Duckie

i was wondering if it is possible to have my brother be witness at our wedding. he is not a usc, and he is my brother (obviously). does that mean we might get problems with bcis later on when we try to aos? i am just asking for the legal aspect. moral aspect if we should have non-family to witness a wedding is right now only of concern if bcis thinks that is a no-no.

also we do have 2 witnesses already, which are both non-family and both usc. so we wont offer to let my brother be witness til we got this solved.

any advice would be helpful to us

Hypertweeky

I dont know the procedure for marriages in the United States, but In Spain the witnesses of your wedding CANT NOT be your relatives, Its gotta be a friend for example. I got married July 26.. All my family was there but we couldnt start the ceremony because a witness was missing (We though the witness could be a relative) so My brothers gf and a police that was walking by were our witness lol




Take care

Duckie

oh thank you. i doubt it will be a lot differant in the us. that might also solve our problem with my brother not beeing usc.

Katie

Each state would have its own laws regarding the competency of witnesses for a marriage, but as far as I know, all states permit relatives to act as witnesses. In fact, it is quite common for brothers and sisters of the bride and groom to be the witnesses.

Katie

tigger1969

Yes- but what if the brother or sister is not a US citizen ? Is that still allowed? will it be legal?

Does anyone know- do the witness have to be US citizen?


Thanks in advance

Dekka's Angel

I have never seen any requirement that a witness to a wedding in the US be a citizen, just competent (over the age of 18 years). I have never seen a witness asked for ID or proof that they live here. In the US, the tradition is that whoever is designated as the "honor attendant" (best man and maid/matron of honor) is the legal witness to the wedding. I have been at many weddings where the matron of honor or best man is the foreign brother or sister of the bride or groom, and I assume that they signed the license afterward. All a witness does in the US is stand by the side of the person marrying and signs the licensed saying that they witnessed it. Since there is no citizenship requirement on someone being a competent witness, I doubt that US citizenship is required for this purpose either.

You have to remember that unlike many places in Europe, in America marriage is considered a totally private matter. There is no publication requirement, no waiting period in many states, nothing that makes the process public. It makes sense in the European context, it makes sense to establish strict requirements on how marriage is done and who can witness it, because marriage is rightfully considered to be a "quasi-public matter". But that's not the case in America.

However, if you REALLY want the answer to your question, just go to the website of the state and county in which you are planning to get married, and look this up. My answer's only good for California since that's the only place I've either gotten married or been a witness/matron of honor.

Duckie

thank you very much. yes, we will (or for that matter my fiancée) find out how the law is especially for ohio. we thought that it would be wise to ask for input from this newsgroup, as there might be a chance, that bcis would consider it a problem.

and it is good to hear that you seen weddings where the foreign borther/sister was the witness (even if it was not in ohio). the usa seams to be for us a better place to marry than europe, as we have only a few guests at our wedding (all very good friends).

Noorah101

My first marriage was in Arizona, and my husband and his 2 sisters were all here on student visas. There was no problem allowing one of his sisters to be our witness. My mom (or dad, can't remember now who signed it...lol) was the other one.

So at least in Arizona, yes they can be relatives of the bride or groom, and no they don't have to be US citizens.

Best Wishes,
Rene

ChiMiigwech

The witnesses can be USC or non USC as long as they're over eighteen. I don't think people in the court house would ask about ID and stuff.

That didn't happen to our witnesses at least.

Yanne

PeteJ

My wife and I got married in May this year in North Carolina and we checked it out and my brother who was only in US for my wedding from England was a witness. So in NC it is definitely OK

Pete