"Certified" copy of marriage certificate? reg. copy OK?

[Epiphany 0]

It takes 6 weeks to get a certified copy so I might run out of time. What will happen if I send in a copy of what we got at the church?

What are people doing about expired checks/money orders when the i-485 application sits for 2 years?

[spidergirl 0]

It takes 6 weeks to get a certified copy so I might run out of time. What will happen if I send in a copy of what we got at the church?

What are people doing about expired checks/money orders when the i-485 application sits for 2 years?

Im wondering why it will take you that long to get a certified copy of marriage certificate? We got ours a week after our wedding. If you can get a copy from the church bring it personally to your City Hall and ask for a certified copy. Hope this will work for you . Good luck

Edited October 23, 2007 by spidergirl

[Shub 78]

What are people doing about expired checks/money orders when the i-485 application sits for 2 years?

The application never sits untouched that long. If your package is complete when you send it, USCIS will cash the checks fairly rapidly.

It's rather during processing later on that applications can go into name check, where they can be stuck for months, if not years... but by the time they reach that point, the checks will have been cashed, you can count on it...

[sunandmoon 450]

the problem with the church "souvenier" marriage license is it doesn't prove your marriage has been recorded at the county clerks office. perhaps you can contact the county clerks office to see if you can obtain the license faster by appearing in person.

[~Nini~ 2]

It takes 6 weeks to get a certified copy so I might run out of time. What will happen if I send in a copy of what we got at the church?

You'll possibly receive an RFE. As far as I'm aware, USCIS wants a certified (official) copy of your marriage certificate, as the "decorative" marriage certificate doesn't actually prove that the marriage has been recorded.

I'm surprised that it's going to take 6 weeks for you though, I've never heard it taking that long before

What are people doing about expired checks/money orders when the i-485 application sits for 2 years?

Read this from USCIS: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

[YuAndDan 153]

Ordinary photo copy of marriage certificate is fine. It does not need to be a Certified Copy of it, what you got at the church is not a marriage certificate though, you need one from you county registrars office or court house.

USCIS no longer routinely requires submission of original documents or "certified copies." Instead, ordinary legible photocopies of such documents (including naturalization certificates and alien registration cards) will be acceptable for initial filing and approval of petitions and applications.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

We used plain old copies.

Edited October 23, 2007 by YuAndDan

[aagoes 0]

The copy does not have to be certified. We sent regular photo copies of our marriage certificate from the County Clerk's office.

[sunandmoon 450]

The copy does not have to be certified. We sent regular photo copies of our marriage certificate from the County Clerk's office.

it's agreed that all you need to submit is a photocopy of your marriage certificate. from what the OP stated he doesn't have the certificate from the county yet. just the one he received at the ceromony. that doesn't prove the marriage has been recorded at the county clerks office.

[Epiphany 0]

The copy does not have to be certified. We sent regular photo copies of our marriage certificate from the County Clerk's office.

it's agreed that all you need to submit is a photocopy of your marriage certificate. from what the OP stated he doesn't have the certificate from the county yet. just the one he received at the ceromony. that doesn't prove the marriage has been recorded at the county clerks office.

Worse news...............

Just got back from --------->LOS ANGELES COUNTY CLERKS OFFICE!

The record can not be found yet. Once it is found it is 8-12 weeks to get the copy or certified copy.

What do I do? Do I send the -i485 with the application copy for the certificate showing I tried to get it but could not?

[sunandmoon 450]

Sorry to hear that. we had a similar situation. after 4 weeks got tired of waiting for our certificate. went into the county clerks office and had two certified certificates in less than 10 minutes, but that was Santa Clara County Ca.

my guess is submitting the I-485 without a photocopy of your certified marriage certificate will result in an RFE. perhaps someone with a similar situation can share their experience,

did you mail or take in the marriage license to the county yourself or was it done by the wedding officant?

[Jasman0717 8]

We had to get the marriage certificate from the county recorders office. The document from the church isn't the document you need.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

I think there's some flexibility about the marriage certificate because what you're issued and what constitutes proof of marriage varies from state of state. In Arizona, where we got hitched, the couple keeps the top part of the marriage license, and the officiant (or whoever) sends in the bottom part. Both parts are signed by all appropriate parties. Arizona doesn't send out any kind of confirmation that the marriage has been recorded unless you request a copy and pay them something like $25. We did this to be on the safe side (we figured we might need it at the interview), and all we got was a cheezy photocopy of the signed marriage license, with a stamp and embossed seal--not an actual marriage certificate. As it turned out, we didn't even need it. We sent off the AOS package before we received the certified copy from the county, and it made no difference. As proof of marriage, we sent a photocopy of the top part of the signed license.

[sunandmoon 450]

We had to get the marriage certificate from the county recorders office. The document from the church isn't the document you need.

believe Epiphany's question now is what will happen if submits I-485 without a photocopy of the certified marriage certificate? thinking of sending copy of marriage license application and copy from church. my guess would result in an RFE.

[~Nini~ 2]

I think there's some flexibility about the marriage certificate because what you're issued and what constitutes proof of marriage varies from state of state. In Arizona, where we got hitched, the couple keeps the top part of the marriage license, and the officiant (or whoever) sends in the bottom part. Both parts are signed by all appropriate parties. Arizona doesn't send out any kind of confirmation that the marriage has been recorded unless you request a copy and pay them something like $25.

That's the same as how Pennsylvania handles their marriage licenses

The clerk at the county office advised us to get a certified copy of our marriage certificate - she said it'd be good for stuff like name changes, applying for my SSN and driver's license, and any sort of traveling. She stressed that the top half of our marriage license would not prove that the marriage had been recorded at the county clerk's office.