Getting married on a tourist visa

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kokoy29

New Member
Hello everyone,

I came on a tourist visa in June 2008 and I've been given 6 months to stay, meaning my visa, which is good for 10 years, will expire this coming December. We both decided for me not to go back home to my home country because it's just painful to be away from each other. We were able to get a marriage license from the city hall in NY last week, and yet, we are not planning to get married any time soon, due to some circumstances.

Now my questions are:

1. Will we be able to get another marriage license after the first one expires? During that time, my visa will have expired. My passport is good till 2010.

2. Would we rather get married before my visa expires or we can do it later even when I overstay?

I thank you in advance for your help about our situation. God bless you!
 
Question 1: Yes, you should be able to reappy for another marriage license
Question 2: You can wait later but I wouldn't if I were you. The advantage of filing your petition while you are legal will allow you to request advanced parole which will allow you to travel in and out of the USA. If you become illegal you won't be able to request advanced parole and you will have to wait until the green card interview which can take anywere between 6 to 8 months from the date of filing the petition. If you know that you will not need to travel until the petition is approved than you can file the petition after your visa expires...however if you want to travel in and out of the USA with no problem...the only way you can apply for advance parole is if you are legally here at the time you file the petition....you cannot overstay
 
Yes, msutton is right. If you wait until you become illegal, you will not enjoy advanced parole or certain other benefits while you wait for your GC.

BUT - marriage is a very important decision - if you need to wait, wait. Don't get married now unless you are absolutely certain you want to be married to this person, no matter what the implications are for immigration. If you marry just for immigration you will live to regret it. Overstay is generally forgiven when you marry a US citizen, and while you won't be able to get advanced parole it generally only takes 6-12 months for the GC process to be over (of course in some cases it takes longer.) So don't let that be the major factor in your decision to get married.

If you are sure you want to marry, unless you tell us what the "some circumstances" are we can't address your specific situation... just remember it's possible to have a small legal ceremony and then a big family celebration later. We did it, and because we were able to show the IO our second and non-legal big wedding, it didn't matter that our legal wedding was tiny. So if that's a concern don't worry about it :)
 
captainkit said:
If you wait until you become illegal, you will not enjoy advanced parole or certain other benefits while you wait for your GC.
Click to expand...

This isn't correct. There's no prohibition on issuance of AP if the alien was out of status when the I-485 was filed. Now, if the alien overstayed an I-94 by over 180 days, then the 3-year re-entry bar kicks in an even though AP is issued, the POEs cannot legally re-admit the alien on return.

However, if the I-94 is overstayed by a few weeks in this situation it will not prevent the issuance (or use) of Advance Parole.
 
Immigration is a federal matter.
Marriage certificates/license are county and townships matters. Hardly any connection between the two.

kokoy29 said:
1. Will we be able to get another marriage license after the first one expires? During that time, my visa will have expired. My passport is good till 2010.

2. Would we rather get married before my visa expires or we can do it later even when I overstay?
Click to expand...
 
Thank you so much for your reply. OK the circumstances for not getting married right away are: First, I live with his parents while he is NY during the week for work but he comes home with me on weekends (total of 3 days together); Secondly, we obviously don't have our own place yet to live together as husband and wife and so he doesn't think it's right to be married and not to live together (he lives in the company apartment for bachelors; Thirdly, he's busy with work and his studies, and because of that, his boss and coworkers don't think it's a good idea to get married soon, although we're both 30 years old.

We do want to have just a simple ceremony, even at the NY City Hall with his parents and close friends, and probably a bigger wedding later.
 
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