ian-mstm

Ellie! Geez it's good to see you posting again. I thought you had died and gone to hell along with your bimbo buddies. I'm glad to see I was wrong, and there's still a chance that you'll move higher up the food chain.

Ian

Karlshammar

Here's something to consider:

Go to Cuba and marry her there. The Cuban authorities can be real bitches about letting their citizens go, but if they fall in love with and marry a foreigner they become much more lenient.

If the USA finds out you've been going to Cuba and spending money there, though, they'll whip you. So have her apply for a tourist visa or whatever. The Cuban authorities won't know what she applies for at the U.S. Interest Section. Since she's Cuban, once she's in the country she'll get her green card and won't have to worry about anything. Then you could either hope the authorities don't notice you got married in Cuba, or just get married again in the USA, get a US birth certificate and pretend that was when you first got married.

Bob

Your picking up some pretty old threads here, this one's a few months old...

Just Jenney

Do you regularly advise people to break the law, obtain false documents and lie to US government agencies? Or is this just a one-off for you?

~ Jenney

fatbrit

We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal."

Martin Luther King, Jr.; Letter from Birmingham Jail; April 16, 1963

Karlshammar

My mistake. I meant US MARRIAGE certificate, of course, not US birth certificate. Sorry about that. No, she should not get a false birth certificate, and I certainly don't encourage that kind of crime.

I do encourage, however, breaking Cuban laws and lying to Cuban government authorities. So the only US law-breaking involved here was his traveling to Cuba. I don't think he should have done that. But he's already done it, you know, so it's a little late to say not to now.

andrea874

Why do you encourage breaking Cuban laws? What makes it right to break a law in another country, as opposed to breaking a law here?

Just Jenney

But you are ALSO suggesting they break US laws as well. Firstly, you suggest that he go to Cuba and marry her. However, as you are confirming here now, you acknowledge that the OP has gone to Cuba illegally -- that is, breaking US law. So why do you encourage him to break US law AGAIN?

Secondly, you suggest that he marry her in Cuba and then for her to apply for a US tourist visa. Sorry, but since she has immigration intent and is married to a USC, she must apply for a SPOUSAL visa. Intending immigrants must have visas which allow for immigration, and tourist visas obviously do not. Unless, of course, you were suggesting they get married in Cuba and then she get a tourist visa to honeymoon in the States before returning to Cuba...

Thirdly, you cannot legally marry someone if you are already married, even if it's to the same person. So if they marry in Cuba, they're married. This couple cannot then legally "remarry" in the States in order to obtain a US marriage certificate. Suggesting that they do so is to suggest commiting fraud to obtain false documentation (in this case, the US marriage license/certificate).

~ Jenney

USA & Pakistan

Dear Karl Scammer ~

This thread should have stayed in the archives where it belongs.

But hey, thanks for keeping things interesting.

Marnee

Karlshammar

1. You are right about that. My mistake; of course he'd have to go back to Cuba to marry her there, which is yet another crime and not recommended. Sorry about that. Perhaps the Cuban authorities could be persuaded to let her go if she's engaged to a foreigner as well. I wouldn't know about this. From what I've heard, though, the K class fiancee visas are among the easiest to get approved by the consulatar officials, and she'd still be allowed to adjust status under the Cuban Adjustment Act, which would allow her significant benefits compared to doing it as a spouse (allowed to use welfare with no immigration penalties, no 2-year conditional status on the green card, still eligible for naturalization after 3 years of marriage to a U.S. citizen) and she would then have openly declared her immigrant intent to the consular officials, even though that does not strictly apply to Cubans.

2. Yes and no. A lot of immigration law does not apply to Cubans. The U.S. gov't recognized the situation there, and knowing that a Cuban almost has to commit fraud to come here, a lot is forgiven. For example, a person who enters the U.S. at other than an open port-of-entry is ineligible for any form of immigration benefits except certain cases of asylum. Cubans are exempt from this requirement if they are paroled, and the definition of parole in this case is very wide; being detained for questioning by the gov't and then being released, for example, is considered parole and the Cuban would then be eligible for adjustment under the Cuban Adjustment Act. So a Cuban coming here under any visa would most likely be eligible to adjust status (barring a criminal record and other disqualifiers), even if they had immigration intent when they applied for their (non-immigrant) visa.

3. I wouldn't know much about laws regarding marriage. I thought foreign marriages were not valid in the USA unless they were specifically registered here, but since you seem to know know the laws regarding this better than I do I'll concede that point to you. What could then be done is to register the marriage here. In some States you can petition a court for a delayed registration of marriage and they will give you an order to register with the State, which will issue a U.S. marriage certificate based on the original, foreign one. That way it would be completely legal and accomplished under the laws of the State. Still, since another trip to Cuba, as you rightly pointed out, would be illegal, this is probably irrelevant.

Hopefully, keeping this in mind, it would be possible to complete the immigration process legally. You're very observant and knowledgeable; please point out any other mistakes I may have made this time.

Just Jenney

Of course the US recognizes marriages performed outside the United States -- that's why USCs who marry in their foreign spouses' countries (or even a third country) can apply for K3 visas or DCF.

However, I'm not sure what you're talking about in regards to "delaying registration" of a marriage in order to obtain a marriage certificate from a particular state when the couple was actually married elsewhere. What states are you referring to which do this??

My understanding is that, if you want to marry in State X, you must apply for a marriage license and marry somewhere in State X within a certain amount of time. Once that happens, you are married, period. You cannot then go to State Y and apply for State Y's marriage license, because you are already married.

I have never heard of applying for a marriage license in State X, marrying in State X, and then "delaying registration" of that marriage so you can register the marriage in State Y (where you never actually married). That doesn't make any sense. So I'm curious to know what you're referring to -- please provide links, as I'm sure others would find this just as interesting.

~ Jenney

Karlshammar

Sure. Here are some links for California:

FAQ from the State Vital Records Office where it mentions foreign marriages to be registered in CA must be recorded in this way:
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/chs/OVR/Marriage/FAQ.htm

Information from the State Vital Records Office on the actual process:
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/hisp/chs/OVR/a...20MARRIAGE.pdf

The actual statute for the filing (California Health & Safety Code 103450-103490):
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/wa...ction=retrieve

Here's some info from a California Superior Court (County of Santa Clara) on how to petition for and be granted the certificate:
http://www.scselfservice.org/probate...thMarriage.htm

Here's a petition form from the County of Ventura:
http://courts.countyofventura.org/vn151.pdf

...and the same for the County of Marin:
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/MC/F...f_Marriage.pdf

Most of the counties don't have a set form to use for this procedure. The only ones I could find that have it were Marin and Ventura. The other counties require you (or a lawyer) to make your own petition containing all the required information and file with the probate department of your local Superior Court.

Hope that helps!

Just Jenney

Aah -- you're talking about if someone cannot obtain a certified marriage certificate from the foreign country where they were married. However, if the OP and his fiancee were to marry in Cuba and then turn around to try to get her into the US as his spouse, surely they can obtain the Cuban marriage certificate? They'd just get one before leaving Cuba...

~ Jenney