Marriage certificate in India

[yeye 0]

Hello All,

I was reading the posts here and I am confused about how quickly you can get marriage certificate

I am a Hindu and US Citizen. If I go through traditional Hindu marriage, I was under the impression that I could apply and get the marriage certificate within 2-3 days after marriage. I was reading some posts in this forum which say since I am US citizen I will have to apply 30 days in advance and then be able to get the marriage certificate.

Please let me know how long it takes.

Thanks

[desiboy2k4 0]

Hello All,

I was reading the posts here and I am confused about how quickly you can get marriage certificate

I am a Hindu and US Citizen. If I go through traditional Hindu marriage, I was under the impression that I could apply and get the marriage certificate within 2-3 days after marriage. I was reading some posts in this forum which say since I am US citizen I will have to apply 30 days in advance and then be able to get the marriage certificate.

Please let me know how long it takes.

Thanks

For us, it took about a week to get it. I have heard people getting it done much faster. I'm pretty sure that if you're willing fork up some cash, you'll get it faster. Ca$h is king

[trinket 30]

Hello,

Since I have been dealing with this issue myself and preparing for the worst with my i-130; I would like to say that "cash" isnt' always the king.

One of the vj members was denied visa at Delhi on the basis that the USC didn't stay 1 month in India prior to getting the marriage certificate, I guess they got the marriage certificate within a week's time or something like that and the official requirement for let it be an Indian by birth or a foreigner is 1 month 10 days to be exact.

I do realise that not every case is being scrutinised like this and every case is different, but then it's better to do it proper way than being sorry later on. And also with what all I have read, it feels like you can do things giving out cash in some parts of India but not every part.

So may be asking your fiance to contact any of the local lawyers of her/his district will be a good idea.

Also are you a OCI? Just make sure your fiancé go to any local family based lawyer or registrar office and clear up things beforehand.

Oh another thing which I have seen is, if you have less time and your fiancé doesn't live in any municipal area rather his/her domicile comes under any panchayat raj, then a certificate given by the panchayat holds as much value as registering, since panchayat is part of the Indian government.

Please do more searches and see what all options are available for you and your fiancé and move according to that.

Best wishes for your future

Edited June 6, 2008 by silent

[yeye 0]

Thanks for your replies, but I am still not sure whether I have to stay in India for a month to get marriage certificate. Hope others can also clarify this issue.

I have heard from a lawyer in India that you have to wait for 30 days if you only get court marriage done. But, if you get traditional marriage then you can get the marriage certificate right away.

Also, reading from the posts in VJ it seems that if you are not Hindu then even if you get traditional marriage, then you will have to wait for 30 days.

silent, could you send the link of the case which got denied in Delhi because the USC didn't stay in India for one month.

I hope to get some clarity on this issue from other VJ members.

Thanks

[trinket 30]

There is a fine line between, Registered marriage and marriage registration.

Registered marriage is in other words a civil marriage.

With what I have talked with the local lawyer, according to him both takes 1 month 10 days time no matter what. One party has to show domicile of that given district for the past 15 days, both man and woman (let it be you are married or you are intending to get married) go to the court house, signs a few documents infront of the district magistrate and then you will have to come back after a months time, sign some more papers and you will be issued with your registered marriage certificate.

Only significant difference is that, if you are intending to get married then your and your would be spouses name will be projected at courts enquiry board and also you guys have to give a publication at local newspapers saying if anyone has any objection regarding this marriage they can contact with the district court for that matter.

Now, there are ways to get through every thing in India and most of the places will, but at least its not the same from where I come from, I did offer the lawyer any extra money but he said nothing can happen, I do have family members working at the district court but they too can't "speed" up the actual process.

Whichever way you choose do let your fiance contact a local lawyer and get things sorted out.

Also, whenever you do make the trip to India, do make sure to have a notarized statement from USA saying how you are free to get married to any consent adult of any nationality. US consulates in India used to issue these no objection letters which are a requirement with Indian courts, but US consulates have stopped it, however they can help you with notarization for $30 fee I guess.

About that link, sorry I don't have it anymore, I am not sure but I do think it was with the OP laurarajesh's case.

Edited June 7, 2008 by silent

[yeye 0]

I have found this link http://www.madaan.com/marriage.html which says that if you get married through religious marriage, you can get the marriage certificate right away i.e. no wait for 30 days. Hopefully, it will be helpful to others.

silent,

thanks for your response.

Is there a way to get no objection letter within USA and what is the procedure? I won't have too much time in India to go to US consulate

I couldn't understand your response regarding "but US consulates have stopped it, however they can help you with notarization for $30 fee I guess."

So the US consulate still give no objection letter and what do they notarize? Can you please elaborate?

[trinket 30]

Yeye,

US embassy/consulates used to give out no objection letters earlier, but they have stopped issuing no objection letters anymore. But what you can do is write out a notarized statement claiming how you are eligible to get married outside of your USA jurisdiction, if you have any prior divorce do make sure to attest those too with your notarized copy.

You can make the notarization copy in USA, at any bank for free or shell out $30 at any of US consulates in India.

Edited June 11, 2008 by silent

[yeye 0]

Silent,

Can you please state the text for notarized statement that I need to provide?

Thanks.

Yeye,

US embassy/consulates used to give out no objection letters earlier, but they have stopped issuing no objection letters anymore. But what you can do is write out a notarized statement claiming how you are eligible to get married outside of your USA jurisdiction, if you have any prior divorce do make sure to attest those too with your notarized copy.

You can make the notarization copy in USA, at any bank for free or shell out $30 at any of US consulates in India.

[sachinky 465]

This is extremely stupid. I too am an Indian citizen with a permanent resident in India but I had to wait for 30 days BEFORE I could even file the notice of intending marriage (I was in the U.S. from January to June) under the SPECIAL MARRIAGE ACT 1954. We could not get married in the Hindu way since my husband isn't an Hindu. So not only did I have to physically be present in my permanent residence for 30 days before I could file, then I had to wait another 30 days after the notice was filed to get married. I can't believe they made me sit around for 60 days just to get married. Absolutely ridiculous.

From what I understand though is that even if you get married religiously, you STILL have to wait for 30 days to actually get the marriage certificate as proof. This is however applicable to the Special Marriage Act and not the Hindu Marriage Act.

Hope this blurb helps someone in the future.

And BOTH parties must be present to sign the marriage certificate, so even if you get married religiously, your SO will have to wait in India for a month before you are able to collect the marriage certificate.

[Baltar 0]

We did a court wedding with plans to do a ceremonial wedding later on.. the original plan was to just get a court wedding done so i can have a marriage certificate to give to USCIS to file i130.

It didnt matter that we are both hindus, same caste.. because I have a USA passport, they put us through the 30 day wait with our paperwork plastered on their bulletin board in the courthouse.

its a rule made during the time when no one had airplanes and everyone in india was living in their own little villages everywhere. Young adults from one village would walk over to the other village, meet someone, fall in love. Meanwhile the parents either didn't want their kids marrying someone outside of their village, or the rest of the village will shun them or gossip about it and stuff like that.

They have the 30 day silliness because kids will sneak off and marry each other in the courthouse in secret. The idea is to post it up for 30 days to hopefully get someone to object. No objections to it then the courts arent held responsible to angry village elders and their canes.

fast forward 60 years later where the wold shrunk down, we have internet, airplanes and stargates (i really wish we had stargates in every state and country to just walk through and see our loved ones on the other side instantly) and India's still using these old rules and just getting in the way of everything.

My parents and my wife's parents were there and they still wouldnt let us do the court wedding without the 30 days wait. I figured whatever and signed it, went home, waited it out and did wedding plans, then came back and did the court wedding.

[Twisted K 2]

as it was stated earlier, cash is king, which is how we got by. not really sure what happened, because my husband did most of the leg work. we got married in the arya samaj temple, where i had to sign a piece of paper stating i became a hindu. was on paper only, but it was our only way to bypass the 30 day wait.

[sachinky 465]

Kaushalia. Not to make you worry uneccesarily but I would suggest that you/your husband be prepared for a question or two at the embassy stage. They might pick up on it since the Indian COs are familiar with Indian family/marriage acts. I'm sure they won't but who knows? Best have an answer of sorts prepared.

Edited October 23, 2009 by sachinky

[Twisted K 2]

yeah, he is aware of it. i think it helped that his parents were there at the court to verify also. he also had an attorney who also helped speed things along. i also had to get a letter from the embassy which i got on my february trip. there is always more to a story than people type. we had to jump through a lot of hoops.

also, the stipulation the court put on getting our marriage certificate within 10 days time was that we get married religiously first (arya samaj) then we can take those pictures to the court and they would issue our marriage certificate, essentially getting married twice.

Edited October 23, 2009 by kaushalia

[bobby_kvisa 7]

I was reading up on this since it somewhat pertains to my situation.

Here is a link to the Delhi Government webpage where they explain the 2 different kinds of marriage acts - Hindu Marriage Act and Special Marriage Act.

http://delhigovt.nic.in/dept/district/da3e.asp

Under Hindu Marriage Act, it does appear there are any hard and fast rules pertaining to staying the country for 30 days - or special requirements for foreign citizens. However the 30-day rule does apply to the Special Marriage Act.

Also the US Consulate in Delhi does issue Letters of No Objection at no charge. I went there to get my letter and it took a total of about 10 minutes including waiting in a very short line. The lady looked at my passport, gave me the letter and that was it. It has strange verbiage, but it is stamped and signed, and best - it was free.