n-400 online filling questions

[Frankjavir 58]

6 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Sigh... two ceremonies doesn't mean a person is legally married twice.

 

I had a marriage at city hall with 4 people which was legal marriage and religous ceremony months after. I got married once.

Neither @Nishris or myself used the term legal marriage, but now that you mentioned, more than likely both ceremonies indeed are legal if the first one was a civil one. Because they had two different ceremonies for the same uninterrupted marriage, it will be ilogic for the adjudicator to request a divorce decree and speaking of legality most religious marriages in the USA are legally acepted, in matter of fact if you get married at a Catholic church you do not have to get married again before a judge, the church will file that marriage before the court. I believe the issue regarding the need for a divorce decree has to do with marriages with different people to prevent poligamy. This is not the case.

[Frankjavir 58]

38 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Sigh... two ceremonies doesn't mean a person is legally married twice.

 

I had a marriage at city hall with 4 people which was legal marriage and religous ceremony months after with many guests and family. I got married once.

 

USCIS is going to be super confused and will inquire about divorces if one says they were married twice with no divorce in between.

Super confused by the fact that is very common for couples to get married before the law and then have a second legal religious ceremony to fullfill their religious faith?         I doubt USCIS has clueless morons as adjudicators.

[OldUser 8,157]

11 minutes ago, Frankjavir said:

Neither @Nishris or myself used the term legal marriage, but now that you mentioned, more than likely both ceremonies indeed are legal if the first one was a civil one. Because they had two different ceremonies for the same uninterrupted marriage, it will be ilogic for the adjudicator to request a divorce decree and speaking of legality most religious marriages in the USA are legally acepted, in matter of fact if you get married at a Catholic church you do not have to get married again before a judge, the church will file that marriage before the court. I believe the issue regarding the need for a divorce decree has to do with marriages with different people to prevent poligamy. This is not the case.

Question on USCIS form asks about legal marriages only. For that matter, civil ceremony followed by religious ceremony isn't treated as two marriages. In order to marry, one must be free to marry (legal term), which means either their prior marriage ended up in divorce, they never married before or their spouse died. Whether marriage to same or different person doesn't make any difference.

 

I cannot add anything else after this comment, it's pretty clear in my opinion

[Frankjavir 58]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Question on USCIS form asks about legal marriages only. For that matter, civil ceremony followed by religious ceremony isn't treated as two marriages. In order to marry, one must be free to marry (legal term), which means either their prior marriage ended up in divorce, they never married before or their spouse died. Whether marriage to same or different person doesn't make any difference.

 

I cannot add anything else after this comment, it's pretty clear in my opinion

[Scandi 4,220]

6 hours ago, Frankjavir said:

Nishris clearly stated they had two separate marriage ceremonies, one was a religious one. There is no need of a divorce decree in this case.

Only ONE of them is LEGAL in the eyes of USCIS, so what you're saying is that there aren't two marriages. Only ONE legal wedding/marriage and then some random ceremony. 

[Dashinka 25,017]

8 hours ago, OldUser said:

Sigh... two ceremonies doesn't mean a person is legally married twice.

 

I had a marriage at city hall with 4 people which was legal marriage and religous ceremony months after with many guests and family. I got married once.

 

USCIS is going to be super confused and will inquire about divorces if one says they were married twice with no divorce in between.

This is key, you do not want to create confusion with USCIS that may delay a case.  It is similar to those that send in IRS tax transcripts and copies of W2’s/1099’s then receive an RFE for copies of a tax return.  If someone indicates they have been married multiple times USCIS will be looking for all the evidence of those marriages, was the person legally able to get married, how did the 1st marriage end, etc. (I.e confusion).  More than likely in the case of the OP, if they put 2 marriages, USCIS will be looking for a divorce decree from the first one, and of course this will not be present, so an RFE is likely, then the OP will be facing how to explain this to a nameless USCIS clerk in writing (think trying to prove a negative).

 

Sometimes USCIS instructions can be, let’s say, less than clear.  It is best to not read them too literally.  If one married one person once legally, and then had a religious or cultural ceremony with of without some form of semi-official paperwork, do they consider themselves married two times?  IMO it is common sense for the OP to put one in that section, and then at the interview, if asked, explain they had both a civil and religious ceremony.

[Rekyrts 86]

19 hours ago, Frankjavir said:

it will be ilogic for the adjudicator 

 

Ascribing logic to USCIS? You sweet, sweet soul...

Seriously though, the logical approach is to make everything as simple as possible for the IO to understand. Hilariously enough, I have seen USCIS issue an RFE for a divirce decree for a couple that had a court marriage and a traditional/customary wedding.

I'd rather not pin my immigration hopes on the belief that an overworked adjudicator can figure out why a married couple had two ceremonies. They should be able to, but they should be able to send GCs of the correct length too.