Filing without an official copy of our marriage certificate?

[NYCNLC]

We plan to get married on October 7th and we want to mail our package before October 14th because my wife's visa will expire on that day. I've been told that we need to wait 15 days to receive an official copy from the government so we will only have copies of the marriage certificate from the courthouse on hand at that point.

Can we go ahead and submit all our applications with this marriage certificate and then submit an official copy at a later date after RFE? Will this heavily impact the process or just extend it by a couple of weeks?

[Enub4]

If you are USC don't worry about your wife's visa. I think is better to have the correct and full package than that.
There are USC that married their spouse that the visa expired many years ago and got GC without problems.

If you are a GC holder, then, that's another issue.

[Eda]

Let's be clear... there's difference between visa expiration and allowed time to stay in the US i.e. Duration of stay on your form i94. If you're referring to expiration of her duration of stay and you're not a USC, I will suggest you seek a legal counsel but if you're a USC expiration of visa or duration of stay doesn't really affect the process. Disclaimer: This is just an opinion and should not be taken as a legal advice.

[NYCNLC]

I am a US citizen and I do understand that this makes things a lot easier. Unfortunately my wife is very paranoid about being out of status for any amount of time and it’s difficult to convince her that we will be fine if we have to wait a bit longer.

Her DS-2019 and I-94 have the same end date. She’s an Au Pair who will essentially leave the program 10/14 so I’m assuming at this point she’ll be out of status.

[Enub4]

I read that some people were out of status for 10 years and more, married USC and in less than a year got the GC, without any issues. I think I read even someone with 20 years out of status.

If your future wife doesn't want to be out of status for a single day, then yes, you will need to file before 10/14. You just need to file what you have and see what happens, see other threads about front loading and clearly organize all your documents, that will help your case. Good luck.

[bobm445]

I read that some people were out of status for 10 years and more, married USC and in less than a year got the GC, without any issues. I think I read even someone with 20 years out of status.

If your future wife doesn't want to be out of status for a single day, then yes, you will need to file before 10/14. You just need to file what you have and see what happens, see other threads about front loading and clearly organize all your documents, that will help your case. Good luck.

24 years for us, no issues. wait for the marriage certificate and mail it in. they might not accept the package because its incomplete if you dont. a few days could save you a month …. they have to mail package and you have to resubmit if they don't accept itt.

[tauraos]

I am a US citizen and I do understand that this makes things a lot easier. Unfortunately my wife is very paranoid about being out of status for any amount of time and it’s difficult to convince her that we will be fine if we have to wait a bit longer.

Her DS-2019 and I-94 have the same end date. She’s an Au Pair who will essentially leave the program 10/14 so I’m assuming at this point she’ll be out of status.

You know based on new regulations. They can reject the package if initial evidence is not provided. Marriage certificate is an initial evidence for I 130. If they reject it then I they’d ask her to leave as well.
what you can do is have your judge sign the marriage license and give it back to you so you can take it county office right away and they can give marriage certificate to you. That way you can file complete package in due time. Just my thoughts.

[robec]

We plan to get married on October 7th and we want to mail our package before October 14th because my wife's visa will expire on that day. I've been told that we need to wait 15 days to receive an official copy from the government so we will only have copies of the marriage certificate from the courthouse on hand at that point.

Can we go ahead and submit all our applications with this marriage certificate and then submit an official copy at a later date after RFE? Will this heavily impact the process or just extend it by a couple of weeks?

I was the exact same way as your wife.... paranoid about being out of status. But in the end I decided it was better to have a complete package.... my I94 date was April 9th and we got the AOS receipts April 19th. RFE's can delay everything for at least a month and they stop every aspect of your case.
Also, it could take a week (in some cases several weeks) before you receive your receipts from your package so it might be unavoidable to have some 'out of status'.