certified copy of marriage license?

[pushbrk 13,625]

thanks for all the information. I am just looking at our marriage license as I am typing this reply.

It is titled "certified marriage license" and has the signature of our county clerk. The shiny-foil sticker I was referring to earlier turns out to be the county circuit court seal (a golden sticker nontheless). so I guess a xerox copy of this document IS what I need...

A marriage license is not a marriage certificate. In some States the original license and the marriage certificate the bride, groom and officiator sign is on the same page. However, the "marriage certificate" needed for the AOS filing would be something you obtain after the marriage is duly recorded by the county clerk and will attest to the fact the marriage both took place and was registered, not simply that the couple was granted a license to do so. Devil in the details. License doesn't mean you're married, just that you can be, just like a plane ticket doesn't mean you went anywhere but a boarding pass, particularly coming and going, does.

So, is this just a license or a marriage certificate? Did you get it from the County Clerk after the marriage took place?

pushbrk, you are a life saver! Thank you for making it clear what a marriage certificate is - I just called our county clerk, and as it turned out, I need to go there and pick it up.

Our county is weird. when we applied for a marriage license, they gave us some paper, and a marriage license form without clerk's signature or the seal. After we got married, they put the signature and the seal on that form, and a nice for-show marriage something (dont recall the exact title, but do remember the lady telling us it was only for show, not a legal document) in a leather binder. never received the certificate. so glad I asked. thanks again for the details, pushbrk!

You're welcome. Sometimes swimming upstream is worth the effort.

[Major Kuma 0]

pushbrk, I wish you were working in our county clerk's office. that lady, I dont know how she managed it, but she got me confused again. I called the lady in the office this morning to have it ready, but when I went there to pick it up, it was exactly the same thing that I had - "certified marriage license". I asked her about a marriage license, and she said that was all they have... maybe that was the correct document, but they just named it differently in Indiana?

[Goldfee111 3]

i sent only a copy of my marriage certificat..no problems no RFE...i will take the orginal with me to the interview