Help! No marriage certificate still, i94 expiring soon

[Laritya 41]

Hi all,

 

So we made the mistake of getting married in Los Angeles 😐. We got married July 12 and still have not received a copy of our marriage certificate. I just called the courthouse and they said that they don’t even have an image of it yet and that it takes TWO MONTHS now before they will have the image and then send it out. She said if I went to the courthouse today, they’d just mail them to me when they got the image. 

Obviously this is a huge problem. My husband’s 90 days are up in September. We can’t file for AOS without the marriage certificate. 

 

Here’s my question: we received a “customer’s copy” of our marriage license and certificate. It has all of the names, signatures, and info, just with “customer copy” written across the paper. ** Would we be able to send a copy of that in + a letter explaining the situation and then as soon as we get the certified copies, send those in to add to our file? 

Or is that pointless and we will just get rejected/sent back to us immediately? **

 

Thanks guys. 

[Dashinka 24,494]

I have heard that LA is a pain for getting marriage certificates.  Others may know more, but in my opinion you need the actual certified certificate to file the AOS.  I think you would risk a rejection if you sent in the file before getting it.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

[TL2016 208]

There are two scenarios that are likely:

 

1. They will accept your package and will likely send you a RFE asking for an original or a certified copy.

2. Your package will be rejected from the get go without the original. 

 

Overstays are forgiven for spouses of US citizens so it’s not a big issue there, but I totally understand your concerns. If you’ve got everything ready to go you could take the chance and just send your package out now so the EAD /AP timeline gets going. If you do decide to go this route though, make sure to make copies of everything so it’ll be as painless as possible to send out a second package.

[Laritya 41]

8 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I have heard that LA is a pain for getting marriage certificates.  Others may know more, but in my opinion you need the actual certified certificate to file the AOS.  I think you would risk a rejection if you sent in the file before getting it.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, TL2016 said:

There are two scenarios that are likely:

 

1. They will accept your package and will likely send you a RFE asking for an original or a certified copy.

2. Your package will be rejected from the get go without the original. 

 

Overstays are forgiven for spouses of US citizens so it’s not a big issue there, but I totally understand your concerns. If you’ve got everything ready to go you could take the chance and just send your package out now so the EAD /AP timeline gets going. If you do decide to go this route though, make sure to make copies of everything so it’ll be as painless as possible to send out a second package.

 

 

Thank you both! I just looked and it said if a marriage certificate is unavailable, to send in documentation of it not being available and any other evidence of the marriage we might have? We don’t have documentation exactly of it not being available except that it’s not here yet... 😕 

[Juniper 62]

On 8/23/2019 at 2:11 PM, Laritya said:

 

 

 

Thank you both! I just looked and it said if a marriage certificate is unavailable, to send in documentation of it not being available and any other evidence of the marriage we might have? We don’t have documentation exactly of it not being available except that it’s not here yet... 😕 

Your I-485 needs a cover letter that explains each document.  On that cover letter for the marriage document explain why unavailable: write about your discussion with someone in the appropriate government department, get their name, title and confirm phone number and ask about estimated timeframe.  Also, you have that other non-official document to send in and explain in your cover letter. And maybe repeat that USCIS information you just found as your basis for submitting without actual offical marriage certificate.

 

Personally, I think that this will be good enough for submission to be accepted ... and later get an RFE.  But important to get that I-485 NOA1 to establish continued legal status as you are already thinking.

[Laritya 41]

4 hours ago, Juniper said:

Your I-485 needs a cover letter that explains each document.  On that cover letter for the marriage document explain why unavailable: write about your discussion with someone in the appropriate government department, get their name, title and confirm phone number and ask about estimated timeframe.  Also, you have that other non-official document to send in and explain in your cover letter. And maybe repeat that USCIS information you just found as your basis for submitting without actual offical marriage certificate.

 

Personally, I think that this will be good enough for submission to be accepted ... and later get an RFE.  But important to get that I-485 NOA1 to establish continued legal status as you are already thinking.

Thank you for your input! The problem is, there is no specific person. I just called the county clerk’s office and they told me that our marriage certificate won’t be available for two months from the day we got married. I guess I could ask for their name but the phone number isn’t a direct line to them. It’s to the county clerk office and whoever works that day in the call center/help center picks it up. Like I said, we have a copy that just says “customer copy” with original signatures + the name and date and we got a pretty little “marriage certificate” from the church we got married in AND I have a receipt showing I purchased copies (so I was going to scan that and send it in with the explanation)... I’m really hoping between the cover letter explanation and all of that, they’ll accept it. I’m sending it at the end of this week... so I’ll keep everyone updated. But really, thank you for your help!

[0NI 114]

6 hours ago, Laritya said:

Thank you for your input! The problem is, there is no specific person. I just called the county clerk’s office and they told me that our marriage certificate won’t be available for two months from the day we got married. I guess I could ask for their name but the phone number isn’t a direct line to them. It’s to the county clerk office and whoever works that day in the call center/help center picks it up. Like I said, we have a copy that just says “customer copy” with original signatures + the name and date and we got a pretty little “marriage certificate” from the church we got married in AND I have a receipt showing I purchased copies (so I was going to scan that and send it in with the explanation)... I’m really hoping between the cover letter explanation and all of that, they’ll accept it. I’m sending it at the end of this week... so I’ll keep everyone updated. But really, thank you for your help!

May I ask which part of LA you got married? Thanks