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My wife is the principal winner

Ike87

Active Member
Please my wife whom we have done only traditional marriage is a principal winner and she want us to go together what should we do to make it official so that we won't be denied
 
If you want to go with her yes.

Did she put that she was married in her original entry?

What country are you from?

Has she submitted her ds260 form yet?
 
No original entry the status is single and we haven't submitted it yet we are from Ghana
 
We don't want to do wedding but we want go to court for marriage certificate hope that one is enough prove of marriage.Cn is not really high
 
A courthouse marriage is fine as long as it’s legal. Can you tell us your CN range blocking out the last 2 numbers

Example
AF2312 is Af23xx
Af12987 is AF129xx
 
You’ll need to formally get married in order to obtain a marriage certificate which you’ll need to present as evidence of being married.

Now, considering the high rate of denial in Ghana, you’ll need to be prepared beyond presenting a marriage certificate in order to convince the IO your marriage isn’t a sham marriage or one entered into simply for the benefit of obtaining an immigration benefit.

As an aside, I’ll have to point out one of the reasons you’ll be under extra scrutiny is the fact you said you guys were traditionally married as at the time of the eDV registration but your wife entered as single when in fact she should have selected married as her marital status. This is not likely going to be a straightforward case.
 
We don't want to do wedding but we want go to court for marriage certificate hope that one is enough prove of marriage.Cn is not really high

A court marriage with just the two of you with no other family members in attendance and no large ceremony?
 
Mom what should they put when they have a traditional marriage but not legal one? A traditional one would be thought of the same as a de facto right? De facto relationships aren’t recognised are they?
 
Usually what we see is the other way round, people entering as married when they only have a traditional marriage. Anyway if it’s been a traditional marriage for any amount of time, they presumably have good evidence of a proper relationship. Will need this because Ghana is high fraud,
 
Mom what should they put when they have a traditional marriage but not legal one? A traditional one would be thought of the same as a de facto right? De facto relationships aren’t recognised are they?


It's a bit of a anomoly. There are countries where the traditional marriage has the same legal rights as a civil marriage. USA immigration rules accept those marriages. However, I always recommend someone gets a civil marriage before interview, based on the way they have handled cases in the past.

Defacto marriages now don't have the same recognition in US immigration law at this time, and we have seen cases disqualified over that. To me, that's odd, but who said law was always sensible.
 
Hmmm I wonder then if it’s grounds for disqualification because it’s recognised. It will be an interesting case to follow for sure.
 
Please my wife whom we have done only traditional marriage is a principal winner and she want us to go together what should we do to make it official so that we won't be denied

Can you clarify when your traditional marriage took place - was it before entry, after entry but before selection, or after selection?
 
She was in school when she registered the lottery and now she has completed so after the completions then we got married traditionally
 
She was in school when she registered the lottery and now she has completed so after the completions then we got married traditionally

So she was single when she entered, and then you only got married after she knew she was selected?
Do you have evidence of your relationship together before the marriage ceremony and especially before her selection?
 
She was SHS student when she entered the lottery so we got married after she completed school few months her compliting school.yes we have pictures together and some chat but most of our phone chat is lost because I changed my phone but we have much pictures together
 
Mom what should they put when they have a traditional marriage but not legal one? A traditional one would be thought of the same as a de facto right? De facto relationships aren’t recognised are they?

Because traditional marriages are recognized in Ghana, the wife should have entered as married if they had already done their traditional marriage before the eDV registration. Then as a DV selectee they can now follow up with a civil ceremony in order to obtain a marriage certificate. A CO who understands the culture over could very well decide she did not follow the instructions by adding her spouse.
 
Ike87,
You will need evidence of the traditional marriage. Pictures during the ceremony will help a lot. Traditional marriages are registerable and recognized. That's what you should have done. That was how I married. We then went to the court to do the registration.
Are you referring to "knocking" when you say traditional marriage? There's no legality with "knocking" and cannot be registered, but you should have picture to prove. This, together with the court registration you plan having will get you through. To explain the terminology to other readers, "knocking" is akin to engagement in the western world, but a few family members may be present as witnesses.
Also, prior correspondences, pictures together, (with her) and with her family, in functions attended, etc. will also help. Anything that proves that you have had a long standing relationship before she won the lottery.
 
Yes I have pictures of the traditional marriage and some pictures of us when we were dating.
 
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