Getting Married in USA and Filing from Overseas

[GBlank 0]

Background: I'm marrying my Japanese fiance and our intent is to get married in the United States, but I'm trying to find what is necessary to get legally married and follow suit from there. She can't spend the time in the USA to apply for the Green Card (on the chance she has to leave during adjustment of status,) so she wants to do it from Japan.

 

When we get married here (Hawaii or California,) what documents (birth certificate or otherwise) do we need to properly get a marriage certificate and about how long will that take to file?

 

We intend to travel back to Japan to put my name on her family register (with said certificate and my birth certificate) and change her name in Japan, so how will this potentially impact the marriage certificate and travel?

[MrChamploo 45]

Why don't you just marry her in japan and then apply for the CR-1 from there? Does she have a tourist visa already or are you going to have to get her that to come into the states?

 

-- Either way let me try to help you here.

 

You need to call up wherever you shall get married and see what they need. They usually need an affidavit of single status and a birth certificate. Both which need to be notarized and or apostatized.(Spell check that word for me fellas). Probably translated as well. You can just call the court and see what they want.

 

This won't cause an issue because of the marriage certificate being here in the US. Do NOT apply for a green card while she was there if you were not on an approved K1-Visa as you will get denied right away,so it would be better to let her go home and then do a CR-1

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by MrChamploo

[Scandi 4,178]

In California she just needs her passport to get a marriage license. If you apply for one online you can walk into the county clerk's office and pick it up the same day. If you don't apply online you might have to wait in line at the office for quite some time (a couple of hours in LA). 

 

You get to choose between confidential and public license. After you get married you might have to wait for a few weeks to get your marriage certificate depending on what county you get married in. We had to wait a month for ours.

[MrChamploo 45]

4 minutes ago, Scandi said:

In California she just needs her passport to get a marriage license. If you apply for one online you can walk into the county clerk's office and pick it up the same day. If you don't apply online you might have to wait in line at the office for quite some time (a couple of hours in LA). 

 

You get to choose between confidential and public license. After you get married you might have to wait for a few weeks to get your marriage certificate depending on what county you get married in. We had to wait a month for ours.

 

Really? When we were looking at our options of marrying my wife here,they wanted more then a passport >< Thank you Illinois!

Edited January 20, 2017 by MrChamploo

[Scandi 4,178]

Just now, MrChamploo said:

 

Really? When we were looking at our options of marrying my wife here,they wanted more then a passport >< Thank you Illinois!

Yeah I bet it depends on the state. Tons of couples from other countries come to US as tourists, get married and return to their home countries. So only needing a passport is perfect. I guess California is just as easy as Nevada in that regard. 

[GBlank 0]

15 minutes ago, MrChamploo said:

Why don't you just marry her in japan and then apply for the CR-1 from there? Does she have a tourist visa already or are you going to have to get her that to come into the states?

 

-- Either way let me try to help you here.

 

You need to call up wherever you shall get married and see what they need. They usually need an affidavit of single status and a birth certificate. Both which need to be notarized and or apostatized.(Spell check that word for me fellas). Probably translated as well. You can just call the court and see what they want.

 

This won't cause an issue because of the marriage certificate being here in the US. Do NOT apply for a green card while she was there if you were not on an approved K1-Visa as you will get denied right away,so it would be better to let her go home and then do a CR-1

 

The intent is to have a ceremony that her family and my family can go to, so getting married in the US is our goal (I have more family/friends that will go than she does.) The CR-1 is what I think is the goal.

 

I guess calling to verify what would be necessary is a good idea first. I am trying to translate the Japanese Embassy/Consulate websites to see what filing her documents for reciprocity is going to take.

 

20 minutes ago, Scandi said:

In California she just needs her passport to get a marriage license. If you apply for one online you can walk into the county clerk's office and pick it up the same day. If you don't apply online you might have to wait in line at the office for quite some time (a couple of hours in LA). 

 

You get to choose between confidential and public license. After you get married you might have to wait for a few weeks to get your marriage certificate depending on what county you get married in. We had to wait a month for ours.

I bet the marriage certificate is necessary for my filings in Japan as well.

[MrChamploo 45]

6 minutes ago, GBlank said:

The intent is to have a ceremony that her family and my family can go to, so getting married in the US is our goal (I have more family/friends that will go than she does.) The CR-1 is what I think is the goal.

 

I guess calling to verify what would be necessary is a good idea first. I am trying to translate the Japanese Embassy/Consulate websites to see what filing her documents for reciprocity is going to take.

 

I bet the marriage certificate is necessary for my filings in Japan as well.

 

Everything seems good. Once you get the marriage certificate you can start your CR-1 process. I can't give you info on what she will need to change her name but i do wish that goes well and simple for you.

 

In the mean time,do collect any evidence you can come across. (Pictures with her and her family,wedding photos,plane tickets,hotel tickets,financial mingling etc etc) You can't be too prepared! Best luck.

 

Edit for a tip--

 

If you want her to have her name as yours during the CR-1 process and her green card she needs to change her passport name too.

Edited January 20, 2017 by MrChamploo