Questions about Marriage Certs/AOS in Portland, OR/Multnomah County

[MeghanK 625]

Hey everyone. Welp, thought this ride would be at least AS annoying as I-129f and visa, but not THIS MUCH MORE annoying. We are hitting a bunch of walls here at the last second so hopefully some of you can answer some questions all in one place. I've searched so many threads but am finding mixed results from all varying dates so hoping for recent advice, possibly from my same local marriage offices.

 

TL;DR

1. Copy of marriage "license" or "certificate" for AOS [bonus for info on out of Multnomah County, Oregon - County licensing office or vital records?]?

2. Certified or not certified? How risky is not-certified?

3. Does I-485 RFE hold up EAD/AP apps?

 

1. We're discovering it takes quite a while to get certified copies of the marriage CERTIFICATE. And here in Portland, OR, no one can seem to tell is where any of our docs are at right now, or when they will be ready, nor where, so they may or may not be lost. We were hoping to get this AOS packet out ASAP. (too high of expectations? lol)

2. Also discovering now there is a difference between the LICENSE and the CERTIFICATE. I think? Is there? In Portland OR, the "license" comes from the county office, while the "certificate" comes from vital records. I'm wondering, does this matter at all, is it done differently in every state/county? I've seen posts that say some "licenses" are converted to "certificates" after the marriage... Do we need one or the other, both? What has worked recently for people (especially if there are Portlanders out there)?

3. If we do decide to get this AOS out the door ASAP and just use the non-certified the customer copy of the "marriage certificate" that the courthouse clerk handed us, if we get RFEd for a certified copy, will that also put out EAD/AP on hold too? Most comments I've seen suggest that there was no hold up on EAD/AP for an RFE on the AOS portion. Anyone recently have any experience?

 

THANKS SO MUCH I hate feeling so clueless. ❤️ 

 

[payxibka 10,044]

18 minutes ago, MeghanK said:

Hey everyone. Welp, thought this ride would be at least AS annoying as I-129f and visa, but not THIS MUCH MORE annoying. We are hitting a bunch of walls here at the last second so hopefully some of you can answer some questions all in one place. I've searched so many threads but am finding mixed results from all varying dates so hoping for recent advice, possibly from my same local marriage offices.

 

TL;DR

1. Copy of marriage "license" or "certificate" for AOS [bonus for info on out of Multnomah County, Oregon - County licensing office or vital records?]?

2. Certified or not certified? How risky is not-certified?

3. Does I-485 RFE hold up EAD/AP apps?

 

1. We're discovering it takes quite a while to get certified copies of the marriage CERTIFICATE. And here in Portland, OR, no one can seem to tell is where any of our docs are at right now, or when they will be ready, nor where, so they may or may not be lost. We were hoping to get this AOS packet out ASAP. (too high of expectations? lol)

2. Also discovering now there is a difference between the LICENSE and the CERTIFICATE. I think? Is there? In Portland OR, the "license" comes from the county office, while the "certificate" comes from vital records. I'm wondering, does this matter at all, is it done differently in every state/county? I've seen posts that say some "licenses" are converted to "certificates" after the marriage... Do we need one or the other, both? What has worked recently for people (especially if there are Portlanders out there)?

3. If we do decide to get this AOS out the door ASAP and just use the non-certified the customer copy of the "marriage certificate" that the courthouse clerk handed us, if we get RFEd for a certified copy, will that also put out EAD/AP on hold too? Most comments I've seen suggest that there was no hold up on EAD/AP for an RFE on the AOS portion. Anyone recently have any experience?

 

THANKS SO MUCH I hate feeling so clueless. ❤️ 

 

RFE on AOS halts all processing on any unapproved derivative benefit 

[Pitaya 2,577]

4 hours ago, MeghanK said:

Hey everyone. Welp, thought this ride would be at least AS annoying as I-129f and visa, but not THIS MUCH MORE annoying. We are hitting a bunch of walls here at the last second so hopefully some of you can answer some questions all in one place. I've searched so many threads but am finding mixed results from all varying dates so hoping for recent advice, possibly from my same local marriage offices.

 

TL;DR

1. Copy of marriage "license" or "certificate" for AOS [bonus for info on out of Multnomah County, Oregon - County licensing office or vital records?]?

2. Certified or not certified? How risky is not-certified?

3. Does I-485 RFE hold up EAD/AP apps?

 

1. We're discovering it takes quite a while to get certified copies of the marriage CERTIFICATE. And here in Portland, OR, no one can seem to tell is where any of our docs are at right now, or when they will be ready, nor where, so they may or may not be lost. We were hoping to get this AOS packet out ASAP. (too high of expectations? lol) See #2 below

2. Also discovering now there is a difference between the LICENSE and the CERTIFICATE. I think? Is there? In Portland OR, the "license" comes from the county office, while the "certificate" comes from vital records. I'm wondering, does this matter at all, is it done differently in every state/county? I've seen posts that say some "licenses" are converted to "certificates" after the marriage... Do we need one or the other, both? What has worked recently for people (especially if there are Portlanders out there)? You want the certificate. Have you looked at this website: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/BirthDeathCertificates/GetVitalRecords/Pages/index.aspx ?

3. If we do decide to get this AOS out the door ASAP and just use the non-certified the customer copy of the "marriage certificate" that the courthouse clerk handed us, if we get RFEd for a certified copy, will that also put out EAD/AP on hold too? Most comments I've seen suggest that there was no hold up on EAD/AP for an RFE on the AOS portion. Anyone recently have any experience? There is some current debate on this issue, check some current forum threads. I am of the opinion that RFEs put everything on hold, until the RFE is resolved. You will likely get more comments/differing opinions. What with the current protracted processing times, it is likely of little consequence. 

 

THANKS SO MUCH I hate feeling so clueless. ❤️ 

 

If you get the Marriage Certificate, consider getting a couple at the same time. Those documents have a tendency to disappear. We got ten certified copies.

YMMV

Good luck on your immigration journey.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Pitaya (火龙果)

[Naes 12,205]

5 hours ago, MeghanK said:

Hey everyone. Welp, thought this ride would be at least AS annoying as I-129f and visa, but not THIS MUCH MORE annoying. We are hitting a bunch of walls here at the last second so hopefully some of you can answer some questions all in one place. I've searched so many threads but am finding mixed results from all varying dates so hoping for recent advice, possibly from my same local marriage offices.

 

TL;DR

1. Copy of marriage "license" or "certificate" for AOS [bonus for info on out of Multnomah County, Oregon - County licensing office or vital records?]?

2. Certified or not certified? How risky is not-certified?

3. Does I-485 RFE hold up EAD/AP apps?

 

1. We're discovering it takes quite a while to get certified copies of the marriage CERTIFICATE. And here in Portland, OR, no one can seem to tell is where any of our docs are at right now, or when they will be ready, nor where, so they may or may not be lost. We were hoping to get this AOS packet out ASAP. (too high of expectations? lol)

2. Also discovering now there is a difference between the LICENSE and the CERTIFICATE. I think? Is there? In Portland OR, the "license" comes from the county office, while the "certificate" comes from vital records. I'm wondering, does this matter at all, is it done differently in every state/county? I've seen posts that say some "licenses" are converted to "certificates" after the marriage... Do we need one or the other, both? What has worked recently for people (especially if there are Portlanders out there)?

3. If we do decide to get this AOS out the door ASAP and just use the non-certified the customer copy of the "marriage certificate" that the courthouse clerk handed us, if we get RFEd for a certified copy, will that also put out EAD/AP on hold too? Most comments I've seen suggest that there was no hold up on EAD/AP for an RFE on the AOS portion. Anyone recently have any experience?

 

THANKS SO MUCH I hate feeling so clueless. ❤️ 

 

There is no non-certified copy to a marriage certificate.

 

you get the license and after your wedding it becomes the certificate by being put on record. And what you get afterwards is the certified copy of marriage certificate (sometimes they are both same paper but one is after one is before the marriage and has a seal and registration date etc.) 

 

you get the certified copy of marriage certificate (get lots of copies cause you’ll need it) then you can send a COPY of the certified copy of your marriage certificate (yep it sounds kinda weird). So I don’t know what copy you can send unless you have a certified copy, as your original should already be at the county clerk (or record department) to get in records. 

 

So do you need the 1) marriage certificate - license means nothing 2) certified copy, there’s no such thing as not certified as it would mean non-official and that would mean nothing 3) it is risky in a sense that all application is based on your marriage so everything would stop if not denied. As it is an essential part of the application and since September 11 2018, uscis holds the right to deny placeholder applications with missing pieces instead of sending out an rfe. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Naes

[MeghanK 625]

30 minutes ago, Naes said:

There is no non-certified copy to a marriage certificate.

 

you get the license and after your wedding it becomes the certificate by being put on record. And what you get afterwards is the certified copy of marriage certificate (sometimes they are both same paper but one is after one is before the marriage and has a seal and registration date etc.) 

 

you get the certified copy of marriage certificate (get lots of copies cause you’ll need it) then you can send a COPY of the certified copy of your marriage certificate (yep it sounds kinda weird). So I don’t know what copy you can send unless you have a certified copy, as your original should already be at the county clerk (or record department) to get in records. 

 

So do you need the 1) marriage certificate - license means nothing 2) certified copy, there’s no such thing as not certified as it would mean non-official and that would mean nothing 3) it is risky in a sense that all application is based on your marriage so everything would stop if not denied. As it is an essential part of the application and since September 11 2018, uscis holds the right to deny placeholder applications with missing pieces instead of sending out an rfe. 

We first got the original license from the county (this came with a signature of the "issuing official") and brought it to the court house to be married.  After the ceremony the handed us back a copy of that same license but with the judge's signature and names of our witnesses. The signature line for "county official" is blank on what they've given us. They told us it would be sent off and we could pick up certified copies at a later date. I assume it is sent off to get a "county official" signature thus making it "certified."

 

So what is it then that they handed us after the ceremony? One certified copy of the original "certified" certificate? What is the difference between the form being unsigned vs signed by a "county official?"

 

And we are not really worried about a denial re: what we send. It would be an RFE at worst asking for a "certified copy." Technically the AOS instructions do not say the word "certified" in regards to a marriage certificate anywhere so no way they would flat out deny the paper we'd send, especially given your theory that their is no such thing as a non-certified copy. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by MeghanK

[Naes 12,205]

8 hours ago, MeghanK said:

We first got the original license from the county (this came with a signature of the "issuing official") and brought it to the court house to be married.  After the ceremony the handed us back a copy of that same license but with the judge's signature and names of our witnesses. The signature line for "county official" is blank on what they've given us. They told us it would be sent off and we could pick up certified copies at a later date. I assume it is sent off to get a "county official" signature thus making it "certified." Yes this is how it works, license is just a pre-recording to give you the license(eligibility to marry) after it becomes a certificate (in some places it only takes 5 minutes-sorry for your wait) they keep it, what you can get after this by asking them to issue you a certified copy, is a certified copy.

 

So what is it then that they handed us after the ceremony? One certified copy of the original "certified" certificate? What is the difference between the form being unsigned vs signed by a "county official?"

Depends on what it says, it can be the old school memorial type of certificate, it can actually be a certified certificate, I can’t really say without seeing it. It is not about signed or unsigned it’s about recorded or not.

 

8 hours ago, MeghanK said:

And we are not really worried about a denial re: what we send. It would be an RFE at worst asking for a "certified copy." Technically the AOS instructions do not say the word "certified" in regards to a marriage certificate anywhere so no way they would flat out deny the paper we'd send, especially given your theory that their is no such thing as a non-certified copy. 

 

I don’t really know what happens when it comes to marriage certificates cause every RFE is different, I just wrote you the new guidelines came to us last year. There is a non-certified copy possible which is those fancy really not the record style marriage certificates some counties give, and for some others- such as some people try to send a customer copy (which is not certified copy- they just give this after marriage in some counties), or even some people try to send license itself after marriage before record/registration. It is not a theory it is how it works...

The thing is you sound like you already have your answers decided, so just send it and let us know 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

 

Basically; 1) I have no clue what paper you got unless I see it I can’t tell. But you also don’t seem to know so first step is to learn what that is. Maybe call your county clerk. 

2) unfortunately after September 11 No-RFE thing is a fact and still yet to be known on how they work on it. To me it(a copy of certified copy) is an initial part of the case so I just warned you on that. Personally I’d wait as much as I could (before I-94 expires of course) and then would send it if I still didn’t get the copies.

 

also Certified copy is what they give you in their records, it means that the copy you have is an actual (certified) copy. So it means it’s original. Or as is as the original. As that is usually the only marriage certificate you get, sending a copy of that certified copy is what’s necessary, so they won’t be saying “certified copy” in the instructions. But if your country gives you a fancy certificate style I don’t think they can argue, I don’t know the real legitimacy of those style certificates tho.

[MeghanK 625]

2 hours ago, Naes said:

 

The thing is you sound like you already have your answers decided, so just send it and let us know 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

 

Basically; 1) I have no clue what paper you got unless I see it I can’t tell. But you also don’t seem to know so first step is to learn what that is. Maybe call your county clerk. 

2) unfortunately after September 11 No-RFE thing is a fact and still yet to be known on how they work on it. To me it(a copy of certified copy) is an initial part of the case so I just warned you on that. Personally I’d wait as much as I could (before I-94 expires of course) and then would send it if I still didn’t get the copies.

 

also Certified copy is what they give you in their records, it means that the copy you have is an actual (certified) copy. So it means it’s original. Or as is as the original. As that is usually the only marriage certificate you get, sending a copy of that certified copy is what’s necessary, so they won’t be saying “certified copy” in the instructions. But if your country gives you a fancy certificate style I don’t think they can argue, I don’t know the real legitimacy of those style certificates tho.

Thanks for the further clarification. I can say it's def not the decorative certificate at least (this they also gave us). I guess there really is no telling what we actually have by definition of the i485.  

 

We have called all three branches of resources (court house that gave us the cert, county office that gave us license, and vital records, where the court house allegedly sent it to) about three times each and only the court assistant has been able to offer any advice. She said all the info we need is on what they gave us (but I don't imagine they are immigration experts). This is why we are seeking others' similar experiences. 

 

I'm really hoping for concrete examples of anyone who has sent in what they are handed immediately at the court, the "non certified" and whether they were accepted or rejected. I don't think I'll find those examples on VJ though because all the info cycled to anyone here in the first place is "certified certified certified" 🙃 

Edited June 18, 2019 by MeghanK

[Naes 12,205]

35 minutes ago, MeghanK said:

Thanks for the further clarification. I can say it's def not the decorative certificate at least (this they also gave us). I guess there really is no telling what we actually have by definition of the i485.  

 

We have called all three branches of resources (court house that gave us the cert, county office that gave us license, and vital records, where the court house allegedly sent it to) about three times each and only the court assistant has been able to offer any advice. She said all the info we need is on what they gave us (but I don't imagine they are immigration experts). This is why we are seeking others' similar experiences. 

 

I'm really hoping for concrete examples of anyone who has sent in what they are handed immediately at the court, the "non certified" and whether they were accepted or rejected. I don't think I'll find those examples on VJ though because all the info cycled to anyone here in the first place is "certified certified certified" 🙃 

Could you find a sample on google and send it to me or hide your info and show me what it actually says. I saw a few other cases with customer copy etc. maybe me or someone can identify it at least.

 

i wouldn’t want you to wait until after I-94 expires.. hope you can figure it out! Good luck! 

[Naes 12,205]

Btw. If you got married at the court house, it could have been registered right away. 

 

You probably did but check this website if you didn’t: 

https://multco.us/recording/marriage-licenses#after the ceremony

 

in our case we took the license after wedding ourselves and got it registered and ask in person to get copies and got it there without them mailing. I know it’s different in each county and some places takes 3 weeks or longer, but that’s how they helped us shorten it after we explained the situation. 

 

Hope this helps! 

[MeghanK 625]

 

2 hours ago, Naes said:

Could you find a sample on google and send it to me or hide your info and show me what it actually says. I saw a few other cases with customer copy etc. maybe me or someone can identify it at least.

GREAT IDEA. Yes I found an exact example. Image is exactly what we were given [not our certificate, so sorry for whoever put their info up for public access, lol] except ours does not have the very last signatures - #34 "signature of county clerk" EDIT: I'll also add that ours is signed by the judge as the "issuing official" - which I assume falls under "signed by the appropriate civil authority" as stated in the AOS instructions.

 

2 hours ago, Naes said:

Btw. If you got married at the court house, it could have been registered right away. 

 

You probably did but check this website if you didn’t: 

https://multco.us/recording/marriage-licenses#after the ceremony

 

in our case we took the license after wedding ourselves and got it registered and ask in person to get copies and got it there without them mailing. I know it’s different in each county and some places takes 3 weeks or longer, but that’s how they helped us shorten it after we explained the situation. 

 

Hope this helps! 

Thank you! This is what we were hoping in regards to marriage at the court house. We did follow that link exactly and got to the stage where "Once complete, the officiant is responsible for returning the license to Multnomah County within five days of the ceremony." It's been five days and the County office still says "we have not received it."  If they had it, we could get the "certified copies" on the spot no hassle - but they don't have it  The court aka officiant said "Well, we sent it out, we don't know what else to tell you but keep checking" lol. The court also told us after the fact "If you had told us you were in a rush we could have just given you the documents to take to the county office" -- face palm. Now we are running at the speed of local govt. 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Unlockable
personal info

[Naes 12,205]

1 hour ago, MeghanK said:

GREAT IDEA. Yes I found an exact example. Image is exactly what we were given [not our certificate, so sorry for whoever put their info up for public access, lol] except ours does not have the very last signatures - #34 "signature of county clerk" EDIT: I'll also add that ours is signed by the judge as the "issuing official" - which I assume falls under "signed by the appropriate civil authority" as stated in the AOS instructions.

 

Thank you! This is what we were hoping in regards to marriage at the court house. We did follow that link exactly and got to the stage where "Once complete, the officiant is responsible for returning the license to Multnomah County within five days of the ceremony." It's been five days and the County office still says "we have not received it."  If they had it, we could get the "certified copies" on the spot no hassle - but they don't have it  The court aka officiant said "Well, we sent it out, we don't know what else to tell you but keep checking" lol. The court also told us after the fact "If you had told us you were in a rush we could have just given you the documents to take to the county office" -- face palm. Now we are running at the speed of local govt. 

 

Ok so from what I see this is not any kind of certificate, but another copy unfortunately, so it is as if your marriage is not registered but also it has the local official signature. so I dont think it will take too long for them to get this copy if they said 5 days, it may maybe take 10 but usually in small counties that should be it. Unfortunately until it is registered this is not a legal certificate. (your marriage will be registered backdated)

 

If you have the original of this paper and not a copy, maybe you can go in person to ask, they probably received it but didnt go through all they received for the week or so. So at this point I would push the county not the court. especially if more than 5 business days + a week passes. It sounds weird bad sometimes things come on a weekend and pile up and yours happen to be at the end of it. You can also go in person and show this and try explaining to the county office.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Unlockable
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[Unlockable 7,306]

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