is marriage on courtly.com same as a utah online wedding

[Mason_Stellar 2]

me and my same sex partner intend on getting married online but cannot find the resoruces online (very confusing). Then i stumbled across courtly.com. is that same as a utah online wedding?

 

Can someone give us a step by step guide to marriage online through utah county, please  

[Summerbrezz07 14]

I’ve never heard of courtly .As for Utah online marriage , you will need to start by visiting Utahcounty.gov and find the information about applying for the online marriage license. You will need to set a date for this and pay the fee.  Also provide info needed  for the marriage license.Keep in mind you and your partner will need to be present online during this process. After that step is complete and the marriage license is issued, you can then set a date  for the online marriage ceremony.Again a fee will need to be paid for that as well. All related info can be found on their website .

[top_secret 2,458]

Looking at courtly.com it seems almost certain they are officiating Utah online marriages.  It looks like they are offering the whole thing for $449.  Which is not as bad as some places I've seen. But you can go directly through Utah County and book an online ceremony with the county clerk for like $165 all in for licenses, ceremony, and certified marriage certificate. The end result and certificate is probably identical, so you could just decide if the a somewhat higher price for a separate officiant adds value or convenience to the process.

https://www.courtly.com/pricing
https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/PassMarr/OnlineMarriage.asp
https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/PassMarr/MarrCeremony.asp

[Mason_Stellar 2]

Will the courtly.com marriage certificates  it be acceptable by USCIS standards

[Summerbrezz07 14]

19 minutes ago, Mason_Stellar said:

Will the courtly.com marriage certificates  it be acceptable by USCIS standards

You will need to provide a valid marriage certificate and proof that you and your partner met in person after the marriage ceremony. This will also serve as evidence the marriage was “consummated”.

[Mason_Stellar 2]

yeah i know we would have to meet in person but i'm strictly talking validity of marriage certificates in the eyes of uscis.

the one up top is from courtly.com and the one on the bottom is from utahcounty.gov. 

Will uscis object to small differences between the two

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Mason_Stellar

[Summerbrezz07 14]

6 minutes ago, Mason_Stellar said:

yeah i know we would have to meet in person but i'm strictly talking validity of marriage certificates in the eyes of uscis.

the one up top is from courtly.com and the one on the bottom is from utahcounty.gov. 

Will uscis object to small differences between the two

 

 

The first thing that stands out to me is, the bottom copy states “ This is an official certificate of marriage “ . The top one does not . I also know that Utah will  provide a copy of the marriage license along with the marriage certificate and their state seal Imprinted on the document. Not much more authentic than that.I can speak of this because I have first hand experience. 6 months into the process and luckily no RFE’s up to this point. My personal opinion is , if u want go the online route go with Utah. There are many others out there that have done the same. 

[Chancy 6,242]

1 hour ago, Mason_Stellar said:

Will the courtly.com marriage certificates  it be acceptable by USCIS standards

 

Why risk getting an RFE when you are guaranteed to get a valid marriage certificate by going through UtahCounty.gov directly?

 

[Mason_Stellar 2]

thank you. thats all i needed to hear.  

[Mike E 11,741]

15 hours ago, Mason_Stellar said:

thank you. thats all i needed to hear.  

I’m always impressed how scammers can use SEO to manipulate searches. 
 

https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerkaud/PassMarr/RemoteAppearanceFAQ.asp is where to start. 
 

 

[JustJimothy 2]

On 1/17/2023 at 1:53 PM, Mason_Stellar said:

me and my same sex partner intend on getting married online but cannot find the resoruces online (very confusing). Then i stumbled across courtly.com. is that same as a utah online wedding?

 

Can someone give us a step by step guide to marriage online through utah county, please  

My wife and I did something similar to this during the pandemic as we had little other choice, our wedding was cancelled multiple times.

 

We were both in the same country at the time of the ceremony and we still got stopped by CBP and they refused entry for me!

 

I've seen cases where nobody had any issues and everything was fine but I had a different experience. 

You're leaving yourself at the mercy of CBP to refuse entry over their interpretation of immigration acts.

 

It took us two years to iron it all out at the embassy in Ireland to even visit family.

 

Beware!

[bck86 20]

2 hours ago, JustJimothy said:

My wife and I did something similar to this during the pandemic as we had little other choice, our wedding was cancelled multiple times.

 

We were both in the same country at the time of the ceremony and we still got stopped by CBP and they refused entry for me!

 

I've seen cases where nobody had any issues and everything was fine but I had a different experience. 

You're leaving yourself at the mercy of CBP to refuse entry over their interpretation of immigration acts.

 

It took us two years to iron it all out at the embassy in Ireland to even visit family.

 

Beware!

Can you elaborate on "did something similar to this" and "stopped by CBP and refused entry"? Did you get married in Utah via remote appearance? And you had proof that the marriage was consummated? Then you tried to enter the US and were denied entry? What was the reason they gave for the refusal of entry, and how did you eventually iron it all out?

Edited January 19, 2023 by bck86

[Chancy 6,242]

2 hours ago, JustJimothy said:

We were both in the same country at the time of the ceremony and we still got stopped by CBP and they refused entry for me!

 

Was that when there were COVID-related restrictions for tourist entry into the US, before vaccinations were widespread?  No such restrictions for tourists now, other than COVID vaccination which is checked by the airline, not CBP.  CBP won't care anymore how you got married.

 

[JustJimothy 2]

22 minutes ago, bck86 said:

Can you elaborate on "did something similar to this" and "stopped by CBP and refused entry"? Did you get married in Utah via remote appearance? And you had proof that the marriage was consummated? What was the reason for the refusal of entry, and how did you eventually iron it all out?

Sure, I can elaborate.

 

We used Webwed to officiate, a zoom wedding basically. My wife and I were in the same physical location in Ireland with our folks on the call with the officiant in Utah.

Everything went great! We got our marriage certificate, with the seal and stuff.

 

At the time the proclamation to travel to the US was in place because of the pandemic meaning only citizens and/or their spouse could enter.

I was entering using my ESTA/VWP with no intent to immigrate just to visit family.

 

When going through pre-clearance in Dublin I was called into the back room to wait while they scrutinized us.

After a while he called me to the counter to ask about the wedding.

 

He said something along the lines of not everyone was physically present at the wedding and we proclaimed that we were.

He retorted by saying the officiant wasn't so not everyone.

 

He denied me entry saying I'm legally married in Utah but it doesn't work for immigration/CBP and quoted an immigration act partially:

 

(35) The term "spouse", "wife", or "husband" do not include a spouse, wife, or husband by reason of any marriage ceremony where the contracting parties thereto are not physically present in the presence of each other

 

Anyone familiar with it might notice the bit that's missing from that. Here it is in full:

 

(35) The term "spouse", "wife", or "husband" do not include a spouse, wife, or husband by reason of any marriage ceremony where the contracting parties thereto are not physically present in the presence of each other, unless the marriage shall have been consummated.

 

He never mentioned it nor asked about consummation, how we'd prove it would be another story but he picked and chose what parts to use.

 

CBP are human and make mistakes like the rest of us, that day we got a dude who made a mistake and revoked my ESTA and my ability to use the VWP. 

To fix it we had to make an appointment to apply for a B1/B2 visa to even visit family. It took us 2 years to iron out.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by JustJimothy

[JustJimothy 2]

16 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Was that when there were COVID-related restrictions for tourist entry into the US, before vaccinations were widespread?  No such restrictions for tourists now, other than COVID vaccination which is checked by the airline, not CBP.  CBP won't care anymore how you got married.

 

Yep it was the middle of the pandemic  

 

We were fully vaccinated and had all the info with us