Marriage before lpr activation

[Yarem 0]

Hello everyone, I was hoping to get an answer on here after desperately searching the entire internet in vain.

I have just received my DV Visa and I have about 5 weeks before I leave to activate my LPR and receive my GC.

I am single but I wonder if I can get married in order to file a petition for my fiancé (we've been together for over 4 years) once I receive the GC. It takes about 2 years for an LPR's spouse to get an immigrant visa, but if I leave now as single and come back to get married it would cost a lot of money and it would make the process much, much longer.

My question is, can a person get married before leaving to the US for the first time to activate LPR or would it deny them entry to the US at the POE??

Help me please, I don't know what to do.

[aleful 1,905]

hi

you need to enter the us as unmarried, since that is how you filed the petition and how you got the petition, once you enter you can return and marry your fiancé

the petition will take close to 2 years

now, why didn't you get married before and applied the DV as married? you both would have gone together, since you have been together for 4 years, there was time to get married before you applied

now too late

[newacct 688]

hi

you need to enter the us as unmarried, since that is how you filed the petition and how you got the petition

I am not sure this is true. Since the DV category does not require the principal applicant be unmarried, why should marriage affect it?

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

You don't need to enter the US as unmarried, there is nothing to prevent you getting married after getting a visa.

However... You can't just bring your new wife with you and it's unlikely she'll be allowed to enter on a visitor visa, you'll have to apply for her and wait. It's a pity you didn't get married before your interview so she could get a DV visa too, so this is the only way you can really do it.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Why would a DV winner be disqualified for marrying? It's not granted based on marital status.

[Yarem 0]

Yeah I know we could have gotten married before the interview, but I only found out about the appointment around 2 weeks before so even if we tried we couldn't have made it for the interview time. This leaves me with the only remaining option, which is to petition for him once there... But a lot of people have been telling me not to get married before activating LPR and that it would disqualify me because my papers say "Single". Leaving and then coming back to get married is a ton of money considering I'm in North Africa right now and a student.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

But a lot of people have been telling me not to get married before activating LPR and that it would disqualify me because my papers say "Single"..

This is completely untrue.

However, you do realise that your new spouse will have to wait in your home country until the petition is approved?

[Yarem 0]

I do, he is doing his PHD here anyway so he can't move right now so it's all good.
Okay, suppose I get married in the next 5 months, won't I need to notify anyone or ask to change my marital status on my papers?

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

I do, he is doing his PHD here anyway so he can't move right now so it's all good.

Okay, suppose I get married in the next 5 months, won't I need to notify anyone or ask to change my marital status on my papers?

What "papers" are you talking about exactly? Your visa has no record of your marital status and even if it did, there are enough cases of married people who don't get visas for their spouses immediately. You're unlikely to be questioned much if at all on entry to the US and even if you are for some obscure reason, you've done nothing wrong. I'm not sure what you are worried about. Edited February 11, 2016 by SusieQQQ

[Yarem 0]

The package I'll be showing at the POE contains a celibacy certificate that I requested for the interview. I guess I am worried about nothing, I just wanted to see if other people did it before and what happened with them.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Yarem

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

The package I'll be showing at the POE contains a celibacy certificate that I requested for the interview. I guess I am worried about nothing, I just wanted to see if other people did it before and what happened with them.

Um, OK. The celibacy certificate (I must be honest, I've never heard of these things) is not required for the visa so even if it's in your packet doesn't mean anything. It does not prevent you getting married after you get the visa.

Any USCIS concerns about a 'green card marriage' would be dealt with after you have applied for a visa for your husband, but you clearly will have plenty of evidence to show you were in a long term relationship so that's not an issue either. You will not be denied entry because you got married after you got your visa.

(...you may have a bit of a headache re the documentation if you decide to change your name though, so rather don't do any of that before you enter, especially given there is a time constraint. It would not be disqualifiable either, just result in more stress - so if you change your name I'd suggest you do that after you are in the US even though it will cost a bit extra to have a new green card printed in your married name.)

Edited February 11, 2016 by SusieQQQ

[Yarem 0]

Oh, I didn't think about the change of name either, I don't think we do that in this country but I'll investigate further.
For the DV lottery I checked Single on the form, then for the interview I had to bring proof of marital status or celibacy in my case. Even in my Visa it says Single because of that celibacy thingy.
We will have no problem proving our relationship is real, I just hope I can find a way to apply for him once there without having to make another expensive round-trip.

[Alaska2012 462]

Who required you to prove celibacy and how on earth are they to check it??

[Yarem 0]

One of the papers required for a DV interview is a proof of your status: marriage contract, celibacy certificates, divorce certificates, etc...
I don't know, maybe they do a background check at your arrival? XD I'm preparing for all scenarios.

[newacct 688]

Are you the principal immigrant or a derivative beneficiary (i.e. child of the principal immigrant)? If you are the principal immigrant your marriage status shouldn't matter. If you are a derivative then marriage will disqualify you as a derivative.