9degrees

I know my marriage certificate, in Nevada, just had my maiden name and I could use that to aos with my husbands name when residing in California.

Some states marriage certificate has a line stating which name you have declared you want to use after marriage and others don't have that.

Instead they allow you to choose any combination of post marriage last name by using the wedding certificate listing your maiden name and your spouses name as evidence of being allowed to.

Thank you. That helped to ease my mind. I really hope this is correct. I will call the department thathandles marriage licenses and certificates as soon as I can just to be %100 sure they didn't screw it up.

The state we got married in still states my wife's last name as her original maiden name in our marriage certificate (not marriage license). Shouldn't she have my last name listed on it if that's what we chose? Instead of Jane Marry Smith (say, my last name is Smith), it's still stated as Jane Marry Doe.

We have about three weeks before her K1 expires and I'd like this to not be an issue as we file for her AOS.

ok - so was her entry record found, and if yes,

under what visa category does the I-94 record entry reflect/state?

and were you able to print it out to paper ? and also save as a pdf file on a computer ?

Yes. I was able to make a copy for safe-keeping.

OMG!! I just realized I had made a typo in searching for her in the CBP!!! Sorry for this post. Feeling embarrassed!!

You mentioned K-1 visa and posted this in the K-1 forum. But you also said she entered on Visa Waiver Program (VWP). (ESTA is just authorization to allow someone to enter on VWP.) So did she enter on K-1 visa or VWP?

People entering on VWP used to get "I-94W"s before they went electronic. So she should be able to get something on the I-94 website (unless she entered by land, in which case she should have gotten a paper one). Maybe something is entered incorrectly?

I should clarify that her ESTA was filed and approved last year when she came to the states for the first time to see me. Maybe there was simply some sort of mistake with her name in the registry with the CBP I-94 because she was approved by her K-1 visa in customs when she arrived in the states a few months ago. Does anybody know if there is a phone number I can contact to figure this out? We pretty much have her AOS papers complete except for this and while I've heard from others that you can file later than the visa states so long as you got married beforehand, I would really like to file within the remaining three weeks left of her visa.

I-94s have been electronic for people arriving by air or sea since mid-2013. You go to the website to print it out if you need it.

Thank you. We tried that website and could not get her info to come up. Since she used an ESTA it appears they would not have given her an I-94 to begin with. At least that's how I see it from what limited info I could find online.

Hello! First, I wanted to say how valuble this site and community has been for me and my wife pulling us through all the paperwork involved to get her K1 visa. We finally got married in June and are now trying to finish up with our Adjustment of Status paperwork. Where I am runing into some issues is that my wife came to the U.S. on an ESTA visa waiver program and therefore never received an I-94. We tried the government website that should pull up your I-94 electronically, but she was not in there no matter how we put in her name. From what I understand, she probably never did get a I-94 because of her ESTA. If this is the case, should we put her ESTA number in where it asks for an I-94 in form I-485? Any input will be much appreciated!