Certified Marriage Certificate for AOS from K1

[valverdeveslings 10]

My fiancée and I will be getting married in Los Angeles County and it is a 6-8 week wait to get the certified marriage certificate. After the ceremony they give you a customer copy of the marriage certificate. We are planning on sending AOS anyway with the customer copy, an explanation that it takes 6-8 weeks and that we will bring the certified copy to the interview, and pictures of our ceremony in the Beverly Hills Courthouse.

We know this could be an RFE situation but do you think including the explanation that we will bring the certified copy to the interview + the pictures of the civil ceremony taking place would help avoid an RFE?

Thanks!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

No, you will get a RFE.

You should expedite getting the marriage cert, I think you can walk the document over to the county clerk and ask them do do it faster. There are many threads about getting the CA marriage cert faster on here.

[Nongorilla 0]

We got married in LA courthouse.

We payed extra $20 for an express delivery for marriage cert copies at the window.

I think it took only 10 to 14 days to be mailed.

It's worth to wait a couple weeks than getting RFE.

[Camelot13 63]

My husband and I were married in LA this spring. They tell you it will take 6-8 weeks. Ours took 3.5 weeks. What we did to expedite it was to hand deliver the marriage license to the Norwalk center and then we called in a few times a week to check if it was ready and, when it was, we picked up in person rather than have them mail it to us. They explained to us that the length of time depended on how many weddings they had at any given time that needed to be recorded. Then we overnighted the AOS package. We got it in right before our 90 days. I don't think there's any other way to expedite it. They didn't seem all that interested in rushing it for us, even when we mentioned the timeline of immigration.

I'd really advise against turning in your AOS package without the formal certified recorded copy of the marriage certificate. The pictures and explanation won't help avoid one. You'll definitely get an RFE, so it's better to wait and send it in when you have the certified one.

Your timeline says you got married in May? Is that incorrect?

Edited August 26, 2014 by Camelot13

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

Wait until you have what is actually required.

~ Moved from K-1 Process to AOS from Family Based Visas - topic is AOS, not K-1 ~

[valverdeveslings 10]

My husband and I were married in LA this spring. They tell you it will take 6-8 weeks. Ours took 3.5 weeks. What we did to expedite it was to hand deliver the marriage license to the Norwalk center and then we called in a few times a week to check if it was ready and, when it was, we picked up in person rather than have them mail it to us. They explained to us that the length of time depended on how many weddings they had at any given time that needed to be recorded. Then we overnighted the AOS package. We got it in right before our 90 days. I don't think there's any other way to expedite it. They didn't seem all that interested in rushing it for us, even when we mentioned the timeline of immigration.

I'd really advise against turning in your AOS package without the formal certified recorded copy of the marriage certificate. The pictures and explanation won't help avoid one. You'll definitely get an RFE, so it's better to wait and send it in when you have the certified one.

Your timeline says you got married in May? Is that incorrect?

We will be living in Phoenix, AZ so we can't pick it up in person... that's why we were thinking that at least by the time we get an RFE we will have the certified copy to send because for us it will probably take many weeks.

I'll try to see if we can get to the Norwalk office to deliver it in person... hopefully that speeds it up a bit!

And no we are getting married on December 5th, 2014.

[Camelot13 63]

Oh, haha, must have read the dates backwards. I remember asking my immigration lawyer whether we should do the same thing and we decided it'd be better to turn in the package a little beyond the 90 days rather than send it in incomplete (I was actually worried at the time that if we did that then they could deny the petition...but I think my fears were unfounded). Luckily it came soon enough that we were able to get it in on time. If you're going to be in AZ, paying the extra $20 to sign up for the mail service is probably good. I know Norwalk is the central office where they do all the recording so bringing it there will likely shave off a few days. Good luck!

[valverdeveslings 10]

Oh, haha, must have read the dates backwards. I remember asking my immigration lawyer whether we should do the same thing and we decided it'd be better to turn in the package a little beyond the 90 days rather than send it in incomplete (I was actually worried at the time that if we did that then they could deny the petition...but I think my fears were unfounded). Luckily it came soon enough that we were able to get it in on time. If you're going to be in AZ, paying the extra $20 to sign up for the mail service is probably good. I know Norwalk is the central office where they do all the recording so bringing it there will likely shave off a few days. Good luck!

Okay we will definitely do the extra $20!

Thanks so much for the advice

[babsloblaw 6]

I sent my AOS off with a customer copy two days after we got married, and we got an RFE for the certified copy a month later.

It took another three weeks before I received the certified copies. Fortunately, it didn't look like my EAD and AOS packages were delayed THAT much.

The EAD processing time fell within the timeframe of VJ estimates. After I sent the RFE response in, my AOS moved to Testing and Interview after two weeks, and the interview was scheduled around two weeks later that. I noticed that my interview letter had my NOA1 as the priority date (NOT the RFE response date), so maybe that helped me get an interview date faster (?). I can't tell for sure how the USCIS offices operate though.

[_Paul&Jesica_ 70]

My fiancée and I will be getting married in Los Angeles County and it is a 6-8 week wait to get the certified marriage certificate. After the ceremony they give you a customer copy of the marriage certificate. We are planning on sending AOS anyway with the customer copy, an explanation that it takes 6-8 weeks and that we will bring the certified copy to the interview, and pictures of our ceremony in the Beverly Hills Courthouse.

We know this could be an RFE situation but do you think including the explanation that we will bring the certified copy to the interview + the pictures of the civil ceremony taking place would help avoid an RFE?

Thanks!

You need to provide a copy of the certified certificate. I ordered 2 copies and had mine in hand about 10 days after the recording of the marriage. It is good to get a few extra certified copies as you might need them for various reasons.

The "souvenir" copy you receive at the ceremony will result in an RFE. It isn't proof that the marriage was recorded.

[Girl from Celebes 588]

I waited more than 3 weeks to get my certified copy of marriage certificate. We did not ask an express delivery since we think it was not necessary though I kind of anxious about that. After we got it we finally filed AOS with the certified copy of marriage certificate. Better to wait a bit longer rather than filed faster but highly chance ended up getting RFE.

[_Paul&Jesica_ 70]

We will be living in Phoenix, AZ so we can't pick it up in person... that's why we were thinking that at least by the time we get an RFE we will have the certified copy to send because for us it will probably take many weeks.

I'll try to see if we can get to the Norwalk office to deliver it in person... hopefully that speeds it up a bit!

And no we are getting married on December 5th, 2014.

It is best if you can avoid an RFE all together as it can add an unpredictable amount of further delay to the processing of your case.

Also, advance welcome to Phoenix