Wedding officiant ordained online.

[Him and Her 1 1]

I have a friend who was ordained online who is planning on marrying us. Will this cause any problems with USCIS when applying for the green card? I didn't think so, now I'm hearing that this has caused problems before.

[RobertM54 36]

I have a friend who was ordained online who is planning on marrying us. Will this cause any problems with USCIS when applying for the green card? I didn't think so, now I'm hearing that this has caused problems before.

Is this friend in USA? Authorized to sign marriage licenses in the state in which you plan to marry?

http://offbeatbride.com/2013/02/friend-officiant

Call the registrar in the township where you will be getting married to see what needs to be done by your officiant to ensure that they can legally solemnize your marriage. This not only varies by state, but can also vary by municipality within the state. Just because someone is an internet ordained minister does not automatically let them perform marriage ceremonies everywhere — marriage laws are governed at the state level, not the federal level.

If you are doing research online regarding marriage law, only trust sources that are the legitimate website of the government in question — not a blog and not a compilation site. Some states will require your officiant to register or apply for a one-day solemnization. Some states will be fine with a simple internet ordainment. Some states will be different — for example, in New York City, all officiants must register with City Hall. However, New York State has different marriage licenses and no registration.

[Dashinka 23,206]

I agree with Robert. This is an issue related to the government agency that issues the marriage certificate which is local. As long as the issuing agency (county clerk, city clerk, etc) allows the person to legally marry you and sign the marriage license, USCIS will not bat an eye. In our case, we had a friend who did the same thing as to becoming ordained online and we had no issues.

Good Luck!