marriage license / certificate

[Hazah 0]

I have a minor question on terminology here as i've read several conflicting things. My fiance entered on a K1 and we got married. The preacher had us sign 3 marriage licenses, one of which we kept and the other were sent back to the probate court. Is this license the same as a certified marriage certificate? Is the copy of such what is required for the I485 AOS package, or do we need another special certificate? Would we need an official copy or could we just Xerox it and it'll suffice?

I read in the past that xeroxed copies of certain documents weren't good enough, but we completed the K1 petition and interview with copies and had no problems.

[John & Annie 0]

I have a minor question on terminology here as i've read several conflicting things. My fiance entered on a K1 and we got married. The preacher had us sign 3 marriage licenses, one of which we kept and the other were sent back to the probate court. Is this license the same as a certified marriage certificate? Is the copy of such what is required for the I485 AOS package, or do we need another special certificate? Would we need an official copy or could we just Xerox it and it'll suffice?

I read in the past that xeroxed copies of certain documents weren't good enough, but we completed the K1 petition and interview with copies and had no problems.

You have to get a copy back from the city, they register your marriage publicly. A copy of this is what they need.

[Otto 83]

I have a minor question on terminology here as i've read several conflicting things. My fiance entered on a K1 and we got married. The preacher had us sign 3 marriage licenses, one of which we kept and the other were sent back to the probate court. Is this license the same as a certified marriage certificate? Is the copy of such what is required for the I485 AOS package, or do we need another special certificate? Would we need an official copy or could we just Xerox it and it'll suffice?

I read in the past that xeroxed copies of certain documents weren't good enough, but we completed the K1 petition and interview with copies and had no problems.

Hazah,

In Texas (and presumably similar elsewhere) - you get a marriage license from the county clerk (offices differ, but still). Once you get married, someone (the person performing the service) signs the license. The license is sent back to the clerks office where it is stamped (recorded), which makes it a marriage certificate and sent back to you. In our case, I took the signed license to the clerk's office myself and got it stamped right away (much faster than mailing it in).

We sent a photo-copy of the (now) marriage certificate with our forms - if they want to see the original, they'll ask (IMO).

Edited August 13, 2007 by Karin und Otto

[Meriem_DZ 37]

The judge that married us sent the license back to the court clerk. We then received a nice certified marriage certificate in the mail. I did not want to send that one, so I went to the court office and had another certified certificate done. They charged me a couple of dollars for it. If I remember correctly, they want an original certified copy of your marriage certificate which you can obtain from your court clerks office.

Meriem

[jsassman 1]

The instructions directly from the I-485 say, "Attach a copy of the fiance petition approval notice, a copy of your marriage certificate and your I-94. No where does it say certified is needed.

[YuAndDan 153]

A licenses allows you to marry, the certificate says you are married. They are not the same.

[thetreble 19]

A licenses allows you to marry, the certificate says you are married. They are not the same.

yep. It is important to understand that. Also, don't mistake a certified copy of a marriage certificate from the county/local clerk for one from the priest that married you. My parents always had this certificate thingy of marriage from their priest and it meant nothing. What's needed is the one from the clerk and it has a special state stamp on it. You don't need to send it in, just a copy.

[Hazah 0]

Thanks everyone! This helps so much! I was able to get her new Social Security # with her new name with the marriage license so i guess they're a little more lenient than the USCIS.

[YuAndDan 153]

Thanks everyone! This helps so much! I was able to get her new Social Security # with her new name with the marriage license so i guess they're a little more lenient than the USCIS.

You were lucky, SSA tends to employ clueless clerks, you just dealt with one who did not know a license from a certificate.

[caybee 21]

In our case (South Carolina) we were married by a probate judge, and the certificate and license are the same piece of paper. It varies by state and officiant.