K1 Approved! Help with marriage

[Jgarcia436 0]

Hello all! 

Firstly, thank you so much to everybody on this forum who helped guide me through this tedious process with extreme complications throughout. Luckily those hurdles were met with persistence and sheer luck mostly based on what I learned on here and other forums.

My question is as follow, 

My fiancé will be entering the US later this month and we want to get married mid December. On the California website it says she needs a valid drivers license or ID. Would we have to get either of these before we get married? Or can she even be issued these without being a resident/citizen? I hope that we can. I’m willing to go to the DMV with her to get her ID but what would she need? I’m assuming a birth certificate and an ID, maybe a social security card?

That brings me to my second question.

Can I possibly get the social security card for her after we are married? So that we don’t have to go back and change her name, the office is most often congested and if possible I’d rather just have her obtain her card after her last name is changed. 

Thank you all once again for your help! And with this new knowledge I shall remain active as my case was quite unique and hopefully I can be of help to someone in the future who went through a similar case.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

3 minutes ago, Jgarcia436 said:

Hello all! 

Firstly, thank you so much to everybody on this forum who helped guide me through this tedious process with extreme complications throughout. Luckily those hurdles were met with persistence and sheer luck mostly based on what I learned on here and other forums.

My question is as follow, 

My fiancé will be entering the US later this month and we want to get married mid December. On the California website it says she needs a valid drivers license or ID. Would we have to get either of these before we get married? Or can she even be issued these without being a resident/citizen? I hope that we can. I’m willing to go to the DMV with her to get her ID but what would she need? I’m assuming a birth certificate and an ID, maybe a social security card?

That brings me to my second question.

Can I possibly get the social security card for her after we are married? So that we don’t have to go back and change her name, the office is most often congested and if possible I’d rather just have her obtain her card after her last name is changed. 

Thank you all once again for your help! And with this new knowledge I shall remain active as my case was quite unique and hopefully I can be of help to someone in the future who went through a similar case.

1. She can use her passport as her ID in order to get married. 

 

2. It is highly advisable to apply for the SSN before marriage. Then you can change it once you get married

[Pitaya 2,577]

Due to the poor turnaround times for marriage certificates in some California counties, i.e., LA, many similarly situated couples drive to Las Vegas and get married in Nevada. https://www.702wedding.com/las-vegas-marriage-license

 

YMMV

[Lebanese23 303]

applying for Social security card before marriage is the better route. you might get SS card way after marriage anyways. and dont wait for SSN to apply for AOS, just submit your paperworks with or without SSN

[jaysaldi 213]

"Can I possibly get the social security card for her after we are married? So that we don’t have to go back and change her name, the office is most often congested and if possible I’d rather just have her obtain her card after her last name is changed. "

 

Don't do this. It's what I tried to do, and I screwed up and now my fiancee won't have a SSN for another 6 months.  It can take weeks/months to get approved for a SSN because they often have to manually verify the applicant's immigration status and number of posters here have run into recalcitrant staff at the SSA who falsely/mistakenly tell them that K-1 visa holders can't get Social Security cards because they aren't allowed to work.  Or they tell them "Oh, you're married, now she's ineligible for a SSN" which also isn't true.  Many posters here have had to make multiple visits to the office and demanded to talk to supervisors just to get the card issued in the fiancee's maiden name.  Trying to get a new card in the married name assures they will need to manually verify immigration status and adds additional delays.

 

Social security cards can't be processed less than fourteen days before the I-94 ninety day expiration date. Even if you apply before the 14 day deadline, they will refuse to issue the card after the 14 day deadline.

 

If your fiance arrives November 25 her expiration date will be about February 23.  That means no card processed after February 9. Let's say you marry December 15, you wait for marriage certificate, maybe go on honeymoon, things are closed around the holidays, so you go into the SSA office with marriage certificate on January 3.  They may tell you to go away, sorry, you're married, we can't do it (which is wrong). Or they might say "the system can't verify her status (since she's now using a new name) and then hand you a letter saying "We're doing a manual verification that takes up to four weeks."  And if it goes much longer than that or if there are any delays you end up past February 9 and no card until EAD.

 

Go to the SSA office shortly after she arrives and before you marry and apply for the card in her maiden name. There is then like a 100% chance she'll get it before her i-94 expires. Will you have to go back again after you marry and get her name changed on it?  Yes. But that's a minor inconvenience compared to the real risk of the major inconvenience of her not having a social security number for like 8-9 months because the i94 window closed while they were trying to verify her DHS status under her new name.

 

 

[FlyingPan 11]

I got married in LA County last August.  Only my fiance's passport was required for her to get the license there (1st marriage):  

https://www.lavote.net/home/county-clerk/marriage-licenses-ceremonies/general-info/eligibility

 

Maybe it varies within California by county, but you should be able to get around having a Drivers License or ID.    My wife has an appointment with the DMV in December.

 

LA County has a bad reputation for turning around marriage certificates, but ours was received in the mail 3 weeks after the ceremony- not bad.  

 

Lastly- I agree with the others- get the SSN done early and not later.  Fair chance you may need manual verification- and a lot of people (including my wife) get lost between the DHS and SSA when that happens.  It's good to have the I-94 clock on your side when working through that potential malaise.  

 

Good Luck!