Can I get married online through the state of Utah to my Dutch fiancé and then have him visit me in the US?

[isis375 105]

I got married via Zoom through Utah County Clerk last week. For Visa purposes, I will be going in person to see my husband in Costa Rica in two weeks, but the consummation part of all of this talk is for USCIS, NOT for entering and leaving countries that allow spouses in during the travel ban. I'm in a facebook group (Couples Separated by Travel Bans) and a handful of other people have already gotten married through Utah via Zoom and both gotten into the US as well as other countries. Because you get an actual Marriage Certificate, and it's legal and legit. Now, a lot of those couples still had to talk extensively to border patrol when coming in, but most of them end up being able to travel regardless. I haven't actually left for my trip yet, so I can't speak from my personal experience with travel quite yet. Let me know if you have questions about the Utah marriage process. While yes, people are accurate about needing consummation for immigration purposes, the marriage is recognized as legal because it follows Utah's marriage laws and that is considered where you are married when you do it through them for non-immigration purposes. 

 

Granted, whether or not doing your marriage through Zoom is a completely personal decision that only you can make. 

 

Edit: also, when you say in your original post that "online weddings can be a pain in making the visa process harder" - I have no idea Netherlands laws, but marriage through Utah and Zoom is considered a traditional wedding, not an online wedding, and NOT a proxy wedding, and as with all visa processes, don't offer information unless asked. No one needs to say "we got married online" when saying that you're married and have a marriage certificate, because it is exactly the same legally as any marriage. Not to mention, if Netherlands needs consummation similarly to how USCIS does, if this Zoom wedding gets him into the States to visit, then that requirement is complete at that point. 

Edited September 26, 2020 by isis375