anyone want to hear my marriage license scare?

[jsierra1982]

so my fiance and i are getting married in exactly one month minus one day (aug. 4) and a couple of days ago i went to the courthouse in downtown baltimore to file for our marriage license. we had originally planned on getting married in baltimore county (different from baltimore city), and i had called them and asked if it mattered if he didn't have a ssn and all, and they said it was fine and all...

anyway, when i was waiting in line at the courthouse, an american woman with a "hecho en mexico" belt on was arguing with the man behind the desk about why her sister couldn't get a license for her mexican fiance. the man was saying, "the laws have CHANGED here since you got married! she can't get married unless he has a ssn or a passport with a valid entry stamp!"

so i'm sitting there saying all kinds of profanity in my head and trying not to freak out. i did have the foresight to bring his passport, but obviously it does not have a valid entry stamp because he is ewi from mexico. i decided to just not say anything, and if they asked, to say that this particular passport was issued in washington after he was already here because the old one expired (which it was), which i guess would explain the lack of stamp.

when i got called up, the lady took his passport in lieu of a ssn and didn't even open it to check for a stamp! i did mention the washington thing, and tried to be very chatty and smiley...and when i walked out with our marriage license in my hand, i couldn't stop shaking. what if they had denied us our marriage license?

has anyone else heard of marriage laws changing like that so you can't get married unless you're legally here?

[ARodrigues]

then you just would have gotten one from another county!

No big deal now, you have it in hand. For anyone else, though, several counties have no problem issuing a ML as long as there is a valid ID.

[angela256z]

No in WA they make you sign a waiver stating that the foriegn citizen does not have a SS#. That scared my husband cause we have to use our address and such, but the guy behind the counter was mexican and assured him it was for statistics and not immigration purposes.

[Dorothea]

When we got our I was really nervous about it, but the woman behind the counter didn't even blink. :thumbup:It was in a really small town so it's NOT a common occurance!
It would have scared me too jsierra!!
Congrats on your upcoming wedding!!!:bounce:

[Laurel Scott]

Very, very clear human rights issue as the right to marriage is in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The US has signed the declaration.

I say again - unlike driving, which is a privilege - marriage is a RIGHT.

I'll check Maryland laws and regs and see where this violation of human rights has been placed in the statutes.

[cherrycandy001]

You Go Laurel...
You have inspired me...I kind of want to become an immigration lawyer myself now...
Anesthesiologist or Lawyer?!?!?!?!
I'm sooooooooo confused
-Candy

[aprilstorm]

When we went in 2003 here in WV they wouldn't let us get a marriage license..said he had to be legal...I was so ticked..but hey you can't keep knocking this girl down....:bleh:..we went to Virginia and got married :wink:.. all they asked for was an ID which he had his passport without a stamp and his TN driving license. Been married for 4 years now :thumbup:

[aprilstorm]

Congrats on your wedding!!!!!!

[lynn06]

When we were trying to get a marriage license, we were first just going to go to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I called and they informed me he had to have a resident card.
Then in my county in Kentucky, same thing. So, we went to the next county, after I called, he used his marticular id, no problem.
After that, we actually got married by our preacher in our town, so ha ha to them.

[jsierra1982]

thanks for the well-wishes, guys...

wow laurel you're awesome...and sadly, i am actually not surprised that so many other people had problems getting a marriage license too...

[egonzalez1975]

I live in Missouri and could not get married here because my husband did not have a social security number so we went over to Kansas and got married. (I already know Chula!!!)

[Chula]

Oh hell yea you knew I was going to jump all over that one!

KANSAS KANSAS KANSAS KANSAS :go:

[Laurel Scott]

From http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm , Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the US signed:

"1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. "

[Chula]

Could they actually use that what you posted Laurel?

[Laurel Scott]

Civil rights arguments can't really be made to the civil servant. They have to be made to a judge or to the legislative body.

[Chula]

Well here in Kansas that is who marries ya normally unless your having a huge party and such. Gosh I think it's just unfair especially after reading what you posted.

[hectorswife]

I'm all for a revolution... I know that in Hennepin County MN, where we got married, we couldn't get a marriage license without a ssn, but in Anoka County MN where we lived they just asked for an id, and hector's id from mexico worked just fine.

[aprilstorm]

It just shows how awesome we are!!!!! You can't keep us down!!!!!!! We'll just find another way!!!!:bounce::bleh:

[deborahalvarez]

Luis and I live in Tennessee. We couldn't get our marriage license here because he didn't have a valid state driver's license or state Id, not a greencard, passport, ss#, etc., etc. We were running into the problem of finding someone that would only accept his birth certificate, because when he had his car accident in 2005, all of his id's were lost. So anyway, this little town called Marion in AR is where we got our marriage license. We walked in, I showed my TN Driver's license, we gave the lady his Mexican Birth Certificate (Untranslated) paid the fee and walked out with marriage license in hand. Because of TN and AR laws, we were still able to get married back in our hometown here in TN.

You're right April, THEY CAN'T HOLD US DOWN!!!!! :bleh:

[clmjmm7]

I researched and researched before we got married. We couldn't get a marriage license here in NC since Javi didn't have a ssn. We could have gone to SC but FL looked so much nicer. We got married in Orange County (Orlando) at the courthouse. No problems. Then took the money we would have spent on a big wedding and stayed a week at Disney.