasons; processing times in San Diego county are fine), you would have been able to get your marriage certificate in no more than two weeks.