Utah Online Marriage

[HoneyMilkTea 1]

My fiancé and I have been researching the K-1 visa but were recommend by that forum to try to get an online marriage from Utah instead, and then go for the CR1. We both live together in China and we both work here.

 

I’m a US citizen and not Chinese. He’s a Russian citizen, also not Chinese. So we can’t get married in China as per Chinese law.

 

I noticed on previous posts that it’s very important that we fill out the online marriage certificate in a certain way so that it is accepted as legitimate. Search results on this have been vague though. Has anyone done this? Is there anything we need to watch out for while we get the online marriage certificate?

[Timona 4,207]

You just need to apply. Nothing difficult 

[Chancy 6,241]

3 hours ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

Is there anything we need to watch out for while we get the online marriage certificate?

 

Deal directly with Utah county (not 3rd-party services) for the marriage license, the wedding ceremony, and the certificates after the ceremony -- https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/clerkaud/PassMarr/OnlineMarriage.asp

 

[Simplytex 387]

3 hours ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

My fiancé and I have been researching the K-1 visa but were recommend by that forum to try to get an online marriage from Utah instead, and then go for the CR1. We both live together in China and we both work here.

 

I’m a US citizen and not Chinese. He’s a Russian citizen, also not Chinese. So we can’t get married in China as per Chinese law.

 

I noticed on previous posts that it’s very important that we fill out the online marriage certificate in a certain way so that it is accepted as legitimate. Search results on this have been vague though. Has anyone done this? Is there anything we need to watch out for while we get the online marriage certificate?

I did this in May with my wife who is also with a Russian citizen, though we were in Turkey, the process really is not as hard as you might think. I was reluctant at first as it isn't super well documented on VisaJourney, but there have been several people here who have done this (especially during Covid, so you have to search for 2020/2021 posts) and got I-130 approved without any problems. If anything and this is just my opinion, a US-issued marriage license is going to be gold-standard as its the easiest to ever go back and verify, and technically the federal govt can't dictate how states issue the licenses.

 

First step is apply for a marriage license. Just fill in the forms as they are laid out online, nothing difficult. One thing to be aware of is the license is only good for 32 days so do this close to when you want to have the marriage ceremony. https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/clerkaud/PassMarr/Marriage.asp

 

Then once you have the license, you go to the other page to schedule a marriage ceremony which will be performed by one of the County Clerks. Dates are available 4 weeks out (if you have a specific day in mind) but be aware that they can book up for 'good' time slots as well as Fridays and Saturdays soone than other days. https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/clerkaud/PassMarr/MarrCeremony.asp

 

Overall its a pretty easy process. Just make sure you both have your passports, input all the info on the Marriage license as accurately as you can, and you will need 2 English speaking 'witnesses' (can be family, friends, whoever, but they need to attend the ceremony at the same time and understand/speak English.)

[pushbrk 12,883]

Very helpful post above by @Simplytex  I would only add that the any "application" like this is pretty straight forward.  They just ask for facts.  The key is to read carefully, interpret literally, (including all instructions) and then answer accurately.  Same goes for immigration forms except the immigration forms have separate detailed instructions to study and refer to.

[Simplytex 387]

5 hours ago, Simplytex said:

I did this in May with my wife who is also with a Russian citizen, though we were in Turkey, the process really is not as hard as you might think. I was reluctant at first as it isn't super well documented on VisaJourney, but there have been several people here who have done this (especially during Covid, so you have to search for 2020/2021 posts) and got I-130 approved without any problems. If anything and this is just my opinion, a US-issued marriage license is going to be gold-standard as its the easiest to ever go back and verify, and technically the federal govt can't dictate how states issue the licenses.

 

First step is apply for a marriage license. Just fill in the forms as they are laid out online, nothing difficult. One thing to be aware of is the license is only good for 32 days so do this close to when you want to have the marriage ceremony. https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/clerkaud/PassMarr/Marriage.asp

 

Then once you have the license, you go to the other page to schedule a marriage ceremony which will be performed by one of the County Clerks. Dates are available 4 weeks out (if you have a specific day in mind) but be aware that they can book up for 'good' time slots as well as Fridays and Saturdays soone than other days. https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/clerkaud/PassMarr/MarrCeremony.asp

 

Overall its a pretty easy process. Just make sure you both have your passports, input all the info on the Marriage license as accurately as you can, and you will need 2 English speaking 'witnesses' (can be family, friends, whoever, but they need to attend the ceremony at the same time and understand/speak English.)

I guess I'll add to this as I reflect on it. My personal anecdote was that the county clerk is randomly assigned, and gives a pretty random marriage ceremony/message. Our officiant rambled spoke for about 20 min, and my very fluent wife couldn't understand him and even I had trouble following the 'story' or whatever, and we were both in tears laughing afterwards trying to decipher it. It wasn't super religious which wouldn't bother me either way, but just a heads up if you want it done that way. I'm not sure if you can put in 'special requests'. 

 

I had a couple close friends from my side and she had one on hers, plus immediate family, all dial in. One thing I would just ping everyone ahead of time to please keep their mike's muted (about the most post-2020 thing you could say in a wedding ceremony 🤣). Oh I guess two other things. To make it flow smoother, it might be worth just telling them ahead of time if you have rings and/or vows otherwise there's sort of an awkward pause while he asks if you have these... Actually for me it felt more awkward cause he said something like "I assume you don't have rings" which I felt rather rude in the moment, but realized that maybe he thought this because we booked it so quickly (despite the fact that we'd been planning it for several months, our ceremony only was booked about 2 days in advance so he just made an assumption or something...)

 

Final thing which I thought was very odd... at the end of the ceremony, the clerk needed to go through our personal info to confirm everything on the marriage cert was 100% correct... He said "ok, so everyone on the line, please excuse us three (him plus my wife and I) while we do a bit of paperwork. Simplytex, I'll share my screen privately with you" and then proceeded to share screen with everyone on the call (including my personal details like SSN, DOB, and full parents names for both bride and groom (which are provided for their recording keeping.) I was confused at the time, and only realized about 2 min into it that he wasn't sharing privately! I didn't want to make a comment, but also it was just my immediate family so not really worried about them trying to steal my identity... 🥴 So just before you get to that part, be sure you are in a breakout room or something (I use MS Teams not Zoom, so dunno what functionality he was trying to use, but clearly it wasn't done right.)

 

Overall, generally painless and in reflection, pretty funny. Some of the clerk's spiel has become an inside joke for my wife and I, so I guess that's good!

[HoneyMilkTea 1]

12 hours ago, Simplytex said:

I guess I'll add to this as I reflect on it. My personal anecdote was that the county clerk is randomly assigned, and gives a pretty random marriage ceremony/message. Our officiant rambled spoke for about 20 min, and my very fluent wife couldn't understand him and even I had trouble following the 'story' or whatever, and we were both in tears laughing afterwards trying to decipher it. It wasn't super religious which wouldn't bother me either way, but just a heads up if you want it done that way. I'm not sure if you can put in 'special requests'. 

 

I had a couple close friends from my side and she had one on hers, plus immediate family, all dial in. One thing I would just ping everyone ahead of time to please keep their mike's muted (about the most post-2020 thing you could say in a wedding ceremony 🤣). Oh I guess two other things. To make it flow smoother, it might be worth just telling them ahead of time if you have rings and/or vows otherwise there's sort of an awkward pause while he asks if you have these... Actually for me it felt more awkward cause he said something like "I assume you don't have rings" which I felt rather rude in the moment, but realized that maybe he thought this because we booked it so quickly (despite the fact that we'd been planning it for several months, our ceremony only was booked about 2 days in advance so he just made an assumption or something...)

 

Final thing which I thought was very odd... at the end of the ceremony, the clerk needed to go through our personal info to confirm everything on the marriage cert was 100% correct... He said "ok, so everyone on the line, please excuse us three (him plus my wife and I) while we do a bit of paperwork. Simplytex, I'll share my screen privately with you" and then proceeded to share screen with everyone on the call (including my personal details like SSN, DOB, and full parents names for both bride and groom (which are provided for their recording keeping.) I was confused at the time, and only realized about 2 min into it that he wasn't sharing privately! I didn't want to make a comment, but also it was just my immediate family so not really worried about them trying to steal my identity... 🥴 So just before you get to that part, be sure you are in a breakout room or something (I use MS Teams not Zoom, so dunno what functionality he was trying to use, but clearly it wasn't done right.)

 

Overall, generally painless and in reflection, pretty funny. Some of the clerk's spiel has become an inside joke for my wife and I, so I guess that's good!

Thank you so much for this comprehensive info and your tips! This helps us a lot!!

Edited September 23, 2022 by HoneyMilkTea

[HoneyMilkTea 1]

On 9/23/2022 at 12:34 AM, HoneyMilkTea said:

My fiancé and I have been researching the K-1 visa but were recommend by that forum to try to get an online marriage from Utah instead, and then go for the CR1. We both live together in China and we both work here.

 

I’m a US citizen and not Chinese. He’s a Russian citizen, also not Chinese. So we can’t get married in China as per Chinese law.

 

I noticed on previous posts that it’s very important that we fill out the online marriage certificate in a certain way so that it is accepted as legitimate. Search results on this have been vague though. Has anyone done this? Is there anything we need to watch out for while we get the online marriage certificate?

I have an additional question. My fiancé’s passport has his full name in Cyrillic. It only has his first and last name in Latin alphabet. Should he put his full name on our marriage certificate, or only his first and last name?

[Simplytex 387]

18 minutes ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

I have an additional question. My fiancé’s passport has his full name in Cyrillic. It only has his first and last name in Latin alphabet. Should he put his full name on our marriage certificate, or only his first and last name?

We did exactly as it's shown in the international Russian passport in English ie, name and surname, but not patronymic.

[HoneyMilkTea 1]

On 9/23/2022 at 9:46 AM, Simplytex said:

I guess I'll add to this as I reflect on it. My personal anecdote was that the county clerk is randomly assigned, and gives a pretty random marriage ceremony/message. Our officiant rambled spoke for about 20 min, and my very fluent wife couldn't understand him and even I had trouble following the 'story' or whatever, and we were both in tears laughing afterwards trying to decipher it. It wasn't super religious which wouldn't bother me either way, but just a heads up if you want it done that way. I'm not sure if you can put in 'special requests'. 

 

I had a couple close friends from my side and she had one on hers, plus immediate family, all dial in. One thing I would just ping everyone ahead of time to please keep their mike's muted (about the most post-2020 thing you could say in a wedding ceremony 🤣). Oh I guess two other things. To make it flow smoother, it might be worth just telling them ahead of time if you have rings and/or vows otherwise there's sort of an awkward pause while he asks if you have these... Actually for me it felt more awkward cause he said something like "I assume you don't have rings" which I felt rather rude in the moment, but realized that maybe he thought this because we booked it so quickly (despite the fact that we'd been planning it for several months, our ceremony only was booked about 2 days in advance so he just made an assumption or something...)

 

Final thing which I thought was very odd... at the end of the ceremony, the clerk needed to go through our personal info to confirm everything on the marriage cert was 100% correct... He said "ok, so everyone on the line, please excuse us three (him plus my wife and I) while we do a bit of paperwork. Simplytex, I'll share my screen privately with you" and then proceeded to share screen with everyone on the call (including my personal details like SSN, DOB, and full parents names for both bride and groom (which are provided for their recording keeping.) I was confused at the time, and only realized about 2 min into it that he wasn't sharing privately! I didn't want to make a comment, but also it was just my immediate family so not really worried about them trying to steal my identity... 🥴 So just before you get to that part, be sure you are in a breakout room or something (I use MS Teams not Zoom, so dunno what functionality he was trying to use, but clearly it wasn't done right.)

 

Overall, generally painless and in reflection, pretty funny. Some of the clerk's spiel has become an inside joke for my wife and I, so I guess that's good!

Hello! I’m back after finally completing the online marriage ceremony. For the I-130 form, I’m asked where we were at the time of the ceremony. Should I write Utah, or in China? We were together in our house in China while we completed the ceremony.

[pushbrk 12,883]

53 minutes ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

Hello! I’m back after finally completing the online marriage ceremony. For the I-130 form, I’m asked where we were at the time of the ceremony. Should I write Utah, or in China? We were together in our house in China while we completed the ceremony.

What is the exact question you are talking about?  Please quote it, as I'm not familiar with that question.  I think the question is where did the marriage take place?  The answer is Provo, Utah, USA.

[HoneyMilkTea 1]

4 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

What is the exact question you are talking about?  Please quote it, as I'm not familiar with that question.  I think the question is where did the marriage take place?  The answer is Provo, Utah, USA.

Using the online form for I-130, the question is worded, “Where were you and your current spouse married?” It then has two drop down boxes, one for country and one for city/town. 
 

The question is under “Your Family - Current Spouse”

[pushbrk 12,883]

2 hours ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

Using the online form for I-130, the question is worded, “Where were you and your current spouse married?” It then has two drop down boxes, one for country and one for city/town. 
 

The question is under “Your Family - Current Spouse”

So, not "where were you WHEN you were married?".  You were married in Provo, UItah, USA.  That's who issued your marriage certificate. Because of the type of marriage, you need to separately provide evidence you've been in the same place AS EACH OTHER during or after the marriage.  In my first answer to you, I said,  "The key is to read carefully, interpret literally, (including all instructions) and then answer accurately.  Same goes for immigration forms except the immigration forms have separate detailed instructions to study and refer to."  Don't add words or interpretation.  Interpret literally. If your language skills prevent you from doing that, hire professional help. 

[Simplytex 387]

5 hours ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

For the I-130 form, I’m asked where we were at the time of the ceremony.

 

4 hours ago, HoneyMilkTea said:

Using the online form for I-130, the question is worded, “Where were you and your current spouse married?”

So as pushbrk has said, don't try to re-interpret this (although I could understand if the wording could be improved to "Where was your current marriage officiated?" Thereby losing the ambiguity about if it's talking about you yourself existing physically, or where the marriage officiant was.)

 

For my online I-130 form, I just put Provo, Utah when it asked both about where did my current marriage take place, and then again about the beneficiary. Nevermind the fact that my wife has not yet ever entered the US... So for reference to the paper version, that would be Part 2, question 19, and Part 4, question 20. And by the way, I got my I-130 approved Oct 11th, so there wasn't anything wrong with the answer (esp since it matches the official documentation!)