WebGuru’s Blog about Digital Life

It is exciting that one of family member has just set a date for their wedding! Considering that she is not the USA citizen and we don’t want the marriage license laws put a dent in their wedding plans,  I decided to help her find out what kind of documents she needs for the marriage license.

When I googled, I found a lot of marriage license information on about.com (http://marriage.about.com/). But I was not very clear what exactly she needs in her situation, since this web site does not specify what kind of ID document for the non-usa citizen. For example, on this web site, it indicates:

ID Requirement in Alabama:

You will need valid Driver’s License or Birth Certificate if you are over 18. All applicants must also provide a Social Security number.

But I know for sure she does not have Driver’s License, or any other USA issued identification cards. Not to mention the social security number as she is just visting USA with a valid visitor visa. To dig out the answers from the web, I spent a whole last night on the internet: I googled with a lot of differen search terms, like “marriage license document for XXX citizen”, “how to get marriage license…” and even used the same native language as her citizenship; But only got the same information I had at the begin. I did came cross one websiet called marriagetips.com but it was funny that it charges money for such information.

Anyway, this afternoon I re-read these information again and found every site has the same note as “Requirements may vary as each county in each state could have their own requirements…..”  at the begining of their information. Well, it seems to me the final answer to my question must be resided in the county where they are going to get married. So I decided to ditch google and use the traditional way.

I picked up the phone and called the county clerk office with the phone number listed on the website directly. After first went throught voice recorded information, I dialed another phone number I heard from the recorded information. This time I got a live person on the other end. When I told the specail situation for the bride, I was told she only need to bring valid passport with her, nothing else. that is IT!

So simple and congratulations to them in advance.

More will be continued along with their wedding comes.