Marriage Certificate for Bangladesh

[immy16 0]

Hello VJers,

I have immigrant petitions at NVC pending for my in-laws. I received an RFE that I need to submit a "marriage certificate" for both my in-laws and for myself. I was adamant that I had sent these docs to NVC and assumed it was a false RFE. The case was even escalated for review. I called again and it was brought to my attention that there are 2 separate docs. One is the NikahNama (detailed marriage contract in legal size paper outlining names, addresses, witnesses, dower info, special conditions along with the appropriage signatures, government seal, notary etc etc) and the other is the marriage certificate. I believe what I have is the NikahNama. Whats funny is that this is what I used all these years when I petitioned my wife to come to the U.S. along with numerous times used for her applying for her green card (she came via K3), social security, citizenship, drivers license etc. etc. I always assumed that what we had (the NikaNama) WAS in fact the so-called marriage certificate.

I'm guessing the marriage certificate must be some kind of new requirement because I never got one when my wife and I were married in Bangladesh 7 years ago. I guess its very similar to a birth certificate without all the detail of the NikahNama. All I had was the NikaNama along with the english translation all these years and that served the purpose for all immigration, legal and government matters.

What I'm baffled also is why didn't USCIS request this information before sending the case files over to NVC? Wouldn't a lot of time and anguish be saved had USCIS told us about this in the first place? And why is a so called marriage certificate required now when the NikahNama (marriage contract) was perfectly fine in the past? I don't get it.

My question is, how do I obtain the marriage certificate from the Marriage Registrar since my wife and I are both in the U.S. Can my in-laws obtain it for us from the Marriage Registrar? Has anyone else had similar experiences? Suggestions on how to obtain it? We are stuck now and are very concerned. Please advise. Thank you.

[laloo 4]

Nikah Nama is the marriage certificate, however, in some countries, you have to go and register it with the govt. for it to be legally valid. Perhaps, in the translation, you could have had the word Nikah Nama translated to Marriage Contract to make it clear.

The way things work in those countries, my guess is that any of your relatives can go and get an 'official' marriage certificate from the registrar. It will just be a headache to stand in lines and get it pulled from the records. You know how things work there.

If getting an 'official' copy is impossible, you could again send them a copy of the Nikah Nama and attach an explanation that this is the marriage contract. Someone else here from Bangladesh/Pakistan/India who applied like you can hopefully share their experience here.

Edited September 11, 2009 by laloo

[TayRivers 4]

I am going to move this to the Asia, South forum as I think you will get more replys from people who may know the answer to your question.

Tay

[12345678 1]

Anyone from Bangladesh can obtain the Marriage Certificate from where the marriage took place, I mean from the exact same Kazi office. Just anybody to go and take the Nikah nama for the reference if the office needs it...

It is easy process... You may need to submit a lil fees though..

Good Luck..

Sonia

[Mus24 0]

Hello VJers,

I have immigrant petitions at NVC pending for my in-laws. I received an RFE that I need to submit a "marriage certificate" for both my in-laws and for myself. I was adamant that I had sent these docs to NVC and assumed it was a false RFE. The case was even escalated for review. I called again and it was brought to my attention that there are 2 separate docs. One is the NikahNama (detailed marriage contract in legal size paper outlining names, addresses, witnesses, dower info, special conditions along with the appropriage signatures, government seal, notary etc etc) and the other is the marriage certificate. I believe what I have is the NikahNama. Whats funny is that this is what I used all these years when I petitioned my wife to come to the U.S. along with numerous times used for her applying for her green card (she came via K3), social security, citizenship, drivers license etc. etc. I always assumed that what we had (the NikaNama) WAS in fact the so-called marriage certificate.

I'm guessing the marriage certificate must be some kind of new requirement because I never got one when my wife and I were married in Bangladesh 7 years ago. I guess its very similar to a birth certificate without all the detail of the NikahNama. All I had was the NikaNama along with the english translation all these years and that served the purpose for all immigration, legal and government matters.

What I'm baffled also is why didn't USCIS request this information before sending the case files over to NVC? Wouldn't a lot of time and anguish be saved had USCIS told us about this in the first place? And why is a so called marriage certificate required now when the NikahNama (marriage contract) was perfectly fine in the past? I don't get it.

My question is, how do I obtain the marriage certificate from the Marriage Registrar since my wife and I are both in the U.S. Can my in-laws obtain it for us from the Marriage Registrar? Has anyone else had similar experiences? Suggestions on how to obtain it? We are stuck now and are very concerned. Please advise. Thank you.

I don't know if you get his after so many months.My sister has filed 3 petitions for her siblings.Now NVC wants her to send 'exact duplicate' copies of the original nikahnama.The thing is,she got married 26 years ago in Pakistan.The original nikahnama itself is in bad shape.I can't really decipher where the nikah was registered and who was the registrar.

We can send the original nikahnama to NVC,no problem,but why send 3 copies.Why can't NVC save the original for all the petitions,present and future ones?

How did you go around this?Did you send notarized photocopies?

Please share.Thanks.