Marriage Certificate Please Help!

[panther0528]

Hello,
My husband and I recently filed our I 130 with a lawyer. We sent in a copy of the marriage certificate issued by the church. We recently found out that there is a certificate issued by the county/state. Is the church certifiicate good enough? If not, what will happen now?


Thank you

 

[PraetorianXI]

LOL. Of course it is not good enough!

Your minister should have filed the marriage license (if you guys even got one?) with the probate judge's office and you should gave gotten it from them.

Your application will either be denied or they will send you a letter requesting the real certificate.

What is your status and who did you marry?

 

[panther0528]

LOL. Of course it is not good enough!

Your minister should have filed the marriage license (if you guys even got one?) with the probate judge's office and you should gave gotten it from them.

Your application will either be denied or they will send you a letter requesting the real certificate.

What is your status and who did you marry?

The only certificate we ever got was the one given by the archidioesce (spelling). We never got anything else. This document is signed and certified and it states "Certificate of Marriage." I was able to get an abstract from the county clerk but nothing else.

I am a born us citizen and husband is H1b

thank you

 

[Zadex]

The only certificate we ever got was the one given by the archidioesce (spelling). We never got anything else. This document is signed and certified and it states "Certificate of Marriage." I was able to get an abstract from the county clerk but nothing else.

I am a born us citizen and husband is H1b

thank you

Before you got married you probably had to go to the county clerk and obtain a marriage license. After the marriage, the priest and two witnesses sign the license then the priest is supposed to mail it to the county clerk himself.

From there, it takes anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks depending where you live to get recorded as official. You can ask for a certified copy of the certificate after it is recored and that can take anywhere from 1 to 5 weeks.

This certified copy is the only thing that matters and proves your marriage, not the one from the Church. I also received a marriage certificate from the Church but my lawyer said that we could not use it. So, we had to wait 1 whole month just to get a certified copy and mail that along with everything else. It was quicker for me because I sent my request for a certified copy of the marriage certificate along with the license that the priest mailed.

 

[panther0528]

Before you got married you probably had to go to the county clerk and obtain a marriage license. After the marriage, the priest and two witnesses sign the license then the priest is supposed to mail it to the county clerk himself.

From there, it takes anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks depending where you live to get recorded as official. You can ask for a certified copy of the certificate after it is recored and that can take anywhere from 1 to 5 weeks.

This certified copy is the only thing that matters and proves your marriage, not the one from the Church. I also received a marriage certificate from the Church but my lawyer said that we could not use it. So, we had to wait 1 whole month just to get a certified copy and mail that along with everything else. It was quicker for me because I sent my request for a certified copy of the marriage certificate along with the license that the priest mailed.

We live in IL. I was able to obtain an official abstract of the Marriage from the office of the county clerk which shows the date recorded and marriage license #.

Only thing is we just sent the application yesterday thinking that the church certificate was good enough. Any thoughts?

 

[PraetorianXI]

We live in IL. I was able to obtain an official abstract of the Marriage from the office of the county clerk which shows the date recorded and marriage license #.

Only thing is we just sent the application yesterday thinking that the church certificate was good enough. Any thoughts?

You need to get a CERTIFIED COPY of your MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE from the city/county where you live in (or where the marriage took place).

You also, as soon as you get the I-130 receipt (and/or RFE) send the I-485 application... You do not need to wait until the I-130 is approved, he can adjust his status by filing I-130 and I-485 at the same time.

 

[Zadex]

We live in IL. I was able to obtain an official abstract of the Marriage from the office of the county clerk which shows the date recorded and marriage license #.

Only thing is we just sent the application yesterday thinking that the church certificate was good enough. Any thoughts?

Well as Praetorian and I said, the church certificate will not be good enough. I asked the same question to my lawyer because I wanted to process my application faster. He said will just delay the application and you will eventually have to send a certified copy from the state.

One thing though, your lawyer must be dumb. First because it seems like you only filed the 130 form and not the 485 or the 765 for work authorization. Also, he allowed you to send the Church certificate while he should have known the certified state copy is what you need. I believe it even says that in the instructions when filing.