Changing my marital status in USA

[A F N 0]

Hello there

I'm an American citizen and I got married in Istanbul , turkey last year , I live and work right now in Dubai with my wife ,

I want to register my marriage in my state , and change my marital status from single to married .

I know that my marriage is valid and there is no need to register it , but I want to .

Where do I start ?

[aaron2020 11,651]

No where because we do not register foreign marriages in the US.

[A F N 0]

So I'll always be single on my papers in the U.S???

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

No, you can start filing taxes etc as married.

[A F N 0]

Does that mean that I can marry somebody else if I wanted to with no legal consequences ? Makes no sense what's so ever

[JohnR! 5,495]

Does that mean that I can marry somebody else if I wanted to with no legal consequences ? Makes no sense what's so ever

You can't marry someone else, for in order to apply to be issued a marriage certificate in the US you must be single. Your current marriage is valid anywhere in the US. There is no d-base where marriages are registered. The whole system is based on the individual's word and recognizance.

[A F N 0]

You can't marry someone else, for in order to apply to be issued a marriage certificate in the US you must be single. Your current marriage is valid anywhere in the US. There is no d-base where marriages are registered. The whole system is based on the individual's word and recognizance.

I still don't understand .. YES MY MARRIAGE IS VALID IN THE U.S , but there is no paper that says that I'm .

Which means I can go to USA right now and get married , and no one will know that I'm married overseas , we'll unless I tell them or show them the marriage certificate ..

So this is very weird , there must be some way I can change my marital status

[JohnR! 5,495]

I still don't understand .. YES MY MARRIAGE IS VALID IN THE U.S , but there is no paper that says that I'm .

Which means I can go to USA right now and get married , and no one will know that I'm married overseas , we'll unless I tell them or show them the marriage certificate ..

So this is very weird , there must be some way I can change my marital status

You would not be able to get married again, for in order to get a marriage license and marry in the US you must swear under oath that you are not married. Incidentally, if you were to lie and do so, bigamy is considered a crime in the US, so you would be subject to the penalties afforded by the law.

The closest you can get to a change in marital status is on your Federal and State taxes, and if you decide to change your name.

Other than that there is no state database.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Gegel

[aaron2020 11,651]

I still don't understand .. YES MY MARRIAGE IS VALID IN THE U.S , but there is no paper that says that I'm .

Which means I can go to USA right now and get married , and no one will know that I'm married overseas , we'll unless I tell them or show them the marriage certificate ..

So this is very weird , there must be some way I can change my marital status

The paperwork that says your marriage is valid in United States is your foreign marriage certificate.

You are wrong that there is no paperwork showing you are married in the United States. Your foreign marriage certificate is that paperwork.

If you truly think that you can get marry in the US because there's no paperwork, then go right ahead and commit the crime of bigamy. Your state will be very interested in why you got married in the US to one person while holding a valid foreign marriage certificate to another person.

You're simply not getting that the foreign marriage certificate is the paperwork to show you are married in the US.

The US does not have a registry of foreign marriages like other countries. It's not necessary or possible.

[A F N 0]

Ok I'm not saying I will re marry :-) I love my wife to death!

I swore under the oath in the US consulate in Istanbul that I was single ,in order to obtain the "single status affidavit"

if I had bad intentions , I could go get married in USA and swear again that I'm single and no one will know . SIMPLE

YEAH my marriage certificate is valid and recognized world wide , but I can still go back to my country a free man!

And forget about my wife over here and simply start a new life ..interesting

[aaron2020 11,651]

Ok I'm not saying I will re marry :-) I love my wife to death!

I swore under the oath in the US consulate in Istanbul that I was single ,in order to obtain the "single status affidavit"

if I had bad intentions , I could go get married in USA and swear again that I'm single and no one will know . SIMPLE

YEAH my marriage certificate is valid and recognized world wide , but I can still go back to my country a free man!

And forget about my wife over here and simply start a new life ..interesting

You still don't get it.

In what world are you a "free man?"

How would you simply forget your wife and legally marry in the US?

You can't. You are simply not understanding that you are not a "free man." You are married. Period.

You are not free to marry in the US because there is no US record of your foreign marriage.

If you think it is "interesting," then go to your local marriage office and ask what would happen if you marry another person and forget about foreign marriage. You will find that you at not free like you think.

Married is married. You need to understand this. It doesn't matter if you got married in a foreign country or in the US.

How are you free if you would be committing the crime of bigamy by marrying another person in the US?

Edited January 20, 2014 by aaron2020

[Teddy B 17,252]

Ok I'm not saying I will re marry :-) I love my wife to death!

I swore under the oath in the US consulate in Istanbul that I was single ,in order to obtain the "single status affidavit"

if I had bad intentions , I could go get married in USA and swear again that I'm single and no one will know . SIMPLE

YEAH my marriage certificate is valid and recognized world wide , but I can still go back to my country a free man!

And forget about my wife over here and simply start a new life ..interesting

[A F N 0]

So you guys still don't get my point !!!

Just because you are married doesn't mean you are a saint!!

Millions of married men cheat on their wives and leaves them ..

You guys talking like we live in a perfect world where everybody is happy and everything smells like roses!

I understand it's a crime if the person gets married again and the authorities finds out!!!!!

I'm just saying , that a person can simply get married outside the U.S , have fun while he is abroad , then just move on with his life , go back to USA , and no authorities will know that he is married somewhere else in this world!!!

UNLESS Somebody tells on him .PERIOD

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

The thing is, it is the same in the USA. Say you get married in New York, big wedding, the works. A year later you split up, you move to Texas, find the new love of your life. You are not divorced from the first wife, but you decide to lie on the marriage license in Texas and say you are single and get married a second time- it is illegal but you could probably get it done. This is no different from getting married abroad, coming to the USA, lying and getting married again. There is NO centralised database of marriages in the USA. It is illegal to marry twice, but they are unlikely to find out at the time of the wedding.

[A F N 0]

I mean yeah ! That's what I was trying to say

There should be some way to change it you know , it sucks ,but I totally understand that I'm not able to change my marital status

(The wife was pressuring me anyways ) lol I just had to show her this thread so she will stop thinking that I'm making excuses and "not saying the truth" about being unable to change my status in there)

Thank you guys