When should I apply for my spousal visa online?

I am getting married August 13, when should I apply for my spousal Visa?

We realized we got ourselves into a bit of a tricky situation, allow me to explain:

We are getting married August 13. August 14, we have a flight from Detroit to New York for a 1 week Honeymoon. We were planning on sending all our documents and proof of relationship that morning, overnight/same day to Chicago. Only theres a problem: we didnt realize that they needed BOTH of our passports. Does anyone know if she can send in a birth certificate instead of her passport? Will this delay things for the visa?

Anyway, the plan is for us to spend a week together in NYC. She will go home after a week, I will stay in Brooklyn with my sister for an extra week to make room for delays. My parents will receive the (hopefully) accepted Visa and overnight it to New York.

Anyway, with this biometric finger scan crap now, I want to get it done and overwith asap. I just need to know when I should take care of my application online.

Cheers for any advice!

-Adam

a certified copy of her passport will work (you can get this done at any solicitor)

You have to send in your supporting documents within 2 weeks of your biometric appointment, and obviously you need your marriage certificate before you can send your documents.  The trouble is that there's no way to find out how long the wait for a biometric appointment in your area is before you apply, so all you can do is guesstimate and hope for the best.

PS- we're going on honeymoon in NYC too in October! Hope you have a great time!

a certified copy of her passport will work (you can get this done at any solicitor)

You have to send in your supporting documents within 2 weeks of your biometric appointment, and obviously you need your marriage certificate before you can send your documents.  The trouble is that there's no way to find out how long the wait for a biometric appointment in your area is before you apply, so all you can do is guesstimate and hope for the best.

PS- we're going on honeymoon in NYC too in October! Hope you have a great time!

I love NYC so I cannot wait to get back there! Yeah the biometric appt will be a tricky one... Im proabably going to apply August 2nd giving me a 10 day window to get the fingers scanned. Oh how I wish that they would just provide the office where i can set up the appointment in advance! But no, that would mean the consulate would be making things EASY for us, a word not in their vocabulary (others include, simple, to-the-point, hassle-free, consistent, etc)

-Adam