What’s next?!

[VNMH 1]

Hi everyone, my fiancée visa was approved last week. She is coming to the US in August. I would like to know what documents she will receive at port of entry. After we get married, what documents do we need to apply for the two year green card? Thank you so much.

[OldUser 9,376]

23 hours ago, VNMH said:

 After we get married, what documents do we need to apply for the two year green card? Thank you so much.

I-485, I-693, I-864, I-131 (optional), I-765 (optional, recommended)

 

These are just forms. You also need to provide tons of evidence.

[VNMH 1]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

I-485, I-693, I-864, I-131 (optional), I-765 (optional, recommended)

 

These are just forms. You also need to provide tons of evidence.

Thank you so much for the information. How long after we are married, could I submit these forms? 

[OldUser 9,376]

27 minutes ago, VNMH said:

Thank you so much for the information. How long after we are married, could I submit these forms? 

Same day if you wanted (as long as you have marriage certificate) 

 

You have 90 days to marry. The sooner the better. AOS takes a while.

Edited Thursday at 03:58 AM by OldUser

[VNMH 1]

I am to glad to know that.

Edited Thursday at 10:13 AM by VNMH

[VNMH 1]

6 hours ago, OldUser said:

Same day if you wanted (as long as you have marriage certificate) 

 

You have 90 days to marry. The sooner the better. AOS takes a while.

 

6 hours ago, OldUser said:

Same day if you wanted (as long as you have marriage certificate) 

 

You have 90 days to marry. The sooner the better. AOS takes a while.

Thank you so much  

I wonder if she needs a ssn to marry me or I can just take her to a courthouse the next day after she arrives.

Edited Thursday at 10:12 AM by VNMH

[OldUser 9,376]

3 hours ago, VNMH said:

 

 

Thank you so much  

I wonder if she needs a ssn to marry me or I can just take her to a courthouse the next day after she arrives.

As far as I know and remember, SSN isn't needed to marry.

 

But you need marriage license typically.

Edited Thursday at 01:54 PM by OldUser

[VNMH 1]

3 hours ago, OldUser said:

As far as I know and remember, SSN isn't needed to marry.

 

But you need marriage license typically.

Thank you so much for all the information

[TBoneTX 47,258]

Your state may differ.  In Texas, Mrs. T-B.-to-be didn't need an SSN, but I did.  I had no idea where my SS card was.  At home, I found a paper U.S. savings bond that had my SSN on it, and I showed it to the clerk.  She had never had a savings bond used for this kind of identification before, but she agreed without discussion that it was an official U.S. government document, and it satisfied the requirement for the marriage license.

[mam521 2,459]

7 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Your state may differ.  In Texas, Mrs. T-B.-to-be didn't need an SSN, but I did.  I had no idea where my SS card was.  At home, I found a paper U.S. savings bond that had my SSN on it, and I showed it to the clerk.  She had never had a savings bond used for this kind of identification before, but she agreed without discussion that it was an official U.S. government document, and it satisfied the requirement for the marriage license.

I'm chuckling...where was your tax transcript that you'd have needed for the I-864?  Credit though - you gotta do what you gotta do!  

 

@VNMH I believe PA has a 3 day waiting period after you apply for your official marriage license that you have to wait before you can actually get married.  It's definitely worth it to look into. 

[VNMH 1]

1 hour ago, TBoneTX said:

Your state may differ.  In Texas, Mrs. T-B.-to-be didn't need an SSN, but I did.  I had no idea where my SS card was.  At home, I found a paper U.S. savings bond that had my SSN on it, and I showed it to the clerk.  She had never had a savings bond used for this kind of identification before, but she agreed without discussion that it was an official U.S. government document, and it satisfied the requirement for the marriage license.

Thank you. I will make sure I have those documents before we get married.

1 hour ago, mam521 said:

I'm chuckling...where was your tax transcript that you'd have needed for the I-864?  Credit though - you gotta do what you gotta do!  

 

@VNMH I believe PA has a 3 day waiting period after you apply for your official marriage license that you have to wait before you can actually get married.  It's definitely worth it to look into. 

Thank you so much for the information. 

[hplusj 556]

@OldUser Is the I-693 to be completed partially if OP's fiancee did a medical in Vietnam and has a completed DS-3025?

 

[OldUser 9,376]

8 hours ago, hplusj said:

@OldUser Is the I-693 to be completed partially if OP's fiancee did a medical in Vietnam and has a completed DS-3025?

 

If DS-3025 is completed and all vaccinations taken, I-693 is not needed.

[alliejourney 110]

SSN may not be technically needed for marriage depending on where you live, but it is generally recommended to do it before marriage and ASAP. Sometimes local SSA offices consider a marriage to be a voiding of a K1 visa and therefore will not process an SSN after the marriage. If that happens, she will not be eligible to get an SSN again until she has her green card. Not having an SSN can complicate things such as opening a bank account or getting a driver's license. All of this is highly dependent on how things work out and where you live, but imo it's better to get the SSN first and not chance it.

 

Our timeline after husband's arrival was:

• Arrive late at night, around 11pm, on June 16
• June 17 - Checked online if the I-94 was updated with his K1 entry. It was, so we immediately went to the SSA office and applied for an SSN.
• After 2 weeks, the card had not arrived, so we called and requested a new one to be sent. 2 weeks after that the card arrived and we had the number.
• Mid July - The day the card arrived, we went to the courthouse and applied for a marriage license. Then at the courthouse scheduled a date with a judge to be married, which was a couple weeks out.
• Used those couple of weeks to do the AOS paperwork and assemble packets. 
• August 1 - Got married.
• August 2 - Added the marriage certificate to the packets and sent it out.

As you can see, even waiting for the SSN still had us very safely within our 90 days, especially since we leveraged our downtime to complete as much of the AOS paperwork as we could. I'm a big advocate for getting that number first because it will give your partner lots of doors for independence, which is really crucial - it is very tough moving to a new country and having to rely on someone else for EVERYTHING from transportation to finances, so the smaller that window can be, the better! In my state, we still had to wait for the EAD to be able to open bank accounts and get a driver's license, but we had the EAD by October, which was a much smaller window than waiting for the green card, which we still do not have. 

Edited Friday at 03:35 PM by alliejourney
added info

[S2N 159]

SSN is required for marriage for anyone who has one under a federal law passed in the late 90s/early 00s aimed at cracking down on deadbeat dads.
 

DOJ issued an opinion stating that those without one don’t need to provide it so long as there’s some procedure verifying they don’t (which is usually just the clerk asking you to check a box, but some jurisdictions have affidavits.)

Edited Friday at 06:46 PM by S2N