Marriage Certificate Copy for I-485: certified or can be copied on the day of my wedding?

[LJVotolato 13]

I'm a bit desperate for information. I thought I was doing everything correctly in that I have prepared all of the documents and filled out all of the forms for my adjustment of status (485 and all the other forms with it). My intent was to mail all of this in the same day after we get married (we get married on Saturday) since all I needed was the marriage license (with the witness and officiant signatures, of course). But it has come to my attention that this may have been faulty logic: it seems like I need to now MAIL IN THE signed marriage license so the Los Angeles County can record it and they will be mailing the certified copy back to me. The only problem is that they quoted me on the phone 8-10 weeks (another 2-3 months) for it to be sent to me. I was really hoping to get a job / visit my family in Canada as soon as possible so that delay is just devastating to me. 

 

The instructions for I-485 state:

In addition to the evidence listed in the What Evidence Must You Submit with Form I-485 section, you must submit a copy of the marriage certificate to show that the K-1 nonimmigrant fiancé(e) married the U.S. citizen (Form I-129F petitioner) in the 90-day period.

 

For those who have successfully submitted and got approved, did you submit the copy of the marriage certificate (that is used during your wedding ceremony) OR did you have to wait to send that copy in and wait for the certified copy of the marriage license back from the county?

 

Thank you so much in advance.

[SalishSea 18,219]

3 minutes ago, LJVotolato said:

I'm a bit desperate for information. I thought I was doing everything correctly in that I have prepared all of the documents and filled out all of the forms for my adjustment of status (485 and all the other forms with it). My intent was to mail all of this in the same day after we get married (we get married on Saturday) since all I needed was the marriage license (with the witness and officiant signatures, of course). But it has come to my attention that this may have been faulty logic: it seems like I need to now MAIL IN THE signed marriage license so the Los Angeles County can record it and they will be mailing the certified copy back to me. The only problem is that they quoted me on the phone 8-10 weeks (another 2-3 months) for it to be sent to me. I was really hoping to get a job / visit my family in Canada as soon as possible so that delay is just devastating to me. 

 

The instructions for I-485 state:

In addition to the evidence listed in the What Evidence Must You Submit with Form I-485 section, you must submit a copy of the marriage certificate to show that the K-1 nonimmigrant fiancé(e) married the U.S. citizen (Form I-129F petitioner) in the 90-day period.

 

For those who have successfully submitted and got approved, did you submit the copy of the marriage certificate (that is used during your wedding ceremony) OR did you have to wait to send that copy in and wait for the certified copy of the marriage license back from the county?

 

Thank you so much in advance.

Right, do not send any forms without the certified copy of the marriage certificate, or it will be rejected outright.

 

The marriage license/keepsake certificate you get on the day of the wedding is not adequate.  

 

AP/EAD is taking 8+ months currently, a well known drawback to doing a K-1 unfortunately.

[LJVotolato 13]

1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

Right, do not send any forms without the certified copy of the marriage certificate, or it will be rejected outright.

 

The marriage license/keepsake certificate you get on the day of the wedding is not adequate.  

 

AP/EAD is taking 8+ months currently, a well known drawback to doing a K-1 unfortunately.

Thank you for responding so promptly. What an error on my part, ugh.

 

It seems like you got approved for your AOS. Two other questions:

1. Some people seem to add their wedding photos to their package. Is this necessary? 

2. When you filed for AP/EAD, it seems like they need a lot of the same things the AOS (485) needs such as passport photos, etc. Do you duplicate everything for each form or for example, are two passport photos (required for 485) sufficient for all of the other forms?

 

 

[SalishSea 18,219]

54 minutes ago, LJVotolato said:

Thank you for responding so promptly. What an error on my part, ugh.

 

It seems like you got approved for your AOS. Two other questions:

1. Some people seem to add their wedding photos to their package. Is this necessary? 

2. When you filed for AP/EAD, it seems like they need a lot of the same things the AOS (485) needs such as passport photos, etc. Do you duplicate everything for each form or for example, are two passport photos (required for 485) sufficient for all of the other forms?

 

 

We brought our wedding photos to our AOS interview.  The officer asked for them specifically.

 

I can't remember the specifics for the AP/EAD/AOS forms - I would definitely use the most updated instructions from USCIS.gov.  Maybe someone who has done theirs more recently can chime in?

 

We sent our AOS packet over three years ago.  Just mailed the ROC yesterday!

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

1 hour ago, LJVotolato said:

Thank you for responding so promptly. What an error on my part, ugh.

 

It seems like you got approved for your AOS. Two other questions:

1. Some people seem to add their wedding photos to their package. Is this necessary? 

2. When you filed for AP/EAD, it seems like they need a lot of the same things the AOS (485) needs such as passport photos, etc. Do you duplicate everything for each form or for example, are two passport photos (required for 485) sufficient for all of the other forms?

 

 

1. Photographs are not necessary but would do no harm. We sent 8 organized in two sheets of paper with date and location.

2. Yes, you send duplicate everything as the forms are processed in different locations.

[LJVotolato 13]

17 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

1. Photographs are not necessary but would do no harm. We sent 8 organized in two sheets of paper with date and location.

2. Yes, you send duplicate everything as the forms are processed in different locations.

Thanks! And as per my original question, it seems like you were married in California - did you have to file your AOS *after* 8ish weeks post wedding when you got your certified copy? I just got another response in another forum quoted below but it seems like I can't do this right now in LA?

 

"We did this 13 years ago, got married at 2:00 pm, went straight to the town's registrar's office, got 6 certified marriage registration forms, and went out for a lovely dinner. No fuss, no muss, sent my adjustment of status out the next day!"

 

 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

12 minutes ago, LJVotolato said:

Thanks! And as per my original question, it seems like you were married in California - did you have to file your AOS *after* 8ish weeks post wedding when you got your certified copy? I just got another response in another forum quoted below but it seems like I can't do this right now in LA?

 

"We did this 13 years ago, got married at 2:00 pm, went straight to the town's registrar's office, got 6 certified marriage registration forms, and went out for a lovely dinner. No fuss, no muss, sent my adjustment of status out the next day!"

 

 

The waiting time depends on your county. LA is known as being pretty slow when it comes to the issuance of the certificate.

[Rocio0010 5,674]

14 hours ago, LJVotolato said:

I was really hoping to get a job / visit my family in Canada as soon as possible so that delay is just devastating to me

Exactly why K1 is not the route.

yes, you have to send certified copy of marriage certificate.

Yes, each form takes its own documentation because they’re processed in different centers.

[Mike E 11,742]

16 hours ago, LJVotolato said:

I'm a bit desperate for information. I thought I was doing everything correctly in that I have prepared all of the documents and filled out all of the forms for my adjustment of status (485 and all the other forms with it). My intent was to mail all of this in the same day after we get married (we get married on Saturday) since all I needed was the marriage license (with the witness and officiant signatures, of course). But it has come to my attention that this may have been faulty logic: it seems like I need to now MAIL IN THE signed marriage license so the Los Angeles County can record it and they will be mailing the certified copy back to me. The only problem is that they quoted me on the phone 8-10 weeks (another 2-3 months) for it to be sent to me. I was really hoping to get a job / visit my family in Canada as soon as possible so that delay is just devastating to me. 

 

The instructions for I-485 state:

In addition to the evidence listed in the What Evidence Must You Submit with Form I-485 section, you must submit a copy of the marriage certificate to show that the K-1 nonimmigrant fiancé(e) married the U.S. citizen (Form I-129F petitioner) in the 90-day period.

 

For those who have successfully submitted and got approved, did you submit the copy of the marriage certificate (that is used during your wedding ceremony) OR did you have to wait to send that copy in and wait for the certified copy of the marriage license back from the county?

 

Thank you so much in advance.

Congratulations on your marriage today in Las Vegas. Paging @Loren Y . You can head to Vegas now, try to get a hold of Loren who should be able to take care of this today, and you will be back in LA county this evening in time for your grand event on Saturday. 

 

 

14 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

The waiting time depends on your county. LA is known as being pretty slow when it comes to the issuance of the certificate.

And this has been known for at least 3 years on VJ. https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/693594-los-angelescalifornia-marriage-certificate-current-wait-times/#comments is when I came across this. And there are even threads from 2013.

 

 

[Verrou 1,962]

we married june 2020 in Massachusetts and we reside in NYC at that time. cant get married in NYC because the city hall is closed and the NYC online wedding take months for appointment. 

 

after the ceremony in MA, we sent the marriage ceremony paper to the city hall/town in MA that we registered our marriage by mail with check and return envelope. check is for original marriage certificate. it came less than a week to maine ( we moved from NYC a week after we got married) and we havent even reached maine at that time. we just ordered 1 marriage certificate. i know few people even order 2-3 certificate just to have back up 

 

in my knowledge original marriage certificate is the one you need to send for AOS.

 

the one that's on the day of the wedding if its not accepted by the city hall/county means its not recorded / legal ? i might be wrong for the last part

Edited December 3, 2021 by Misscloud

[Sierra TC 26]

18 hours ago, LJVotolato said:

I'm a bit desperate for information. I thought I was doing everything correctly in that I have prepared all of the documents and filled out all of the forms for my adjustment of status (485 and all the other forms with it). My intent was to mail all of this in the same day after we get married (we get married on Saturday) since all I needed was the marriage license (with the witness and officiant signatures, of course). But it has come to my attention that this may have been faulty logic: it seems like I need to now MAIL IN THE signed marriage license so the Los Angeles County can record it and they will be mailing the certified copy back to me. The only problem is that they quoted me on the phone 8-10 weeks (another 2-3 months) for it to be sent to me. I was really hoping to get a job / visit my family in Canada as soon as possible so that delay is just devastating to me. 

 

The instructions for I-485 state:

In addition to the evidence listed in the What Evidence Must You Submit with Form I-485 section, you must submit a copy of the marriage certificate to show that the K-1 nonimmigrant fiancé(e) married the U.S. citizen (Form I-129F petitioner) in the 90-day period.

 

For those who have successfully submitted and got approved, did you submit the copy of the marriage certificate (that is used during your wedding ceremony) OR did you have to wait to send that copy in and wait for the certified copy of the marriage license back from the county?

 

Thank you so much in advance.

The one used at the time of your marriage is a marriage license which allows you to legally marry. You need to send in the certified certificate (this might look like your license with a seal so it can be confusing). If the county clerk is open, you should be able to request copies there or you can wait until you receive it in the mail. Do not send the original copies, you will want to send an exact photocopy of the certified marriage certificate. Only send in originals if requested by USCIS.

 

We did also send photos of our wedding ceremony, we printed them on normal paper to add to our AOS package. Congrats on your marriage and good luck.

[Loren Y 2,756]

18 hours ago, LJVotolato said:

I'm a bit desperate for information. I thought I was doing everything correctly in that I have prepared all of the documents and filled out all of the forms for my adjustment of status (485 and all the other forms with it). My intent was to mail all of this in the same day after we get married (we get married on Saturday) since all I needed was the marriage license (with the witness and officiant signatures, of course). But it has come to my attention that this may have been faulty logic: it seems like I need to now MAIL IN THE signed marriage license so the Los Angeles County can record it and they will be mailing the certified copy back to me. The only problem is that they quoted me on the phone 8-10 weeks (another 2-3 months) for it to be sent to me. I was really hoping to get a job / visit my family in Canada as soon as possible so that delay is just devastating to me. 

 

The instructions for I-485 state:

In addition to the evidence listed in the What Evidence Must You Submit with Form I-485 section, you must submit a copy of the marriage certificate to show that the K-1 nonimmigrant fiancé(e) married the U.S. citizen (Form I-129F petitioner) in the 90-day period.

 

For those who have successfully submitted and got approved, did you submit the copy of the marriage certificate (that is used during your wedding ceremony) OR did you have to wait to send that copy in and wait for the certified copy of the marriage license back from the county?

 

Thank you so much in advance.

As long as it hasn't been recorded with the clerks office, you are not officially married yet. If you need to get to Las Vegas, I can get you married with certificate in hand in less than an hour. Feel free to message me and I will give you my contact information. Usually whoever does the ceremony is in charge of turning in the marriage license to be recorded. If they left that up to you, then you could not turn it in, and get married somewhere else. Just double check that whoever performed the ceremony didn't record the marriage ( Sounds like they didn't if you have to mail it in yourself), and as others have said, A quick trip to Vegas can get everything done in an hour. I have been doing a bunch of ceremonies for people from California in exactly the same situation. Usually it takes 3-4 weeks to schedule a ceremony, then another like you said 2 months to get a certified copy of the official marriage certificate.

[LJVotolato 13]

15 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

As long as it hasn't been recorded with the clerks office, you are not officially married yet. If you need to get to Las Vegas, I can get you married with certificate in hand in less than an hour. Feel free to message me and I will give you my contact information. Usually whoever does the ceremony is in charge of turning in the marriage license to be recorded. If they left that up to you, then you could not turn it in, and get married somewhere else. Just double check that whoever performed the ceremony didn't record the marriage ( Sounds like they didn't if you have to mail it in yourself), and as others have said, A quick trip to Vegas can get everything done in an hour. I have been doing a bunch of ceremonies for people from California in exactly the same situation. Usually it takes 3-4 weeks to schedule a ceremony, then another like you said 2 months to get a certified copy of the official marriage certificate.

Thanks for this info. What are the costs for this as I already paid for a marriage license in California? If we do it in Vegas, how does this work? I assume we can't use the license we bought in California. 

[Loren Y 2,756]

18 minutes ago, LJVotolato said:

Thanks for this info. What are the costs for this as I already paid for a marriage license in California? If we do it in Vegas, how does this work? I assume we can't use the license we bought in California. 

No, you can't use the same license. You can fill out everything online for the license in advance before you head to the license bureau. I believe the total cost for the license with everything including the recording fees that are included in the cost is right around 105.00 total. That's all you would have to pay for licensing and recording, copies are separate fee. I don't charge to do the ceremony for VJ members. You fill out the license online before you head to Vegas ( Takes 10 min). You go to the license bureau between 8am and midnight 7 days of the week and pick up your license. ( Pay the fees and they check both parties ID's, takes 10 minutes since everything is already filled out online). I will meet up with you wherever you want to do the ceremony ( I usually use Symphony Park, it's close to the wedding bureau, and a nice little park to do a quick ceremony in, you can google it). I will head back to the license bureau, or the clerks office ( Also close to symphony park) depending on day and time we do the ceremony, and record the marriage. Certified copies are 20 dollars each, and I can pick up copies when I record the marriage and hand them to you when I come outside. If it is a weekend day, I can't record until Monday morning, and either you can order them online ( You will have the certified copies in 3 days or so in the mail), or I can pick them up and next day air them to you if you really need them quickly, or if we do the ceremony during the week I can hand them to you same day. This is roughly the process, if you fly in I can pick you up at the airport ( Have done that many times also), and we need at least 1 witness, so either you have someone come with you, or my wife or friend can usually be a witness if needed.

Edited December 3, 2021 by Loren Y

[Mike E 11,742]

3 hours ago, LJVotolato said:

Thanks for this info. What are the costs for this as I already paid for a marriage license in California?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost#Fallacy_effect
 

3 hours ago, LJVotolato said:

 

 

 

 

If we do it in Vegas, how does this work? I assume we can't use the license we bought in California. 

You would (or perhaps would have as it is getting late in the day) get married in Vegas, come home with a marriage certificate, and then have your ceremony as planned tomorrow, telling the person performing the ceremony that no signature will be needed on the LA county marriage license. The  LA County Marriage license is a souvenir