SeizetheCarp

Hello all,
I'm in the process of filling out the I-130 again - we've changed our plans multiple times over the years - and I had a question regarding multiple marriages. I'm a U.S. citizen and my partner is South African and also has U.K. citizenship. We live in Hong Kong.
We were married in Hong Kong in 2016 and then had a wedding in the U.S. in 2019. Do we need to document both of those marriages or just our first one? Questions on the I-130 such as "How many times have you been married?" I assume are for those who have been married, divorced and then married again to different people, but I don't want to appear to be hiding anything. There's the "date of current marriage" and "place of current marriage" questions as well. Should I just fill in with information from our Hong Kong marriage and add in our U.S. wedding date as Additional Information on Part 9?
Any light anyone can shed on this would be most helpful.
Thank you!

S Folinsky

I note your language of “married in Hong Kong” and later “having a wedding in the U.S.” Why the difference in language? Did you comply with the legal formalities in either or both locations? Is there doubt about the legality of one?

When I was in practice, I actually had this come up on more than one occasion. I found the cases interesting.

SeizetheCarp

Both were done through the legal channels, but in Hong Kong we went to the courthouse with three witnesses and in the U.S. we had an actual wedding with bridesmaids/groomsmen and a Justice of the Peace.

S Folinsky

What did you claim on your Federal tax returns for 2016, 2017, and 2018?

You pose an interesting question. There is a venerable legal maxim that “superfluity does not vitiate.” It is quite relevant here.

civilservant

We need a further explanation here as to why when you 'went through legal channels' both times you are saying they were both marriages. On the face of it, they were not. The second one was a vow renewal - unless you have some reason to believe that the first one was not recognized in law.

Do you have such a reason? If not, the answer seems clear cut.

SanDiegogirl

Sounds like the first was a legal marriage, in a courthouse and without all the trimmings, and the second was the big bash - albeit a renewal of vows...... you can't get married to someone you are already married to..

Hong Kong marriages are recognised in the US.

Personally, I'd put the Hong Kong ceremony as my marriage date and provide those documents.

spouse of scouse

If the OP's marriages were both registered officially then I hope the US laws are different to Australia's, because that's illegal here.

S Folinsky

Also, was there a prior divorce of either spouse involved? Many jurisdictions have a procedure of interlocutory decrees (aka decree nisi) followed by a final decree (aka decree absolute). It is not at all uncommon for "remarriage" to take place in reliance on the decree nisi before the absolute. Various ways of dealing with that. (Another Latin term is "nunc pro tunc" but I digress.)

SanDiegogirl

In an earlier post the OP said that a 'wedding party' would be held in the UK.
Again, sounds like a wedding celebration rather than a marriage ceremony taking place

S Folinsky

It appears that the second wedding is a legal superfluity. That brings up the original question about if and how it should be disclosed. I am of two minds on that.

But I wonder about the facts. A lawyer's nightmare is a Peter Falk "Colombo" moment of "one more question." In 40 years of practice it has come up more times than I care to think about. Examiner/Judge: Didn't you tell your lawyer that? Answer: He never asked.

SeizetheCarp

Thank you to everyone who replied.
To answer the questions, I've filed my U.S. taxes as "Married, Filing Separately" since 2016.
No divorces for either of us, we've both just been married to each other.
No other reason other than complete ignorance as to why we went through the whole process of "getting married" by a Justice of the Peace in the U.S. after already being married in Hong Kong. We were having a wedding for friends and family who were unable to attend our ceremony in Hong Kong, which was pretty much all of them. I know "ignorance" is irrelevant in the eyes of the government.

Rete

Didn't this issue come up when you applied for the US marriage license to marry a second time? Or perhaps you didn't get a marriage license for the second ceremony. Without a license, then you weren't married a second time but had a blessing's ceremony for family and friends and the big party afterward. Did you or didn't you, curious people would like to know ;-)

SeizetheCarp

It didn't come up at all. Yes, we got a marriage license and a marriage certificate. Never came up and apparently didn't occur to anyone involved. I'm from a small town in Montana - not sure if that has anything to do with it. :-D

SanDiegogirl

So you had the full marriage ceremony? do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife etc etc etc ..... I now pronounce you man and wife ...... and it was registered and you received a marriage certificate?

Even though for 6 years you had been officially married, and filing as married for taxes....... and all your family/friends knew you were married .....

Extraordinary........ pretty certain the Justice of the Peace would not have conducted such a ceremony had he known .....

SeizetheCarp

Husband and wife.
We got married in Hong Kong in 2016 and did the wedding in the U.S. in 2019, so 3 years, but yes. Also, neither here nor there, but not all of our friends and family knew we were married - only very close friends and immediate family knew, hence why we did the wedding.
The Justice of the Peace in the U.S. was well aware. We had been communicating with him via email for months prior to the ceremony and we told him we were married in Hong Kong and wanted this ceremony for friends and family.
Anyway, thank you everyone for your assistance!