I-130 Filed; But Marriage was customary marriage

[Boggy1974 124]

Hi All,

I just filed I-130 for my spouse on 12/07/12. I have a few questions about the process and the marriage certificate we presented. I have read extensively about the IR1 and CR1 visas - relating to the marriage being less than two(2) years old or more than two(2) years old. But my issue is that we got married through the customary way five years ago(i.e. customary marriage). However, we only registered our marriage at the courts in her home country this year to obtained the marriage license. But all other documents of ours show five years - for example our daughter's CRBA birth certificate, marriage photos, emails, passport stamps during my visits, western union receipts etc etc. Will my wife be issued an IR1 or CR1 visa based on this information? Also, my wife retained her last name after our marriage,i.e. on our marriage certificate. Will this be a problem when adjudicating my case?

Can someone in the forum with similar experience share please? Kindly let me know what I need to do so this wouldn't be an issue? Thanks so much!

[bsd058 296]

Hi All,

I just filed I-130 for my spouse on 12/07/12. I have a few questions about the process and the marriage certificate we presented. I have read extensively about the IR1 and CR1 visas - relating to the marriage being less than two(2) years old or more than two(2) years old. But my issue is that we got married through the customary way five years ago(i.e. customary marriage). However, we only registered our marriage at the courts in her home country this year to obtained the marriage license. But all other documents of ours show five years - for example our daughter's CRBA birth certificate, marriage photos, emails, passport stamps during my visits, western union receipts etc etc. Will my wife be issued an IR1 or CR1 visa based on this information? Also, my wife retained her last name after our marriage,i.e. on our marriage certificate. Will this be a problem when adjudicating my case?

Can someone in the forum with similar experience share please? Kindly let me know what I need to do so this wouldn't be an issue? Thanks so much!

Because your legal marriage is less than 2 years old, if you were to apply and be approved today, then you would be issued the CR-1 visa, which would require you to remove conditions 2 years after receiving your green card. If you are approved after you have been married for 2 years, then you'll be issued an IR-1 visa, and you won't have to remove conditions. It won't affect anything but the type of visa you will get in the end. In the end, you need to prove that your marriage is legit. It doesn't matter how long you've been married. The evidence of customary marriage and children should provide sufficient evidence that your marriage isn't a scam.

And when you think about it, what does it matter if you get an IR-1 or a CR-1? As long as you get your visa, you can become a permanent resident. As long as you're still together after 2 more years (once you enter) you can remove the conditions. The only problem I would see is if you were worried that you weren't going to be together after 2 years. Then it might prevent you from removing conditions.

Edited December 11, 2012 by bsd058

[Boggy1974 124]

Because your legal marriage is less than 2 years old, if you were to apply and be approved today, then you would be issued the CR-1 visa, which would require you to remove conditions 2 years after receiving your green card. If you are approved after you have been married for 2 years, then you'll be issued an IR-1 visa, and you won't have to remove conditions. It won't affect anything but the type of visa you will get in the end. In the end, you need to prove that your marriage is legit. It doesn't matter how long you've been married. The evidence of customary marriage and children should provide sufficient evidence that your marriage isn't a scam.

And when you think about it, what does it matter if you get an IR-1 or a CR-1? As long as you get your visa, you can become a permanent resident. As long as you're still together after 2 more years (once you enter) you can remove the conditions. The only problem I would see is if you were worried that you weren't going to be together after 2 years. Then it might prevent you from removing conditions.

Thank you bsd058! Your feedback clears alot of the questions I had.

[dwheels76 5,468]

Hi All,

I just filed I-130 for my spouse on 12/07/12. I have a few questions about the process and the marriage certificate we presented. I have read extensively about the IR1 and CR1 visas - relating to the marriage being less than two(2) years old or more than two(2) years old. But my issue is that we got married through the customary way five years ago(i.e. customary marriage). However, we only registered our marriage at the courts in her home country this year to obtained the marriage license. But all other documents of ours show five years - for example our daughter's CRBA birth certificate, marriage photos, emails, passport stamps during my visits, western union receipts etc etc. Will my wife be issued an IR1 or CR1 visa based on this information? Also, my wife retained her last name after our marriage,i.e. on our marriage certificate. Will this be a problem when adjudicating my case?

Can someone in the forum with similar experience share please? Kindly let me know what I need to do so this wouldn't be an issue? Thanks so much!

I guess the key thing is for your country and does your Embassy recognizes a "Customary Marriage". I would check online and your countries forum and ask.

I know for instance for my husbands country Nigeria it's customary to have a traditional wedding ceremony, some look at it as the precursor to the formal "white weding" and do not consider themselves married well the embassy does. So I guess whatever date you have on your marriage certificate that is what they go by.

Can you go to the courts and get a affadvit from them stating when the exact date of your ceremony? Just throwing some idea out there sorry.

FYI: to get better exact response it would be great to fill out your timeline and list the country. You would be surprised who from your country went through same thing.

[Boggy1974 124]

Also, I had filed for I-129F a few months ago before filing the I-130 which looking back is a mistake because I couldn't afford the services of an immig attorney to get the right counsel. Anyway, I received the NOA1 two months ago telling me the application has been receieved. I tried tracking or checking the receipt number on USCIS website, and it tells me "that receipt number cannot be found". I called USCIS and spoke to someone who told me they are having issues with their system and that I should check later. My NOA1 also informed me that my case has been sent to the Vermont Service Center (VSC) to be adjudicated on that they let me know when a decision is made.

So here are my questions: How efficient or good is the VSC at processing these cases? how fast are they compared to other National Service Centers/Benefit Centers? Has anyone here in the forum experience the issue of not being able to track your case status lately in the USCIS website? If that's the case, why wouldn't USCIS try fixing the problem as soon as possible since at least people would like to know where they are in the process? I understance one has to exercise alot of patience dealing with this process and USCIS, but isn't what we paid for to get the best service? And is it too much to ask a government agency to fix their system?

[dwheels76 5,468]

Also, I had filed for I-129F a few months ago before filing the I-130 which looking back is a mistake because I couldn't afford the services of an immig attorney to get the right counsel. Anyway, I received the NOA1 two months ago telling me the application has been receieved. I tried tracking or checking the receipt number on USCIS website, and it tells me "that receipt number cannot be found". I called USCIS and spoke to someone who told me they are having issues with their system and that I should check later. My NOA1 also informed me that my case has been sent to the Vermont Service Center (VSC) to be adjudicated on that they let me know when a decision is made.

So here are my questions: How efficient or good is the VSC at processing these cases? how fast are they compared to other National Service Centers/Benefit Centers? Has anyone here in the forum experience the issue of not being able to track your case status lately in the USCIS website? If that's the case, why wouldn't USCIS try fixing the problem as soon as possible since at least people would like to know where they are in the process? I understance one has to exercise alot of patience dealing with this process and USCIS, but isn't what we paid for to get the best service? And is it too much to ask a government agency to fix their system?

1. How efficient or good is the VSC at processing these cases? Just as efficient as any other service center. But VSC has been approving long time taking 7 to 9 months.

2. How fast are they compared to other National Service Centers/Benefit Centers? NBC is very fast because they have not the volume of word usually caes been getting approved 2 to 3 months

3. Has anyone here in the forum experience the issue of not being able to track your case status lately in the USCIS website? They have been having issue slately with the website yes. But usually there's really nothing to trac. The website usually updates when they receive your case and when they approve. Long as you register your case nu,ber and put in your email and text you will be notified .

4. If that's the case, why wouldn't USCIS try fixing the problem as soon as possible since at least people would like to know where they are in the process? Be you don't know where you are it will say initial process from the time they receive ubtil you are approve. Rare are cases when you hear people say "there case was touched" meaning someone looked at. moved tuched their case. the date is put in but intial review never changes.

5. I understand one has to exercise alot of patience dealing with this process and USCIS, but isn't what we paid for to get the best service? Nothing much you can do but wait.