K1: Civil ceremony first, then a later celebration ceremony. Should we explain ourselves to the USCIS?

[GreatDane 366]

6 hours ago, Alenx said:

Thank you RJandHamid and GreatDane so far for all the helpful feedback and shared experiences! 😃 The experiences were what I was really hoping for. May I ask you guys where you had your interviews?

We had our interview in Seattle. Try your best to move forward with AOS and don't stress. It takes years until you're 'done' with USCIS and we've all been through it. 
Really. It can't get worse than your husband refusing to answer whether you have a 'romantic relationship' at your AOS interview. We had that happen and it still wasn't the end of the world  (Short answer - he thought the immigration officer was asking about our sex life and refused to answer thinking it was too intimate)

[Orangesapples 1,954]

We had an extremely small and quick ceremony and we never had a big party because we don't want to spend the money and this was never questioned at all. We had a lot of financial proof and that was what mattered. Also, if you're filing for AOS after a K1 there's no need to include any relationship evidence in the packet. We just included the marriage certificate and we brought the rest to the interview. Our interview was very easy. 

 

Focus on evidence of living together and comingled finances. Add her to your bank account as soon as you can (it took us a few months because our bank was picky and then use that account and bring all the bank statements to the interview. Get joint insurance, add her as a beneficiary to your 401k, etc. Bring pictures maybe from your travels and also with family and friends if possible. Don't worry about a ceremony 

[JenD 180]

8 hours ago, Alenx said:

Hi Visajourneyers,

 

so we are about to file the AOS application for me. I'm from Germany and got married to my wife in New Mexico on August 17 on a K1 Visa. After the recent USCIS policy change the officers aren't really required to send RFEs anymore if the initial evidence is insufficient and can deny it right away, so we got a little paranoid. My question is: does anybody have experience with a "split" ceremony, meaning a civil, official one with only a few people while on K1 (to make our lives easier in terms of planning), then having a bigger celebration ceremony with all the relatives later? Is this common for other K1-Visa people? Do you think it will seem odd to the officer (like were only getting married for formal reasons)? What did you guys do? I'm asking because we are thinking about including a written explanation as to why we're doing it this way. Do you think it's necessary, particularly to make sure that the "initial" evidence is "sufficient"? I know this may sound like overthinking, but then this explanation could look weird either, like we really have a reason to explain ourselves like that. It took us a year to get the K1 visa and we were apart for 8 months for financial reasons, so at this point its really stressing us out. Any shared experience would be much appreciated.

 

Apart from that: Congratulations to everyone who has been through this! And love to anyone who's doing it right now.

That's what we did. It's totally common. Many people want a big wedding with family and friends, but it's impossible to plan with the K-1. The civil ceremony then bigger ceremony later was actually what our lawyer advised.

[TNJ17 1,329]

Literally no one cares. All you need is a marriage certificate. 

[Diane and Chris 651]

Just make sure you fill out the paperwork completely and accurately. You can bring pictures to the interview of your civil ceremony and/or your lavish after ceremony. Like others have said, they really don’t care what you do as long as it’s done within the first 90 days. And @Ben&Zian are one of the best to go to for pretty much any advice!  So, be nice. 

[bakphx1 785]

Only the marriage certificate that you get at the civil ceremony matters.  The rest is unimportant.  It was just my spouse and I at our ceremony and the interpreter was the only person there that wasn’t staff of the Commissioner’s Office.  The document is all you need the out of it for immigration purposes.  The rest is eating and dancing.

[Scandi 3,970]

I arrived on a K-1 not that long ago and we only had a court house wedding (took about 7 minutes), the only witness was my mother-in-law. We never had a ceremony after that and have no intention to ever have one either.

 

I filed for AOS without any proof of bonafide relationship whatsoever. No photos, rental agreements, insurances, shared bank account statements or explanations. Nothing. I was approved just fine.

 

Until this day we have never received an RFE for anything in my immigration journey. 

Edited September 14, 2018 by Scandi

[Orangesapples 1,954]

1 minute ago, Scandi said:

I arrived on a K-1 not that long ago and we only had a court house wedding, the only witness was my mother-in-law. We never had a ceremony after that and have no intention to ever have one either.

 

I filed for AOS without any proof of bonafide relationship whatsoever. No photos, rental agreements, insurances, shared bank account statements or explanations. Nothing. I was approved just fine.

 

Until this day we have never received an RFE for anything in my immigration journey. 

You were approved without an interview? 

[Scandi 3,970]

1 minute ago, Orangesapples said:

You were approved without an interview? 

No I had an interview, that one was almost over faster than the court house wedding. The IO didn't ask for any proof of bonafide marriage there either.

[Orangesapples 1,954]

27 minutes ago, Scandi said:

No I had an interview, that one was almost over faster than the court house wedding. The IO didn't ask for any proof of bonafide marriage there either.

Hm, interesting, at my interview the IO was definitely interested in the evidence we brought. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

33 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

You were approved without an interview? 

A lot of K1s are approved without interview. 

[Scandi 3,970]

Just now, Orangesapples said:

Hm, interesting, at my interview the IO was definitely interested in the evidence we brought. 

Yep, seems to vary a lot. I asked him three times if there was ANY proof of bonafide marriage he wanted to see but he declined everytime, I kind of wanted to show him something at least since I had brought a very thick folder and photoalbum with proof.

[Diane and Chris 651]

21 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

A lot of K1s are approved without interview. 

They used to be. Not so much nowadays. 

[Moslund 94]

We had a went to court house a few days after I arrived in America then a month later had a ceremony with friends and family. Immigration doesnt care how many ceremonys you have aslong as your legally married within the 90days.

[VNN 147]

My brother adjusted his wife's status from F1 Visa (we are Vietnamese so wedding is a big deal according to our tradition), my mother and I came with them to the court house - signed the marriage certificate: done.    My cousin recently had her green card (like 2 months ago) did the same thing.  Different type of Visa but I do not think it should be different when considering if a wedding ceremony is big factor.