Please help! (issues with registering marriage)

[rkk1 34]

I am feeling VERY frustrated right now. As I had posted in my previous thread, my fiance and I are planning to get married in just over a month in India, in his hometown in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He had taken a day off work today to go to the court in his city to inquire about marriage registration. Unfortunately the marriage officer there says that the court cannot register a marriage between an Indian and a foreign national. (!) My fiance told them that such marriages happen all the time, and he pointed them out to the US government embassy sites that show that as long as I bring a 'No Objection' certificate or 'Single Status Affidavit' then we can either get married through the Special Marriage Act or Hindu Marriage Act (as he and I are both Hindu). Unfortunately, the registrar happens to have a link to an Indian government site in Andra Pradesh which states that the SMA and HMA only apply to Indian citizens, and thus the registrar is saying that we cannot get the marriage registered in the court as I am not an Indian citizen.

Since I am an OCI cardholder, I sent a scanned copy of my OCI card to my fiance, and he is taking another day off work tomorrow (at peril of his job) to go back to the court to see what to do. Even though the 'Overseas Citizen of India' visa is not a true Indian citizenship, he is hoping that this might convince the registrar to accept the marriage. My fiance also called the US Embassy in Delhi, and the person there said that the registrar is a fool, as it is perfectly fine to get non-Indians married in India. But unfortunately we are stuck with this registrar. Since my fiance is from a small city in India (about 4 hours train ride from Delhi) it's possible he has never had to register a marriage between an Indian and non-Indian national and thus doesn't know that such marriages are often performed.

I don't know what to do. We need to get the marriage certificate and registration in order to apply for the CR-1 visa to get him here. We are wondering if we should pay an immigration attorney to help us with this mess, though the attorney my fiance talked to wants a lot of money, and I wish we could just take care of it ourselves.

Edited October 13, 2011 by rkk1

[stronger 43]

Is it possible to just take a honeymoon to Delhi and register it there when you come for the wedding? Might be best to skip that office altogether.

[rkk1 34]

Is it possible to just take a honeymoon to Delhi and register it there when you come for the wedding? Might be best to skip that office altogether.

Hmm... is it possible to register the marriage in a different city than the one in which the marriage took place? I didn't know that was an option. This might work for us to marry in his city and then try to register the marriage in Delhi. The only downside is that we were planning to bring our parents to the registrar's option as witnesses for the marriage, but if we go to a different city then I'll have to see whether his parents could come or not. But if it works, it might be the best option.

[rkk1 34]

Also, I admit I don't really understand the difference between the marriage certificate and registration. Don't we need the marriage certificate in order to get it registered? I don't know who issues the certificate (the priest who performs the marriage or the registrar), so I don't know if there will be a problem also in obtaining the certificate since I am a US citizen.

[msupreme2284 0]

You need to get a lawyer in your spouse's town who can help you guys. Since you both are hindu's you can get married in a temple/ religious wedding and register it under hindu marriage act. I did it the same way where I got married and then later registered my marriage (the second day I went to court). The key here is good lawyer. UP is notorious for these kind of things.

[rkk1 34]

I wish there was a lawyer to help us, but my fiance doesn't know anyone in his city who specializes in immigration issues. (My fiance himself is a lawyer, and he says that he never learned any immigration law in his school, and as such, he doesn't know anyone else in his city who works on such cases.)

I just talked to him this evening after he got back from court. He talked to another person at the high court, and it seems like there is a possibility that we could get the marriage registered with that official. He has to go back to the court tomorrow to talk to that person. However, the assistant was telling my fiance today that my fiance should pay the official a sum of money. So it seems like there is a possibility of getting our marriage registered if we pay a large bribe. This is so wrong and unethical, as we are legally allowed to marry without having to pay off anyone. Anyway, my fiance will go tomorrow back to the court to find out the details.

[Deep2009 18]

Please DONOT waste any money on lawyers...

If you can read my other post.... I am asking all the US Citizens to get "No Objection Certificate" from US Embassy.

Embassy knows it, they are providing this certificate from "American Citizen Services" center in the Embassy.

You can register your marriage with "marriage registrar".... on one can deny you legally...

This is the law of Indian land.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Deep2009

[rkk1 34]

Please DONOT waste any money on lawyers...

If you can read my other post.... I am asking all the US Citizens to get "No Objection Certificate" from US Embassy.

Embassy knows it, they are providing this certificate from "American Citizen Services" center in the Embassy.

You can register your marriage with "marriage registrar".... on one can deny you legally...

This is the law of Indian land.

Thanks Deep. I'm glad your process worked out well. I don't think we'll be getting a lawyer, as there isn't anyone in his area who specializes in international law. And yes, we should legally be able to register the marriage. But the problem is that one of the registrar person is being stubborn and refusing... and the other person who is willing wants money. And my fiance says that under the Hindu Marriage Act we have to apply for the wedding in his city (meaning we can't go to Delhi). So we are stuck. I also HATE bribes and feel contempt for those that demand them... I can't imagine how the person wanting bribes feels proud to look at himself each morning in the mirror. But unfortunately, I don't know of any other option. Either we pay the bribe and see if he can attempt to register the marriage (though I don't know if things will work out or not).... OR we just cancel the whole marriage in India and let my fiance just come on a K-1 visa. Unfortunately though 6 people in my family have already purchased their flight tickets to India and we won't get the hotel fees back either... so it would really be a loss to not have the wedding in India. My fiance asked his friends about the whole bribe issue, and they say that he would be a fool to not pay the bribe as it would prevent big hurdles in our life together. Rather than just doing their jobs, the registrar's office is trying to take advantage of our situation to extract money from us. It's just a sad situation all around.

Edited October 14, 2011 by rkk1

[rkk1 34]

Also, the person who is willing to try to register the marriage (who wants the bribe) doesn't even know English. So even if he tried, I have no idea if things would be properly registered or not. I think the marriage certificate would be in Hindi, so my fiance would be the one to make sure that things are written properly as I wouldn't even be able to read it.

[Rock81 0]

Looks like the only thing that is required is a no objection cetificate from the US embassy and you can get your marrige registered. Below link provides some information.

http://www.madaan.com/marriage.html

All the best.

Cheers

[Rock81 0]

I am feeling VERY frustrated right now. As I had posted in my previous thread, my fiance and I are planning to get married in just over a month in India, in his hometown in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He had taken a day off work today to go to the court in his city to inquire about marriage registration. Unfortunately the marriage officer there says that the court cannot register a marriage between an Indian and a foreign national. (!) My fiance told them that such marriages happen all the time, and he pointed them out to the US government embassy sites that show that as long as I bring a 'No Objection' certificate or 'Single Status Affidavit' then we can either get married through the Special Marriage Act or Hindu Marriage Act (as he and I are both Hindu). Unfortunately, the registrar happens to have a link to an Indian government site in Andra Pradesh which states that the SMA and HMA only apply to Indian citizens, and thus the registrar is saying that we cannot get the marriage registered in the court as I am not an Indian citizen.

Since I am an OCI cardholder, I sent a scanned copy of my OCI card to my fiance, and he is taking another day off work tomorrow (at peril of his job) to go back to the court to see what to do. Even though the 'Overseas Citizen of India' visa is not a true Indian citizenship, he is hoping that this might convince the registrar to accept the marriage. My fiance also called the US Embassy in Delhi, and the person there said that the registrar is a fool, as it is perfectly fine to get non-Indians married in India. But unfortunately we are stuck with this registrar. Since my fiance is from a small city in India (about 4 hours train ride from Delhi) it's possible he has never had to register a marriage between an Indian and non-Indian national and thus doesn't know that such marriages are often performed.

I don't know what to do. We need to get the marriage certificate and registration in order to apply for the CR-1 visa to get him here. We are wondering if we should pay an immigration attorney to help us with this mess, though the attorney my fiance talked to wants a lot of money, and I wish we could just take care of it ourselves.

Why are you planning to cancel the K1 application - if you applied in August thn u r already 2 months into the process. If you cancel now and apply for CR-1 the clock will reset again and the wait period will increase. The timelines as I understand are the same for both K-1 and CR-1. I suggest let the K-1 go through since u hav already initiated the process. The wait makes it hell.

All the best.

Cheers

[Harsh_77 718]

I am feeling VERY frustrated right now. As I had posted in my previous thread, my fiance and I are planning to get married in just over a month in India, in his hometown in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He had taken a day off work today to go to the court in his city to inquire about marriage registration. Unfortunately the marriage officer there says that the court cannot register a marriage between an Indian and a foreign national. (!) My fiance told them that such marriages happen all the time, and he pointed them out to the US government embassy sites that show that as long as I bring a 'No Objection' certificate or 'Single Status Affidavit' then we can either get married through the Special Marriage Act or Hindu Marriage Act (as he and I are both Hindu). Unfortunately, the registrar happens to have a link to an Indian government site in Andra Pradesh which states that the SMA and HMA only apply to Indian citizens, and thus the registrar is saying that we cannot get the marriage registered in the court as I am not an Indian citizen.

Since I am an OCI cardholder, I sent a scanned copy of my OCI card to my fiance, and he is taking another day off work tomorrow (at peril of his job) to go back to the court to see what to do. Even though the 'Overseas Citizen of India' visa is not a true Indian citizenship, he is hoping that this might convince the registrar to accept the marriage. My fiance also called the US Embassy in Delhi, and the person there said that the registrar is a fool, as it is perfectly fine to get non-Indians married in India. But unfortunately we are stuck with this registrar. Since my fiance is from a small city in India (about 4 hours train ride from Delhi) it's possible he has never had to register a marriage between an Indian and non-Indian national and thus doesn't know that such marriages are often performed.

I don't know what to do. We need to get the marriage certificate and registration in order to apply for the CR-1 visa to get him here. We are wondering if we should pay an immigration attorney to help us with this mess, though the attorney my fiance talked to wants a lot of money, and I wish we could just take care of it ourselves.

Here is the excerpt from the actual act. The Indian Special Marriage Act 1954 permits marriages between persons who are not of the same community or who have different religions or nationalities. The scope of the Act includes the entire territory of India and extends to intending spouses who are both Indian nationals living abroad.

Which clearly says special act is for people comming from different communities or nationalities.

So for you it is a 2 step:

#1 Get married under the Special Marriage Act 1954

#2 Register the marriage with registrar.

For me in Mumbai both was done by the Registrar himself so I did not had to go between different offices.

[Harsh_77 718]

You need to get a lawyer in your spouse's town who can help you guys. Since you both are hindu's you can get married in a temple/ religious wedding and register it under hindu marriage act. I did it the same way where I got married and then later registered my marriage (the second day I went to court). The key here is good lawyer. UP is notorious for these kind of things.

OP do not get married under Hindu marriage act.... you cannot get married under Hindu marriage act as you no longer are Indian national.

For Hindu Marriage Act both parties must be Hindu and Indian National.

Special Marriage Act is for parties with different nationality... both can be Hindu.

[Harsh_77 718]

You can have a lawyer, I had lawyer just for the ease and I dont have to run around between the offices.

He took care of everything for me, but learned lot of things from him too...

[rkk1 34]

Hi Rock and Harsh, thanks for your comments!

I actually think US citizens are allowed to get married under the HMA, as it describes in the US embassy: http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/service/other-citizen-services/marriage.html

So we got more info on the registrar in his city... it seems the registrar IS willing to register the marriage (and least this is what he says right now, a month before the wedding, though we hope he won't chance his stance later), but that guy wants a 25,000 rupee bribe (about $560). We feel this is so wrong having to bribe the guy to do what he is supposed to do anyways.

I asked my fiance if we couldn't file a complaint on this guy for asking for a bribe, but my fiance says that many such complaints have been filed over the years and are still pending in the courts. So if we are morally opposed to bribes, then we'd either have to wait years to get married in India, or we'd have to just cancel the wedding plans (with a loss of plane tickets, hotel fees etc) and get married in the US. So it looks like we might just end up paying the bribe, as we are stuck.

Edited October 17, 2011 by rkk1