Getting Married in NH and Apply for Green Card

[naoyutaka29]

Hi, I will be a US citizen this Friday, 06/25 (originally a Japanese Citizen) and I am planning to get married (to a Japanese Citizen who is here as a student with a F1 Visa) also on Friday after the oath ceremony. Here is my question: Is it okay for me to apply for the marriage license before I am a citizen? I am asking this question since there is mandatory 3 day wait before the license can be given out and I wanted to apply for the license tomorrow so that we can get married on Friday. I do not see any issue in doing this since the actual marriage happen after I am a citizen, but I was not sure. I was told that there could be complication in applying for her green card if we get married while I am not a citizen. Since her visa expires at the beginning of August, I want to get married ASAP so that we can apply for green card before the visa expires.

Thank you.

 

[Jackolantern]

You can get the marriage license or get married before you become a citizen. It's just that if you get married during the citizenship process, you have to update USCIS about the marriage, otherwise you'll have problems sponsoring your spouse. But with having the marriage license without getting married yet, you don't need to update USCIS about it.

I was told that there could be complication in applying for her green card if we get married while I am not a citizen.

No. The potential problem with her green card process is if you file her green card papers before you become a citizen.