Legal in the States...Marriage ..HELP!

[BKHwedding2007]

Heya everyone....

My husband and I just made it back from the 3/18/2007 Conquest Cruise. We were married in the Grand Cayman port...BEAUTIFUL...I was told it would be legal in the states, and that all we had to do was show the marriage license in the states from Cayman, and they would validate it and make it legal here. I'm now being told it is NOT legal....has anyone else run into this problem....my husband is really upset...they say we have to have a common law marriage to back date to the day we got married.....or get J.P. married, but the date will be different....

If you could give your advice/opinons...that would be great...

Will post pics of our wedding by Friday 3/30.....

Thanks in advance.... :D

[L2J]

Heya everyone....

My husband and I just made it back from the 3/18/2007 Conquest Cruise. We were married in the Grand Cayman port...BEAUTIFUL...I was told it would be legal in the states, and that all we had to do was show the marriage license in the states from Cayman, and they would validate it and make it legal here. I'm now being told it is NOT legal....has anyone else run into this problem....my husband is really upset...they say we have to have a common law marriage to back date to the day we got married.....or get J.P. married, but the date will be different....

If you could give your advice/opinons...that would be great...

Will post pics of our wedding by Friday 3/30.....

Thanks in advance.... :D

 

This happend to someone here from NY(?) a couple years back...can't remember the SN though. Maybe someone else does.

[MamaParrotHead]

Unfortunately, with no solution other than getting married again. This is why many people choose US territories, like St. Thomas, to get married. Good luck!

[big_duck]

Go to the JP.

 

BTW, you can celebrate any date you want for your anniversery.

[Wennfred]

We had at least 2 couples "Cruise Critic Members" getting married in the Caymans last year, I wonder if they had the same problems once they got back? I saw on a Cayman website that the Marriage Certificate runs $200.00 U.S. Dollars :confused:

[rgreenpc]

You know how long you have been married... the only thing that differs is what some piece of paper says.

 

You made vows on the ORIGINAL DATE... who cares what some civil servant says... just placate the system and jump through the hoops.

 

Its much easier than trying to fight it (and much cheaper).

[ShedQueen77]

I don't know if the "rules" differ from country to country (I'm sure they do) but we're getting married in Barbados in January. My coordinator says that there are two different copies that we receive. One is the "certificate" which is enough legal documentation in certain countries, but not in the US. In order for the "certificate" to be legally recognized in the US, we have to have a "registered copy" certified by the Ministry that will be sent to the US for us.

 

Did you receive or hear anything about anything like that? I would contact your planner or the ministry from Cayman and start asking questions!

[bonstersd]

I had my wedding in Mexico, but instead of getting blood tests that costs a lot of money and having someone I didn't know perform the ceremony, I had a secret legal ceremony in the US 6 days before we left. We only celebrate the date of our wedding, not the date it was legal (it also calmed the nerves on the wedding day knowing we were already married!)

[BKHwedding2007]

Well thanks for all of your replies...I was just curious as to whether or not anyone has encountered this problem. I guess we will just get a J.P. marriage, and celebrate the actual day we would like. We had a beautiful wedding there ashore the 7mile beach, and we have pictures that are to die for....so we're happy about that....wish I would have been more informed regarding that part of it before we left...I guess I will have to research more .......:rolleyes:

[big_duck]

Well thanks for all of your replies...I was just curious as to whether or not anyone has encountered this problem. I guess we will just get a J.P. marriage, and celebrate the actual day we would like. We had a beautiful wedding there ashore the 7mile beach, and we have pictures that are to die for....so we're happy about that....wish I would have been more informed regarding that part of it before we left...I guess I will have to research more .......:rolleyes:

 

On the other hand, you will be able to hit hubby up for two anniversary presents a year. :D

[Caribbean Dad]

On the other hand, you will be able to hit hubby up for two anniversary presents a year. :D

 

My cousin and his wife were married on February 29th (AKA Leap Year), so she tries to "milk it" for the two day anniversary 3 out of every 4 years. ;) :D

[GoinCruisin]

Did you do all of this?? I would think they would mail you the REAL license... how long has it been and who did you deal with???

 

 

Visitors wishing to be married in the Cayman Islands no longer have to fulfill any waiting period. An amendment to the Cayman Islands Marriage Law passed in November 1994 eliminated the previous 72 hour waiting period. This means that visitors can now get married on the day they arrive, including passengers arriving on cruise ships, who may be legally married during their day in port on Grand Cayman.

Visitors are advised to make arrangements in advance in order to expedite the paperwork and all required details.

 

Couples must arrange for a Cayman Islands Marriage Officer before applying for the license. A list of officers is available from the Chief Secretary's office and can be sent in advance of arrival. A special license will be granted by the Governor for non-resident couples. The list of marriage officers and the application for the marriage license can be obtained from:

 

The Chief Secretary's Office

4th Floor, Room 406 Government Administration Building

George Town, Grand Cayman

Phone: (345) 949-7900

 

The fee for this license is $150ci plus a $10ci stamp duty ($200us total). It is now possible to obtain this special license the same day.

 

The application must be signed by both persons, giving full names, occupations and permanent addresses and current temporary address in the Cayman Islands. It must also name the marriage officer who will perform the ceremony.

 

Other requirements include proper documentation proving citizenship and age (passport or birth certificate) and marital status (proof of legal divorce decree or death certificate if spouse has died, if applicable); Immigration pink slip showing legal entry into the Cayman Islands or documentation proving visitors is a passenger on a cruise ship.

 

The minimum legal age for getting married without parental consent is 18.

 

A brochure Getting Married in the Cayman Islands containing complete guidelines and information is available and can be ordered from:

 

Government Information Services

Cricket Square, Grand Cayman

Phone: (345) 949-8092 Fax: (345) 949-5936

[MamaParrotHead]

DH and I were living together, he was in the Coast Guard. We were engaged, 6 months til the wedding. When it dawned on us it was stupid to miss out on the insurance (for me) and living subsidies (like housing allowances) available through DH's work. So we took 2 witnesses and did a "super secret" JP ceremony about 6 months prior to our church wedding. Unfortunately, everyone eventually found out about the JP wedding, so everyone is confused as to which anniversary to send us cards or wish us "happy anniversary", so no one does, LOL.:)

[ClipperMiami]

Heya everyone....

My husband and I just made it back from the 3/18/2007 Conquest Cruise. We were married in the Grand Cayman port...BEAUTIFUL...I was told it would be legal in the states, and that all we had to do was show the marriage license in the states from Cayman, and they would validate it and make it legal here. I'm now being told it is NOT legal....has anyone else run into this problem....my husband is really upset...they say we have to have a common law marriage to back date to the day we got married.....or get J.P. married, but the date will be different....

If you could give your advice/opinons...that would be great...

Will post pics of our wedding by Friday 3/30.....

Thanks in advance.... :D

 

That's just silly, whoever told you that is having you on or is ... whatever. If you have a certified copy of a foreign marriage license you are legally married; its just like having a certified copy of a Texas marriage license makes you married in New York, or a Florida license makes you married in Britain.

 

If the license is in a language other than English you will certainly need a certified translation in order to change your driver's license, Social Security, etc. But a Cayman license will be in English so that't not a problem for you, assuming you have a proper, legitimate copy of the Cayman government issued documents.

 

Nope, you are married, no do-overs --- unless of course you were married by the bartender at the Ritz Carlton at 2AM on Saturday in which case all bets are off :-)

[njs]

DH and I were living together, he was in the Coast Guard. We were engaged, 6 months til the wedding. When it dawned on us it was stupid to miss out on the insurance (for me) and living subsidies (like housing allowances) available through DH's work. So we took 2 witnesses and did a "super secret" JP ceremony about 6 months prior to our church wedding. Unfortunately, everyone eventually found out about the JP wedding, so everyone is confused as to which anniversary to send us cards or wish us "happy anniversary", so no one does, LOL.:)

 

As a canadian marrying an american and moving to the states, we had to be married before USA imigration would finalize immigration papers. Since we were had already booked honeymoon in Jamaica (and we wanted to go together:rolleyes: , we had jp service a few months before. Never thought about asking for 2 anniversary gifts - just think of how many he has to make up for now:D Thanks for the insight:)

 

OP

A year later you will forget about the headaches and hassles and you'll just remember the beautiful day .

[big_duck]

That's just silly, whoever told you that is having you on or is ... whatever. If you have a certified copy of a foreign marriage license you are legally married; its just like having a certified copy of a Texas marriage license makes you married in New York, or a Florida license makes you married in Britain.

 

If the license is in a language other than English you will certainly need a certified translation in order to change your driver's license, Social Security, etc. But a Cayman license will be in English so that't not a problem for you, assuming you have a proper, legitimate copy of the Cayman government issued documents.

 

Nope, you are married, no do-overs --- unless of course you were married by the bartender at the Ritz Carlton at 2AM on Saturday in which case all bets are off :-)

 

Hmmm, who to believe, who to believe ... State authorities or someone on a message board. Decisions, decisions.

[GoinCruisin]

Hmmm, who to believe, who to believe ... State authorities or someone on a message board. Decisions, decisions.

 

ROFLMAO!!!

 

'tis true that you can't just go get married anywhere by anyone and have it recognized in the US.

 

Now, if the wedding was not performed as a legal wedding in GC (Following all the protocols), then it wouldn't be legal here. I would check with the people you booked your wedding with to see if your real certificate is forthcoming.

[truecruiser]

so what happens if you get married on the ship, at sea? that's no good either?

[big_duck]

so what happens if you get married on the ship, at sea? that's no good either?

 

States have jurisdication, it is up to each individual state to decide what they will or will not recognize.

[ShedQueen77]

That's just silly, whoever told you that is having you on or is ... whatever. If you have a certified copy of a foreign marriage license you are legally married; its just like having a certified copy of a Texas marriage license makes you married in New York, or a Florida license makes you married in Britain.

 

If the license is in a language other than English you will certainly need a certified translation in order to change your driver's license, Social Security, etc. But a Cayman license will be in English so that't not a problem for you, assuming you have a proper, legitimate copy of the Cayman government issued documents.

 

Nope, you are married, no do-overs --- unless of course you were married by the bartender at the Ritz Carlton at 2AM on Saturday in which case all bets are off :-)

 

Out of curiosity (and a little bit of recently placed paranoia, no offense!) I just placed a phone call to the Iowa Recorder of Vital Records office. I told them we were getting married in a foreign country and was wondering about the license being legal in the US.

 

I was told "Your marriage will be perfectly legal as if it were performed in the US. The only glitch is that if you need a copy of the license/certificate it will not be recorded in the US and you will have to contact the oversea's offices to get any copies."

 

Basically they just told me the same thing the above poster said!

 

To the OP--Is the copy of the license you tried to show the US officials certified? From what I've read about all of the Caribbean destinations (I did a lot of reading before we decided on Barbados!) the certified, legal, OFFICIAL copy of your license takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks to arrive by mail. The one you get to take home with you right afterwards isn't a certified legal document that satisfies US requirements.

[ClipperMiami]

Hmmm, who to believe, who to believe ... State authorities or someone on a message board. Decisions, decisions.

I agree, I don't claim this is a legal opinion, but I believe you will find this is the case. Federal and state governments accept certified foreign documents all the time for residency, Social Security, etc., so what makes a marriage license different? And actually The OP didn't say a government official told them that, just "now I'm being told ..." so it might just as easily have been her next door neighbor as the local county records clerk.

 

And even if an official told them that, government officials put their pants on one leg at a time too --- many of them have no idea what the rules ACTUALLY are, they just wing it when presented with any unusual situation to get rid of you. Tell them you have a Cayman marriage license and you get an entirely different response than if you say a Florida license. When she takes her certified Cayman license to Social Security they will change her records to show she is married, they aren't going to send her down the street to get married again :-)

[GoinCruisin]

Out of curiosity (and a little bit of recently placed paranoia, no offense!) I just placed a phone call to the Iowa Recorder of Vital Records office. I told them we were getting married in a foreign country and was wondering about the license being legal in the US.

 

I was told "Your marriage will be perfectly legal as if it were performed in the US. The only glitch is that if you need a copy of the license/certificate it will not be recorded in the US and you will have to contact the oversea's offices to get any copies."

 

Basically they just told me the same thing the above poster said!

 

To the OP--Is the copy of the license you tried to show the US officials certified? From what I've read about all of the Caribbean destinations (I did a lot of reading before we decided on Barbados!) the certified, legal, OFFICIAL copy of your license takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks to arrive by mail. The one you get to take home with you right afterwards isn't a certified legal document that satisfies US requirements.

 

Not exactly. The marriage has to be considered legal in the country you were married in... which gets sticky. Some perform marriages without following all regulations and it's not considered legal. Some have residency restrictions, etc. No, just getting married in another country doesn't automatically make you married legally... you have to know ahead of time exactly what would be accepted by that country, not just what someone tells you. BUT, in GC, they no longer have a residency requirement... so as long as they did everything below and they were legally married, they should be okay.

 

CAYMAN ISLANDS

Cost: US $200.

Waiting Period: None.

Requirements: Cayman Islands International Immigration Department Pink Slip showing proof of entry (receive this from Immigration upon arrival into the Cayman Islands) or ship boarding passes; valid passports or original or certified copies of birth certificates along with photo identification; in the case of second marriages, original or certified copies of divorce or death certificate; parental consent if under 18 years of age; two witnesses to be present at the ceremony. Photocopies of documents are not accepted.

[big_duck]

I agree, I don't claim this is a legal opinion, but I believe you will find this is the case. Federal and state governments accept certified foreign documents all the time for residency, Social Security, etc., so what makes a marriage license different? And actually The OP didn't say a government official told them that, just "now I'm being told ..." so it might just as easily have been her next door neighbor as the local county records clerk.

 

And even if an official told them that, government officials put their pants on one leg at a time too --- many of them have no idea what the rules ACTUALLY are, they just wing it when presented with any unusual situation to get rid of you. Tell them you have a Cayman marriage license and you get an entirely different response than if you say a Florida license. When she takes her certified Cayman license to Social Security they will change her records to show she is married, they aren't going to send her down the street to get married again :-)

 

Moving from state to state (or country to country) and having your marriage recogonized is one thing. For a resident of a state to have an out of state marriage recognized is a different matter. Based on the 15 minutes of Google research I did it would appear that based on Texas law, they were required to get a Texas marriage license issued, then have it signed by the officient.

[ClipperMiami]

Out of curiosity (and a little bit of recently placed paranoia, no offense!) I just placed a phone call to the Iowa Recorder of Vital Records office. I told them we were getting married in a foreign country and was wondering about the license being legal in the US.

 

I was told "Your marriage will be perfectly legal as if it were performed in the US. The only glitch is that if you need a copy of the license/certificate it will not be recorded in the US and you will have to contact the oversea's offices to get any copies."

 

Basically they just told me the same thing the above poster said!

 

To the OP--Is the copy of the license you tried to show the US officials certified? From what I've read about all of the Caribbean destinations (I did a lot of reading before we decided on Barbados!) the certified, legal, OFFICIAL copy of your license takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks to arrive by mail. The one you get to take home with you right afterwards isn't a certified legal document that satisfies US requirements.

 

It's the same for birth/death certificates, marriage licenses, any "vital records." The local authorities don't record them because they didn't issue them. Just like Iowa won't "record" a Florida marriage license but its just as valid as if they had; if you need another copy you have to get Florida to send it to you.

 

Perhaps the one exception to this is the State Department and the records of US citizens born overseas --- they issue you a Consular Report of birth which records the fact that you are a citizen by birth but the actual foreign birth certificate remains the legal record of your actual birth. In my experience either is acceptable to state authorities.

 

As someone else observed, this is of course dependent on this being a legal, properly recorded marriage and the party possessing a legally certified copy of the document issued by the foreign govenment. Like I said a foreign bartender doesn't count.

[Mikel1733]

so what happens if you get married on the ship, at sea? that's no good either?

 

 

My daughter was married on the Valor two years ago. The only option was when the ship was in port. No weddings at sea. They were married in Miami on the ship about 3 hours before the ship sailed. No problems with the Florida license of course.