Just received the official USCIS email...

[emt103c 10]

kaushalia--do everything by the culture that you can. . .that is part of what they are looking for.

Get him to get you a lengha too! Those are REALLY fun! And don't let him squelch on the jewelry like my hubby did, LOL

[Twisted K 2]

kaushalia--do everything by the culture that you can. . .that is part of what they are looking for.

Get him to get you a lengha too! Those are REALLY fun! And don't let him squelch on the jewelry like my hubby did, LOL

LOL, i wish i was slim enough for those lenghas, or any traditional indian wear, i am working on losing weight because i also want a sari, but will not buy one or let him buy me one until i feel comfortable. he told me he is buying my wedding outfits, which suits me just fine .

yeah, we have decided to get married in the temple, to have a more traditional hindu ceremony, for his family and friends to attend, then we will take that information to the court house to get our marriage certificate faster. this is the way we can bypass the 30 day waiting period, by essentially getting married twice. plus when we get here, we will have another wedding for my family and friends to attend. you better believe we are celebrating THREE anniversaries with gifts he has already been forewarned, hehehe. i will give him the benefit of the doubt, and make sure i write it in bold red colors on all of our household calendars

i wonder if we can do an engagement ceremony a few days prior, you know how they like to have those week long weddings, over there, maybe we can call one of them an engagement ceremony

[trinket 30]

You can have an Arya samaj wedding and then can register it within a week. There is no rule that both sets of parents need to be there, the rule with Civil wedding is that court house will put in your marriage date and if anyone has any objection they can come and complain within 30 days.

For Arya samaj wedding you will need to convert into Hinduism though, its just a ritual thing, you won't have to register your conversion officially, once you convert you can have the wedding next day. Also you might need a No objection letter, basically a notarized letter stating that you are free to marry in India, you can notarize it at Delhi consulate, I think they take a fee of $30 or something for that.

[Twisted K 2]

Cool, I will pass on the information to him. Yeah, I got the no objection letter when I was there in February. You can get one for free at the embassy with a US passport. Does the Arya samaj wedding take place at a temple? Sorry, I am unfamiliar with it. Thanks again, trinket

[trinket 30]

Cool, I will pass on the information to him. Yeah, I got the no objection letter when I was there in February. You can get one for free at the embassy with a US passport. Does the Arya samaj wedding take place at a temple? Sorry, I am unfamiliar with it. Thanks again, trinket

Arya Samajis has their own temple. Our took place in a school actually run by Arya samaj people Let me list some sites for you. Make sure you really educate yourself about the marriage laws, if possible find a lawyer, everything should be done within 500 dollars, shouldn't even take that much but given you are Amreecan and how they would love to rip you off for some money . We did have our marriage at Arya samaj but we never registered the marriage with District court (we were too young that time, me 22, husband 23), it didn't create any problem but I was a nervous wreck with the whole visa process because of it. But you make sure that you register the marriage with District court.

Here is Yahoo answer you might want to read on Arya samaj wedding.

This is Arya Samaj Marriage portal.

Basically you get married under Hindu marriage act, which is almost similar to Civil marriage, because Hindu Marriage act gives both the parties equal rights, anyways you get married under that and then you register your marriage. Registering civil marriage takes around 45 days but by having a Hindu marriage you cut down the time and have it registered within 1 week.

Here is a link for Hindu marriage act

And this is the link for civil marriage, also known as Special marriage act.

Edited March 11, 2009 by trinket

[Twisted K 2]

Cool, I will pass on the information to him. Yeah, I got the no objection letter when I was there in February. You can get one for free at the embassy with a US passport. Does the Arya samaj wedding take place at a temple? Sorry, I am unfamiliar with it. Thanks again, trinket

Arya Samajis has their own temple. Our took place in a school actually run by Arya samaj people Let me list some sites for you. Make sure you really educate yourself about the marriage laws, if possible find a lawyer, everything should be done within 500 dollars, shouldn't even take that much but given you are Amreecan and how they would love to rip you off for some money . We did have our marriage at Arya samaj but we never registered the marriage with District court (we were too young that time, me 22, husband 23), it didn't create any problem but I was a nervous wreck with the whole visa process because of it. But you make sure that you register the marriage with District court.

Here is Yahoo answer you might want to read on Arya samaj wedding.

This is Arya Samaj Marriage portal.

Basically you get married under Hindu marriage act, which is almost similar to Civil marriage, because Hindu Marriage act gives both the parties equal rights, anyways you get married under that and then you register your marriage. Registering civil marriage takes around 45 days but by having a Hindu marriage you cut down the time and have it registered within 1 week.

Here is a link for Hindu marriage act

And this is the link for civil marriage, also known as Special marriage act.

Awesome. I hope we are of legal age, I will be 30 in April, and he will be 31 in June. We are getting too old to remain single, hahaha. Anyways, thanks for the information. I am posting the links to him in an email. He is going to arrange everything because he is well aware that the will try to charge more money. i was just thinking about all the times we rode the metro. i would have to stay back while he went and purchased our tokens, hehehe. when we took a trip to manali, and when he arranged our hotel rooms, i was no where in sight and of course all of the rikshas and taxis, i would also have to pretend i didn't know him until we got in. even when they saw me and after reaching our destination, they tried to get more money, he would say something to them in hindi, and tell me lets go, not handing over another ruppee. sometimes, i would tell him to give them more money anyways. although i am fully aware when they see "amreecans" they see dollar signs, sometimes i felt sorry for them. especially if we were on a bicycle riksha, and they had to climb hills. as a side note, he said he felt like a foreigner when i was with him this time, because he was getting stared at like me. i told him after dealing with it for 6 months, you get used to it. this last trip i barely noticed it, but he certainly did Thanks trinket, i really appreciate your help

[SK007 0]

We still didn't do the engagement ceremony, since we are now planning for marriage. However, we have kept every last one of our receipts, including engagement rings. At the VFS we submitted over a year's worth of phone records of us talking to each other multiple times every day, emails, chats, cards, and letters. I do now, however, have over 200 pictures from this trip, including pictures with his parents, which I did not have last time (long story, they live about 22 hours by train away). We agree that they already had a decision made before the interview. The consular even told him he passed the interview, and to submit the additional documents and he could have his visa. Hindsight, I would have been there for the interview, and not taken no for an answer. If I can remember, they asked how we met, if our families agreed to us, where he works, where I work, when will we get married, where will we marry. Sorry, it has been several months now, when I talk to him today, I will ask. We had a couple of other things working against us, as in, the only time we met was when I was there for business in 2007, and I didn't go at all in 2008. If I had known about VJ before his interview, and subsequent 221g, I would have #1 Been there for the interview, #2 Mentioned the no engagement ceremony in my cover letter to the USCIS, #3 Not hired an attorney, or at least looked for one who dealt with all aspects of immigration, mine is an immigration lawyer, but has only had rejections for spousal and children. Had no idea what to do in our case for K1 rejection.

Good luck, and have faith everything will be fine. I am seeing a TON of approvals coming out of India now, so that give us all hope

I emailed the infamous Mr. Ellis who told me yesterday to either re-file a K1, or go for the spousal with a very strong case. I would be more willing to re-do the K1 if we would have went for the engagement ceremony. They also asked for voter's id, so I hope you have yours, including the voters list. Which still baffles me as to why they wanted, but they did. We have gotten past the blaming of the COs they were just trying to do their job, no matter how much we disagree with them.

Sorry for the long reply. If you have more questions, or I can be of assistance, please let me know.

I also heard abt lot of approvals from India but no news regarding Delhi embassy. Anyways I submitted my docs at VFS. Lets see what happens at interview.

I personally think that bringing ur fiance(e) to the interview doesn't help a lot these days at Delhi embassy since they don't allow them inside. But u never know.

OH yeah we didn't mention our engagement ceremony in the cover letter ( question 18 ) when we filed our I-129f petition. But I had submitted my engagement pics at VFS. I'm hoping that they would grill me over that.

Its a long story why we didn't mention abt our engagement ceremony in our petition earlier. I hope they just ignore that point

OH yeah we found VJ before we even filed our petition. And its another thing that we filed the petition 1.5 years after our engagement ceremony. And my fiancee visited me twice during that period. But still I'm overwhelmed.

Well now I see you have got lot of evidence. To them pictures with family members and other relatives, wedding pics or engagement pics is very important. Since that shows the families approved of the relationship.

Btw I think u can also do court marriage. But if u r a Christian or Parsi then you need to wait for one month to get married in court otherwise u can get married either same or the next day.

I hope that helps.

All the best.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Sam And Karri

[Twisted K 2]

Thanks, Sam, and good luck on your interview. I do know of someone else going at the same time you are.

I just called USCIS for the heck of it, and she gave me a bit of good news. I thought I had to wait 6 months before contacting them, which sets me at August 4, but come to find out, it is 120 days, which means I may get some information by June 4. This is good news, since I really, in a way, just want them to tell me my case is expired, and I can re-file. Although my mom would like for me to get married here, first, I kind of have my heart set on the CR1. Anyhow, whatever God has planned for us, it is ok with me He is in control anyways

[laurarajesh 0]

You can have an Arya samaj wedding and then can register it within a week. There is no rule that both sets of parents need to be there, the rule with Civil wedding is that court house will put in your marriage date and if anyone has any objection they can come and complain within 30 days.

For Arya samaj wedding you will need to convert into Hinduism though, its just a ritual thing, you won't have to register your conversion officially, once you convert you can have the wedding next day. Also you might need a No objection letter, basically a notarized letter stating that you are free to marry in India, you can notarize it at Delhi consulate, I think they take a fee of $30 or something for that.

hello trinket

embassy not except arya samag regestration it is not saficient . so please regester your marriage in court

[Armando 0]

Hello my financcee visa was denied. What is the next steps for me is it just a sit and wait. Now my other question wil the denial letter from USCIS come via normal mail or email ??????

[Twisted K 2]

Hello my financcee visa was denied. What is the next steps for me is it just a sit and wait. Now my other question wil the denial letter from USCIS come via normal mail or email ??????

I received both when mine was denied. Email and snail mail. if your petition is still in your beneficiary's country, then the best thing would be to keep it there. if it comes back to the usa, then you are in for a long wait. my now husband and i decided that waiting was a waste of time for california service center, so we have gotten married. when i return, i will change my name and update all of my information, and we will file for the CR1. will let you know how it goes. good luck to ya

[jpcanon 0]

Hello my financcee visa was denied. What is the next steps for me is it just a sit and wait. Now my other question wil the denial letter from USCIS come via normal mail or email ??????

I received both when mine was denied. Email and snail mail. if your petition is still in your beneficiary's country, then the best thing would be to keep it there. if it comes back to the usa, then you are in for a long wait. my now husband and i decided that waiting was a waste of time for california service center, so we have gotten married. when i return, i will change my name and update all of my information, and we will file for the CR1. will let you know how it goes. good luck to ya

Just a quick question- I have heard people mention that is best to keep the petition in the beneficiary's country- having it returned to the USA would be a bummer and I am sure much longer wait time as you mention. Any tips on how to make sure it stays there? I figured if they do kick it back, there isn't much one can do? Does it go to the NVC first or straight to the USCIS?

Thanks much and good luck,

Joe

[Moksha 1]

Hello my financcee visa was denied. What is the next steps for me is it just a sit and wait. Now my other question wil the denial letter from USCIS come via normal mail or email ??????

I received both when mine was denied. Email and snail mail. if your petition is still in your beneficiary's country, then the best thing would be to keep it there. if it comes back to the usa, then you are in for a long wait. my now husband and i decided that waiting was a waste of time for california service center, so we have gotten married. when i return, i will change my name and update all of my information, and we will file for the CR1. will let you know how it goes. good luck to ya

Kaushalia...what are you doing online!!! You're supposed to be honeymooning it up! Congrats on your wedding...I hope all went smooth and I can't wait to see the pictures when you get back! I'm sure you took tons of them! Send M our congrats!

[Twisted K 2]

They say the best way to keep it in the beneficiary's country is to get your senators involved. I tried, didn't work.

Hey, Moksha, girl! yeah, M is off making copies for the CR1 paperwork. It is hot as H*ll here, so i have been staying a lot in the hotel. now i am at his place with his mom and dad and neice. i leave tomorrow. they are leaving on the 27th. these 2 weeks have flown.

we got married on may 12, and after some major "palm greasing" we finally got our marriage registered with the court. i will let you know in more detail when i get back to work on tuesday. i have been told that my name has already been changed, hahaha.

[laurarajesh 0]

They say the best way to keep it in the beneficiary's country is to get your senators involved. I tried, didn't work.

Hey, Moksha, girl! yeah, M is off making copies for the CR1 paperwork. It is hot as H*ll here, so i have been staying a lot in the hotel. now i am at his place with his mom and dad and neice. i leave tomorrow. they are leaving on the 27th. these 2 weeks have flown.

we got married on may 12, and after some major "palm greasing" we finally got our marriage registered with the court. i will let you know in more detail when i get back to work on tuesday. i have been told that my name has already been changed, hahaha.

hello kaushalia

why you not trying consular filling. it is very much fast.