Religious wedding before legal wedding?

[burralow 0]

I asked this on the end of a different topic in the k1 forum, but i thought i might move it to this forum.

What I'm curious about, and I don't know if anyone has had this experience and has an anwer, is what happens if you get religiously married and travel to the states and get legally married there on a k-1 and then start AOS. What happens at the AOS interview?

obviously, getting religiously married before entering on k-1 is a touchy subject and some people may get lucky etc and make it through POE no problem and get married.

So what happens at an AOS interview when they are asked to show pics of their wedding etc? and do they tell the AOS officers about their religous wedding prior to their legal wedding? would the AOS officer deport the k1 holder if they think the k1 holder has broken the rules? Or by that point is all that the AOS officer is interested in is whether or not the marriage is fake?

I'm sure there are people who have been through this situation as I'm sure a few have had religious ceremonies prior and I'm sure all of them had to apply for AOS.. just wondering if anyone knew what happened?

[luvaLimey 0]

AFAIK, it depends upon whether the religious ceremony os considered legally binding in the country you're coming from (or your fiance is coming from).

For instance, in the UK, a COE wedding is considered a legally binding marriage, even if you odn't have all of the legal paperwork, so to the folks at CIS and the consulate, you'd already be married... which would negate the need for the fiance visa, in which case you'd need to reapply for a K3.

And start the wait all over again.

I'd advise to either wait until you're in the US to get married (on k1), or get married there and apply for the K3.

[MaryandMian 1]

I'd advise to either wait until you're in the US to get married (on k1), or get married there and apply for the K3.

It would be a shame to get denied the K1 and then have to start all over with the funds and time to go the K3 route. And some members have a hard time getting their AOS done for name checks and such. This could also add time to your AOS processing. JMHO.

Mary

[rellik 0]

In my case (she's from Ukraine), we would have had to jump through all kinds of hoops for the religious ceremony to be legally binding (me being the USC) but, we did it anyway so her family/friends could attend. Then we got married a week or so later in the U.S. to be legal and official. Some countries, like others have stated, don't recognize a religious ceremony as being legally binding. That's why, priests and such in some states in the U.S. have to have the ability to perform civil services as well as religious (which can be done at the same time)...I'd definitly check with the U.S. consulate in your fiance's home country and do a little research before chancing having to start all over again. Hopefully, this helps a little.

P.S. our religious ceremony was done after she had been approved for the K1 and I was there to escort her home to the U.S....

Edited October 16, 2006 by rellik

[John & Annie 0]

We had a simular situation.

We had a betrothal service in Scotland and then went to the US to get "Married"

We had a lot of opinions about this, I checked and double checked with USCIS and as long as you are not legally married anywhere else, they do not see this as an issue. If you sign anything outside of the US, you will have abandoned your K1, and you will then have a spouse, not an Fiance. They are only asking if you are legally married, regardless of you are Married in the eyes of your family or clergy.

If you do this, make sure that you know when you are at the POE that you are not legally married.

Good Luck and God Bless.

Edited October 16, 2006 by John & Annie

[Yodrak 7]

burralow,

If asked to show photos of your wedding, show photos of the wedding that was associated with the marriage.

Yodrak

I asked this on the end of a different topic in the k1 forum, but i thought i might move it to this forum.

What I'm curious about, and I don't know if anyone has had this experience and has an anwer, is what happens if you get religiously married and travel to the states and get legally married there on a k-1 and then start AOS. What happens at the AOS interview?

....

So what happens at an AOS interview when they are asked to show pics of their wedding etc? ....

[burralow 0]

I don't think a COE wedding is legal if there is no marriage certificate.....

http://www.weddingguide.co.uk/articles/ceremonies/cofe.asp

Legal Requirements

The bride and groom are required to sign the register to make the marriage legal. Two witnesses are required to be present at the ceremony, and also sign the register.

surely without a register......the vows aren't worth the paper they are written on (or in that case not written on) legally speaking at least?

[raffyusa 0]

I asked this on the end of a different topic in the k1 forum, but i thought i might move it to this forum.

What I'm curious about, and I don't know if anyone has had this experience and has an anwer, is what happens if you get religiously married and travel to the states and get legally married there on a k-1 and then start AOS. What happens at the AOS interview?

obviously, getting religiously married before entering on k-1 is a touchy subject and some people may get lucky etc and make it through POE no problem and get married.

So what happens at an AOS interview when they are asked to show pics of their wedding etc? and do they tell the AOS officers about their religous wedding prior to their legal wedding? would the AOS officer deport the k1 holder if they think the k1 holder has broken the rules? Or by that point is all that the AOS officer is interested in is whether or not the marriage is fake?

I'm sure there are people who have been through this situation as I'm sure a few have had religious ceremonies prior and I'm sure all of them had to apply for AOS.. just wondering if anyone knew what happened?

Burralaw,

as long as the religious ceremony has NO LEGAL, NO CIVIL effects it does not count.

You are not legally married in from of your country nor the US.

In Italy if you someone is catholic and wants to get married in Church with no civil effects, a special waiver need to be asked to the bishop and the "religious only" wedding can be granted under special conditions. For visa issues it can usually be done.

[burralow 0]

thanks very much raffy,

but im still curious if anyone has done it and what their experience with the AOS interview is?

[Yodrak 7]

burralow,

Curious if anyone has done what? Showed pictures of a wedding that wasn't a marriage ceremony?

My wife and I had a wedding ceremony in her country before she came to the USA as a K1. Ceremonies are irrelevant there, they do not create a state-recognized marriage. We also had a wedding ceremoney in the USA after she entered, and those were the wedding pictures we brought to the AOS interview.

Yodrak

thanks very much raffy,

but im still curious if anyone has done it and what their experience with the AOS interview is?

[expatrica 0]

Hi!

My husband and I had a wedding ceremony here officiated by a priest in July. However, it was not legally binding as no marriage certificate was filed for.

He was approved for the visa last week and we were officially and legally married last Friday. We did take some pictures at this official ceremony but most of our pictures are from the July reception at which we had 80 of our family and friends presents.

I don't see any problem in us bringing both sets of pictures to the AoS interview. Does anyone see any problem in doing so and just explaining the differences in the two ceremonies?

E

[Peter Miami 0]

I personally would not risk getting married before entering the U.S. This process is screw-up already without you adding problems to it. I had a civil wedding in the U.S. and I will have a Catholic Church wedding in Colombia in the summer of 2007.

Can you do that later on like next years?

Good luck,

Peter Miami

Hi!

My husband and I had a wedding ceremony here officiated by a priest in July. However, it was not legally binding as no marriage certificate was filed for.

He was approved for the visa last week and we were officially and legally married last Friday. We did take some pictures at this official ceremony but most of our pictures are from the July reception at which we had 80 of our family and friends presents.

I don't see any problem in us bringing both sets of pictures to the AoS interview. Does anyone see any problem in doing so and just explaining the differences in the two ceremonies?

E

I would definitely not bring two different sets of wedding pictures to the interview. Do you read the problem that some of the people going through this process go through? Some people are waiting one and a half, two or three years for a GC. There is no common sense in this process.

Peter Miami

[burralow 0]

so then i think the real question is that in a case like expatrica's if you do not bring pictures from your 'non-legal wedding' and just bring pics from the legal wedding but the legal wedding was small, not many people present etc does that matter to the AOS interviewer?

would they see such a small wedding and no family present and see no other pictures of any other wedding and therefore suspect a fraudulent relationship due to the fact that u obviously didnt make a big deal of it?

or is it enough that you have pictures of the legal ceremony and then have other documentation to prove continued relationship. ie. joint cars, insurance, utilities, rent etc?

[Yodrak 7]

burralow,

Many people get married before a justice of the peace, or other authorized person, with the required number of witnesses present, and nothing more.

What could you possibly expect to be proving to a USCIS officer by showing pictures of a wedding ceremony that did not create a marriage when what they are wanting you to prove, what they are expecting you to document, is that you got married? What can you possibly expect the reaction to be other than that you got married before entering the USA on a K1 visa, something that is not allowed.

Yodrak

so then i think the real question is that in a case like expatrica's if you do not bring pictures from your 'non-legal wedding' and just bring pics from the legal wedding but the legal wedding was small, not many people present etc does that matter to the AOS interviewer?

would they see such a small wedding and no family present and see no other pictures of any other wedding and therefore suspect a fraudulent relationship due to the fact that u obviously didnt make a big deal of it?

or is it enough that you have pictures of the legal ceremony and then have other documentation to prove continued relationship. ie. joint cars, insurance, utilities, rent etc?

[Peter Miami 0]

burralow,

Many people get married before a justice of the peace, or other authorized person, with the required number of witnesses present, and nothing more.

What could you possibly expect to be proving to a USCIS officer by showing pictures of a wedding ceremony that did not create a marriage when what they are wanting you to prove, what they are expecting you to document, is that you got married? What can you possibly expect the reaction to be other than that you got married before entering the USA on a K1 visa, something that is not allowed.

Yodrak

so then i think the real question is that in a case like expatrica's if you do not bring pictures from your 'non-legal wedding' and just bring pics from the legal wedding but the legal wedding was small, not many people present etc does that matter to the AOS interviewer?

would they see such a small wedding and no family present and see no other pictures of any other wedding and therefore suspect a fraudulent relationship due to the fact that u obviously didnt make a big deal of it?

or is it enough that you have pictures of the legal ceremony and then have other documentation to prove continued relationship. ie. joint cars, insurance, utilities, rent etc?

Yodrak,

Very well put.

Peter Miami