Getting Married in California - Certificate Times?

[APA 44]

I’ve heard Los Angeles County takes 6-12 weeks. Anyone have any (much) shorter times to receive their marriage certificate from a different county/area? I’ll travel to avoid waiting that long for the certificate. 

[Greenbaum 12,259]

11 hours ago, APA said:

I’ve heard Los Angeles County takes 6-12 weeks. Anyone have any (much) shorter times to receive their marriage certificate from a different county/area? I’ll travel to avoid waiting that long for the certificate. 

I'd recommend that you google some of the counties that are close to LA country to see what they require. Simple solution. 

[Ryan H 3,829]

Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to Moving to the US and Your New Life In America forum; topic pertains to issues post POE.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

On 1/17/2020 at 9:33 PM, APA said:

I’ve heard Los Angeles County takes 6-12 weeks. Anyone have any (much) shorter times to receive their marriage certificate from a different county/area? I’ll travel to avoid waiting that long for the certificate. 

Pretty much any of the counties adjacent to LA County will get in two weeks or less (we got ours in less than two weeks from Riverside County). It's only LA county that has really long waits for the certificate, I think (though also IIRC, SF can take a long time to get an appointment for a civil ceremony).

 

Of the counties adjacent to LA, Orange County has the lowest fees and I think lets you schedule online (we married in Temecula because it was the nearest county clerk's office other than downtown San Diego with an outdoor wedding area, and San Diego county's web site seemed to be trying to talk people out of using the downtown San Diego location).

[mandsophia 160]

we went to santa ana and got it in 10 days. only 45 minutes from LA 

Edited January 22, 2020 by mandsophia

[APA 44]

On 1/18/2020 at 11:42 PM, Greenbaum said:

I'd recommend that you google some of the counties that are close to LA country to see what they require. Simple solution. 

Simple solution:

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/728990-negative-attitudes-in-the-forum/

 

Telling me to google it is not helpful. I did google it, and I’m specifically asking for personal experience with wait times and not looking for canned google information which may or may not be outdated/inaccurate. If you don’t have personal experience with this, then there’s no reason for you to reply. 

[Mike E 11,742]

On 1/17/2020 at 9:33 PM, APA said:

I’ve heard Los Angeles County takes 6-12 weeks. Anyone have any (much) shorter times to receive their marriage certificate from a different county/area? I’ll travel to avoid waiting that long for the certificate. 

Santa Clara County (where San Jose) will produce a marriage cert that you can pickup from the county office (in San Jose) in two working days.

 

You can get married at the office's chapel. They will provide a witness too (for a small fee).

[APA 44]

6 hours ago, Mike E said:

Santa Clara County (where San Jose) will produce a marriage cert that you can pickup from the county office (in San Jose) in two working days.

 

You can get married at the office's chapel. They will provide a witness too (for a small fee).

Ah this is what I was looking for. I’m aiming for simple and quick with a confidential marriage license/wedding. I want to get the certificate asap so we can file for AOS. Thank you for the info!

[Mike E 11,742]

4 hours ago, APA said:

confidential marriage license/wedding. 

Ohhh. Well I've no idea about that. Why do you want that?

 

I fear you will find that the confidential marriage certificate isn't going to work for a K-1 couple. USCIS won't be able to verify the marriage.

 

I don't know if confidential marriage certificates can be produced in 2 working days.

 

And then will USCIS ask why you don't want the marriage publicly known?

 

Not great evidence of a bonafide marriage.

[APA 44]

6 hours ago, Mike E said:

Ohhh. Well I've no idea about that. Why do you want that?

 

I fear you will find that the confidential marriage certificate isn't going to work for a K-1 couple. USCIS won't be able to verify the marriage.

 

I don't know if confidential marriage certificates can be produced in 2 working days.

 

And then will USCIS ask why you don't want the marriage publicly known?

 

Not great evidence of a bonafide marriage.

I want it for 2 reasons: I don’t want my estranged stalker family getting into my personal business, and I also don’t want my personal business ending up in the never ending data mining machine. If you don’t know a lot about this, research it a bit, it’s huge. I’ve spent the last year getting my information off the internet and out of the hands of data brokers, I have no interest in going back in. These companies digitally mine public records and it gets bought and sold and published on the internet. This is nothing more than a personal privacy issue for me. I’m only hiding it from most of my family and google.

 

That being said, if USCIS asks me that question, I’ll explain it the same way. I have yet to find a single story of anyone having a problem with a K1 marriage with a confidential license & marriage. The paperwork is all certified by the court, it just doesn’t enter public record. It can still be retrieved by me or my spouse and with a court order. Sure they may question us a bit more, but it is a bonafide marriage. 

[Mike E 11,742]

Well if you know of a successful K-1 story using a confidential marriage cert, fine I suppose.  

 

I worry  that an explanation that family is opposed to the marriage is not going to help you.  
 

I am way out of my depth here and I would be getting an immigration attorney.  

 

[Silmaril 8]

Hi there, we obtained a confidential CA cert as well just to avoid our data becoming available on internet searches and then used for identity theft etc. Of course we have wedding videos, pictures, shared financials and tons of other proof of bonafide marriage. Our attorney didn’t think it would be a problem, but we have some lingering concerns. Our interview has been scheduled, guess we’ll see!

[APA 44]

On 1/28/2020 at 9:26 PM, Silmaril said:

Hi there, we obtained a confidential CA cert as well just to avoid our data becoming available on internet searches and then used for identity theft etc. Of course we have wedding videos, pictures, shared financials and tons of other proof of bonafide marriage. Our attorney didn’t think it would be a problem, but we have some lingering concerns. Our interview has been scheduled, guess we’ll see!

 

I think that USCIS will be seeing more of these as time goes on because people are becoming more aware of personal privacy. Best of luck, keep us posted.