getting married in the US

Getting married in may the states and my British fiancé has a green card .. does he still need esta I believe it's called form to get married ? Or is his green card enough ?

ESTA is the visa waiver program for visitors coming to the US. It has nothing to do with getting married... it's just that if he does not have a visa/green card to live in the US he will use the ESTA to enter the US instead.

Is his green card still valid though? He's living back in the UK again now, isn't he? If he's moved back to the UK permanently and has been out of the US for more than 6 months or more than 1 year, he may be considered to have abandoned his green card.


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I'm not sure what is going on with his green card . every time he enters he has to come in on it .. so I honestly have no idea nor does he .. but if his green card doesn't work does he need some type of form to get married in the Us

No, there is no immigration form required to get married in the US. As I said above, he either needs a valid green card, valid visa, or the ESTA to enter the US... once he's in the US, he can get married.

I don't know what would happen if his green card didn't work, though. I'm not sure if they would let him in as a visitor or if he would get sent back to the UK without being allowed in.

How long has it been since he moved back to the UK? If he's been gone more than 6 months, in order to be allowed back into the US on the green card he would have to prove he is still a US resident (I.e. he rents/owns in the US, works in the US, pays US taxes, has a US driver's licence etc.) and that he spends more time per year in the US than in the UK. He may even need to apply for a re-entry permit or a returning resident card before coming back.

See here: http://lawandborder.com/risk-abandoning-green-card-abroad-6-months/

Honestly, it sounds like it could be easier for you to apply for a fiancé visa and marry in the U.K., rather than risk him having issues getting into the US with his green card.

Actually, aren't you applying for a fiancé visa anyway? All of your previous posts are about preparing your fiancé visa application.


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But he has a British passport, so couldn't he come on that? If he's staying fewer than 90 days, he could get married while on the ESTA. Or does the potentially expired green card complicate that?

But he has a British passport, so couldn't he come on that? If he's staying fewer than 90 days, he could get married while on the ESTA. Or does the potentially expired green card complicate that?

The problem is the green card. If he comes on ESTA, it will automatically cancel the green card.

However, if he has permanently left the US and is no longer maintaining residence in the UK, the green card may have become invalid anyway and he may no longer be allowed to enter on it.

I'm not really sure what the procedure would be in that case - if he tries to enter on the green card and is not allowed in, I don't know whether they would let him in as a visitor, or if they would send him back to the UK (since he wouldn't have an ESTA).

But if he is sent back to the UK, and then tries for ESTA, it may be refused because of the entry refusal... so that would mean he would need to apply for a visitor visa, which can take several months to get.

We were gonna go on the fiancé rout but decided just to get married in the US because it would be quicker and save us a visa fee in the long run ..
   But he hasn't been living in the us for awhile but has to travel here for work every so often ..  but his ex was a very high profile government employee so he was always country hoping with her back and forth living here living there .. he does still do the taxes thing but maybe on the safe side I will have him apply for the esta form just in case because we really are unsure of what to do .. I wish visas can with a list of instructions  lol