Marriage date/place different than wedding reception

sarrebal

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I planned to get married in my home country (Italy) with my russian/USC fiance on May 27.

Unfortunately, Italian burocracy is an unbeatable giant and they require tons of paperwork in order to perform a legal marriage.

We then decided to get legally married in Manhattan City Hall on May 19 with just one witness (as required by NYS law) and no reception whatsoever.

Real reception (and picture and all that expensive cr*p) will still be in Milan on May 27 (with her family and friends flying over).

I don't think it's a big deal for USCIS officers....but does anyone have experience about different ceremonies/receptions?
Is it going to make them suspicious?

Thanks
 
no USCIS will be much happy yo have marriage certificate from City hall than look at a foreign country document. Dont let INS rule your life .. just have all the documents they like robots and dont care about emotions or feeling...just documents.
 
The only problem I can see here is that the non US fiance won't be able to re-enter the US once you leave to Italy from here, unless if you apply for AP document, and have it approved before you guys leave. But, here's the problem:

You can only apply after the marriage, after or with the AOS application, and the actual marriage happens in mid May. These approval can take from 60 up to 90 days. But you want to leave to Italy in the end of May. If you leaves without AP, you won't be able to re-enter and you will have to start the whole process for a visa all over again :eek:

I think you can fix it if you have the reception in Italy without signing any documents, before you come to the US on K-1.
 
Ravioli said:
The only problem I can see here is that the non US fiance won't be able to re-enter the US once you leave to Italy from here, unless if you apply for AP document, and have it approved before you guys leave. But, here's the problem:

You can only apply after the marriage, after or with the AOS application, and the actual marriage happens in mid May. These approval can take from 60 up to 90 days. But you want to leave to Italy in the end of May. If you leaves without AP, you won't be able to re-enter and you will have to start the whole process for a visa all over again :eek:

I think you can fix it if you have the reception in Italy without signing any documents, before you come to the US on K-1.

Sarrebal is on H1-B and i dont think travel will be a problem as long as H1-B is valid.


EDIT: Sarrebal, Congratulations on getting married and good luck with your reception :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ari4u said:
Sarrebal is on H1-B and i dont think travel will be a problem as long as H1-B is valid.


EDIT: Sarrebal, Congratulations on getting married and good luck with your reception :)

That's correct.
My H1-B is valid until 2008 so I won't have any problem with that.
I'm still gonna apply for AP and EAD, just in case I want to switch jobs before I get the actual GC (or my passport stamped, if they still do that).
 
My husband and I (USC) did exactly the same thing. Because of residency requirements for weddings in France, we had our "official" wedding at city hall in NYC and then had a religious wedding ceremony and reception 3 months later in France. We had our interview and it was not a problem - at all.

Have a beautiful Italian reception.
 
Enjoy It(aly)

I did the same thing...no worries, no questions were asked during the interview.
 
Thanks everybody.
It;s gonna be a month from today.

Another quick question.
My fiance plans to change her last name and get mine.
Should I wait for the whole process before submitting application/paperwork or can I just submit it with her maiden name and then show up at the interview and show USCIS that she adopted my last name?
 
I changed my name immediately after the American "official" ceremony - before we submitted for the AOS. I thought that it would be easier that way with less chance of confusing the application after it was submitted.

In our case (married in Manhattan, NYC 2003) my new married name was printed on the marriage certificate (It asked on the marriage license application hat my new name would be). That might have made it easier for USCIS to figure out that my birth certificate and my marriage certificate were for the same person.

Of course I had to officially change it with social security afterwards.

I'm not an attorney, this is just my experience. Take it for what its worth.
 
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