Does anyone know how to get married in India?

[sakurasama 0]

I am planning to go to India in September to marry my fiance and he is telling me that it takes 45 days to get married in India. That first we need to see a lawyer and then wait 45 days to go to a high court to get the marriage license. Is this right? Is there any way to do it more quickly, legally or by bribery? I can only take three weeks off from work! We are Buddhist and he lives in Dharamsala, if that information helps anyone.

Thanks!

[timesnap 0]

You will need 45 days if you do a court marriage. You can choose to marry in mandir / temple or whatever is yr religious ceremony and then apply for marriage certificate. For marriage certificate you will ned signature of pri4est prrof of hotel arrangements pictures etc. It will probably be easier if you do not tell lot of people that you have come from abroad when you apply for marriage certificate. Give a local address and it will be easier. I got married on feb 7 this year ..got my certificate (for which both have to be present) on feb 19. Hope this helps......

and make sure that you can get married in september through religious ceremony. I am not sure about Buddhist culture but in hindu culture marriage happens only on certain days and I cant remmeber if any auspicious day falls in september ! Just make sure evertything is fne before you take the plunge !

[kpathak 0]

This is a small world. My wife is from Dharamshala and I just got married on Dec 25th 2005. We got married at a local temple (Chamundi Devi temple) and the mariage was recorded in the temple log (we were not the only ones). Then we went to a "district office" (I'll have to find out exactly which office in Dharamshala if you want) where they recorded our marriage (we sent there directly from the temple) in front of 2 witnesses (we picked her sister and my cousin). They issued the marriage certificate within a couple of days. No bribes, no hidden stuff.

I can give you more details if you want. It was a piece of cake. I was there in the local area for 4 days and then we went traveling around India.

KP

You will need 45 days if you do a court marriage. You can choose to marry in mandir / temple or whatever is yr religious ceremony and then apply for marriage certificate. For marriage certificate you will ned signature of pri4est prrof of hotel arrangements pictures etc. It will probably be easier if you do not tell lot of people that you have come from abroad when you apply for marriage certificate. Give a local address and it will be easier. I got married on feb 7 this year ..got my certificate (for which both have to be present) on feb 19. Hope this helps......

and make sure that you can get married in september through religious ceremony. I am not sure about Buddhist culture but in hindu culture marriage happens only on certain days and I cant remmeber if any auspicious day falls in september ! Just make sure evertything is fne before you take the plunge !

[calOC 0]

You may be able to do as suggested by timesnap - not declare yourself as a foreign national and get your marriage certificate much easier and quicker. I got married in Chandigarh in Dec 05 and this is my understanding how the Hindu Marriage Act works if one of the two parties is a foreign national.

Both parties have to file Intent to Marry with the Registrar of Marriages. It involves filling some forms, filing some affidavits, submitting passport styles pictures of both etc. The government departments do what they do with these and one is allowed to be married by the Registrar or the Magistrate between 31st and 90th day from filing the Intent to Marry. The Intent to Marry can be filed by either party. I had marriage certificate in my hand 15 minutes after the being married by the Registrar.

If you decide to do what I did, I would strongly suggest you hire a local attorney – rules and their interpretation is very regional in India and attorneys know to ‘expedite’ things. Also, we were told by our attorney to wait to have the religious ceremony after the ‘court’ marriage – legally the Magistrate could not marry us if we already were.

Good Luck.

[kpathak 0]

Oh -- missed the detail about being budhist -- ask your fiance to find out from Mcloud Gang where you guys would get maried. After that, do to this district office with 2 witnesses and you are set.

KP

This is a small world. My wife is from Dharamshala and I just got married on Dec 25th 2005. We got married at a local temple (Chamundi Devi temple) and the mariage was recorded in the temple log (we were not the only ones). Then we went to a "district office" (I'll have to find out exactly which office in Dharamshala if you want) where they recorded our marriage (we sent there directly from the temple) in front of 2 witnesses (we picked her sister and my cousin). They issued the marriage certificate within a couple of days. No bribes, no hidden stuff.

I can give you more details if you want. It was a piece of cake. I was there in the local area for 4 days and then we went traveling around India.

KP

You will need 45 days if you do a court marriage. You can choose to marry in mandir / temple or whatever is yr religious ceremony and then apply for marriage certificate. For marriage certificate you will ned signature of pri4est prrof of hotel arrangements pictures etc. It will probably be easier if you do not tell lot of people that you have come from abroad when you apply for marriage certificate. Give a local address and it will be easier. I got married on feb 7 this year ..got my certificate (for which both have to be present) on feb 19. Hope this helps......

and make sure that you can get married in september through religious ceremony. I am not sure about Buddhist culture but in hindu culture marriage happens only on certain days and I cant remmeber if any auspicious day falls in september ! Just make sure evertything is fne before you take the plunge !

Oh -- missed the detail about being budhist -- ask your fiance to find out from Mcloud Gang where you guys would get maried. After that, do to this district office with 2 witnesses and you are set.

KP

This is a small world. My wife is from Dharamshala and I just got married on Dec 25th 2005. We got married at a local temple (Chamundi Devi temple) and the mariage was recorded in the temple log (we were not the only ones). Then we went to a "district office" (I'll have to find out exactly which office in Dharamshala if you want) where they recorded our marriage (we sent there directly from the temple) in front of 2 witnesses (we picked her sister and my cousin). They issued the marriage certificate within a couple of days. No bribes, no hidden stuff.

I can give you more details if you want. It was a piece of cake. I was there in the local area for 4 days and then we went traveling around India.

KP

You will need 45 days if you do a court marriage. You can choose to marry in mandir / temple or whatever is yr religious ceremony and then apply for marriage certificate. For marriage certificate you will ned signature of pri4est prrof of hotel arrangements pictures etc. It will probably be easier if you do not tell lot of people that you have come from abroad when you apply for marriage certificate. Give a local address and it will be easier. I got married on feb 7 this year ..got my certificate (for which both have to be present) on feb 19. Hope this helps......

and make sure that you can get married in september through religious ceremony. I am not sure about Buddhist culture but in hindu culture marriage happens only on certain days and I cant remmeber if any auspicious day falls in september ! Just make sure evertything is fne before you take the plunge !

[sakurasama 0]

You all are so helpful!!!!

Kpathak- so with a religious marriage there is less waiting? I spent 2004 teaching English at a nunnery in Dharamsala so I beleive we are going to get married at the temple there. Give me all the details of what you did!!!

calOC- I guess my fiance is talking about the Intent to Marry procedure you are outlining. He seems to think we both need to be there to get the process started. Is this not the case? We will definitely hire a lawyer.

Civil and religious ceremony- I want to marry this man a hundred times anyway so I guess I can do all of it to cover my bases.

[kpathak 0]

I don't think you need to kire a lawyer, but if you need one, I know a good one in Dharamshala. If you feel that you need one "just to make sure that the paperwork gets pushed through", then I would agree getting one. From the sounds of it, you don't speak the local language (Hindi / Punjabi / Pahadi), so maybe an attorney might help.

The religious mariage (with the priest and vows around the fire) is needed to get your name registered in the "marriage log". The temple then gives you a "temple marriage certificate" which you take to the "district office" (I still need to give you more specifics on that) and get the legal marriage certificate. My I-130 was approved based on this legal certificate (it is in English) so I imagine it was acceptable to USCIS.

I'll ask my wife the name and location of the district office when I speak to her tonight.

Cheers,

KP

You all are so helpful!!!!

Kpathak- so with a religious marriage there is less waiting? I spent 2004 teaching English at a nunnery in Dharamsala so I beleive we are going to get married at the temple there. Give me all the details of what you did!!!

calOC- I guess my fiance is talking about the Intent to Marry procedure you are outlining. He seems to think we both need to be there to get the process started. Is this not the case? We will definitely hire a lawyer.

Civil and religious ceremony- I want to marry this man a hundred times anyway so I guess I can do all of it to cover my bases.

[sakurasama 0]

Yes, the name of a good local lawyer would help! I am not sure if Buddhist temples have marriage logs. Do you have to prove you are Hindu to have a Hindu marriage?

[kpathak 0]

No -- you don't have to prove that you are hindu to have a hindu marriage (but having the presence of a local person will probably help suppress the question :-). You should look and see if the Buddhist temples have mariage logs (I suspect they will).

I'll send you the details for the lawyer and other place in a few...

Cheers,

KP

Yes, the name of a good local lawyer would help! I am not sure if Buddhist temples have marriage logs. Do you have to prove you are Hindu to have a Hindu marriage?

[I'm Gone 60]

Don't you have to give her father some goats? LOL

[timesnap 0]

I was surprised why this comment took so long to come......;-) Somehow, it always ends up seem backward ! I can nver understand why ;-) ..It is funny though

[calOC 0]

sakurasama,

I would suggest you do due diligence before you set out to get married. It is very possible to do what KP outlined. Couples can go to the local office and get their marriage registered and get a marriage certificate after the traditional or religious marriage. That is an option for Indian citizens. It will work for you Indian citizen or not as long as you give a local address, have an Indian sounding name, speak an Indian language and look Indian.

You may have to do what I described if you don’t look Indian and don’t have an Indian sounding name because what I described is the right and legal way for a foreign national to marry in India; especially if you want a marriage certificate which you do. Then as I said before, the rules over there are subject to interpretation and someone with right connections can make things work any which you want.

I was there to file the Intent to Marry application but I understand one party can file.

[Mandi+Ryan 1]

While I was in India, we wanted to get married and do it that way, but it was a long process, and Ryan isn't 21 yet. Too much legal ####### to get into, so now we are here, on the K-1 visa. I wonder if it would have been shorter to get married while I was there.

[kpathak 0]

Due diligence is always a good idea -- calOC is correct in that aspect. You should ask your future hubby to visit one of the local temples near Dharamshala and talk to the priest. Then he should go to the Office of Municipal Committee in Daramshala to inquire about feasibility to do it. We had gone to the Cantonment Board office in Yol Cantt because she is a resident of Yol (10 km outside Dharamshala). There is not very much corruption in Dharamshala (well, not that I could make out) so you should get straight answers :-).

Good luck.

KP

sakurasama,

I would suggest you do due diligence before you set out to get married. It is very possible to do what KP outlined. Couples can go to the local office and get their marriage registered and get a marriage certificate after the traditional or religious marriage. That is an option for Indian citizens. It will work for you Indian citizen or not as long as you give a local address, have an Indian sounding name, speak an Indian language and look Indian.

You may have to do what I described if you don’t look Indian and don’t have an Indian sounding name because what I described is the right and legal way for a foreign national to marry in India; especially if you want a marriage certificate which you do. Then as I said before, the rules over there are subject to interpretation and someone with right connections can make things work any which you want.

I was there to file the Intent to Marry application but I understand one party can file.

[sakurasama 0]

Thnaks everyone. Kapathak, can you give me the name and possibly address or phone number of the lawyer you trust in Dharamsala?