Cohabitation Marital Status

[erivas]

Hello to all! I would like to know, if the marital status know as “Cohabitation” is valid for the DV Lottery. I have always used the "married" status when I have completed the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (2008, 2009, 2010). I have included my wife and daughters as dependents.

In Venezuela the Cohabitation have the same rights and obligations of a marriage (We have a notarized cohabitation certification issued by the authorities). My wife and I lived together since November 2005 and we have two daughters, 1 and 3 years respectively. We will marry very soon to give a more formal marital status to our relationship. Thank you very much and we appreciate all your responses and suggestions about this subject.

 

[MarcNZ]

My guess would be that it is not a valid marital status but you should contact your nearest US consulate and just ask them.

For the purposes of immigration the rules about marriage seem narrower than they may be even within the US itself. Gay marriage for example is allowed in some states, but is not recognised by immigration. In New Zealand we also have a status that sounds similar to your cohabitation (called a de facto relationship) which has legal status here, but I don't believe it can be used for US immigration.

 

[erivas]

Hello MarcNZ, my case is not a gay marriage, that's clear in my question, is Cohabitation, Common law marriage or de facto marriage. Anyway, my wife and I will get married soon, but if the cohabitation status is difficult to migrate, will get married quickly to avoid problems. I ask this because we want to make a quick decision.

 

[ammeck09]

Hello MarcNZ, my case is not a gay marriage, that's clear in my question, is Cohabitation, Common law marriage or de facto marriage. Anyway, my wife and I will get married soon, but if the cohabitation status is difficult to migrate, will get married quickly to avoid problems. I ask this because we want to make a quick decision.

Have you won the lottery? Answering this question and giving your CN would enable more forumers to give their views about your case.

 

[ammeck09]

If you are a winner, then the best thing to do is to marry quick quick. Get some pictures and the paper documents asap. Time may not be on your side.

I wish you explain the issue here for me to comment further.

 

[erivas]

Have you won the lottery? Answering this question and giving your CN would enable more forumers to give their views about your case.

Hi Ammeck! I have not won the lottery yet, I have not received the NL, here the public mail service is very bad. I'm waiting for July 1 to revise my confirmation number on the DV Lottery website. My question is because I want to be well prepared in case of win this year. In Venezuela the bureaucratic process to get some documents may be quite slow. Thank you very much

 

[MarcNZ]

Hello MarcNZ, my case is not a gay marriage, that's clear in my question, is Cohabitation, Common law marriage or de facto marriage. Anyway, my wife and I will get married soon, but if the cohabitation status is difficult to migrate, will get married quickly to avoid problems. I ask this because we want to make a quick decision.

Hi erivas. I realised yours was not a gay marriage, I was just offering that as an example of something I know is legal in some parts of the US but is not recognised for the purposes of immigration. It may be possible that even if cohabitation also has legal status in some parts of the US, it may not be allowed for the purposes of immigration.

There is no rush for you though. Even if you win, you actually have up until your interview to get married. So although it would make things easier for you to do it soon (you won't have to correct the forms later), it's nothing to be too stressed about yet.

 

[erivas]

Hello MarcNZ, thank you very much for your answers and advice. I just want to be prepared and do things properly to avoid future problems.

 

[MarcNZ]

Your welcome and good luck