CR1/IR1 to bring her from India

[mydream2012 0]

multiquote isn't working properly for some reason, maybe there is a limit on how much i can multiquote, so i am going to reply back in a while after i am done copy pasting and putting quotes tags manually.

Edited March 24, 2012 by mydream2012

[mydream2012 0]

It may depend also whether you are of Indian origin or not. I'm an American of Indian origin (my parents had immigrated to the US over 35 years ago). So in my case, it wasn't any problem to get married under the Hindu Marriage Act, as I am a brown-skinned person with a Hindu name. They never asked me if I am Hindu (technically I'm more spiritual than religious, but don't have an issue categorizing myself as Hindu if obliged to, since my parents are Hindu. My husband is also Hindu). But if you are white or non-Indian, they'd likely be skeptical of you being a Hindu, and it might be simpler to go the K1 route, as otherwise you'd most likely have to go the Special Marriage route in India which can cause difficulty if you are not living there for some months to sign all the paperwork, 30 day notice etc.

i am of indian origin, have an indian name and yes, we are both hindus too. as far as court marriage goes, everyone is giving a runaround there in india, the marriage registrar himself says, no court marriage, we only register religious weddings.

Another idea is that you can also get the K1 visa here in the US

did u meant that there is a way to get a K1 visa right here in the USA?

By having the Indian wedding in India after the US marriage, you wouldn't have to worry about lying to the US government and getting caught about your marital status. Of course, you'd have to remember that for US legal purposes, your wedding date would be the earlier US court date, not your Indian wedding in India.

i absolutely dont want to lie about anything. we love each other and cant live without each other. the last thing i want is to prolong the separation.

so if we go that route, do we still need to worry about anything that might be a reason for the embassy people to give us grief or cause delays in our application? No. Why would the US care that you want to choose to go to India, get marry, and file the I-130 rather than pursue a K-1 now? The US doesn't care which route you take - that's why the US offer both choices.

sorry if i was not clear, i was talking about CR1 and if there is anything in the process that i should be wary of?

Why would it take two years for her to get there? My husband filed my CR1 in August, and today I'm waiting for an interview date. We're at 7 months since the day we applied.

I would any day vouch for a CR1 as opposed to a K1. If you're going thru the New Delhi consulate, you have more than a fair chance of getting denied a K1 visa petition.

In either case, you'll need extensive evidence as proof of a bonafide relationship. This could include, chats/emails/phone logs, money transfers, joint property, joint bank a/c, getting her added on to your health insurance, pictures of wedding (if you choose CR1), pictures of engagement (if you choose K1), pictures with family, pics of holidays taken together, affidavit of relationship from family members.

For a K1, you should have visited her within the past two years at the time of filing the petition. I'd suggest you read extensively on both the visa types before you make up your mind. It's a long and stressful journey, but well worth it!

i am counting from today till she will come here to USA, 2 years(religious wedding at the end of this year and then 9 months for the process, so almost 2 years).

i heard the same about K1 from someone that we may get denied, especially since i dont know her for the past two years. that did push me towards CR1.

we met this Dec/Jan while i was visiting india and fell in love.

so, we do not have a lot of history going back that i can show.

i can only show that i was there in india this Dec/Jan and only have proofs of phone calls/skype calls from then till now.

we dont really send emails as such, mostly phone calls or skype video calls. is that ok? or should we start sending emails/greeting cards/chats to be used as proofs?

Edited March 24, 2012 by mydream2012

[sachinky 465]

You met in January. I see. It is March and you can't live without each other?

Riiight. It's sure gonna be a long process.

Really, I am not trying to be mean but seriously it rubs me the wrong way when people say shite like that.

Read the CR-1 guides. I will always vote CR-1 over the K-1. It's pretty straightforward. We went for a civil marriage under the Special Marriage Act. No issues. Interview at Mumbai lasted for 3 minutes.

[Darnell 8,478]

to the OP -

the priest said it will take 2 years from the marriage date till she's in the USA?

I'm terribly sorry, that's wrong.

If you are meticulous about paperwork, you can get it done in under a year.

[Darnell 8,478]

but i am just not sure what are the proofs that we have to have, to show that ours is a real marriage and a real relationship.

I think it's time for you to study the I-130 instructions - there's a list of proofs.

[mydream2012 0]

to the OP -

the priest said it will take 2 years from the marriage date till she's in the USA?

I'm terribly sorry, that's wrong.

If you are meticulous about paperwork, you can get it done in under a year.

hi,

the priest said that the ceremony cannot take place before the end of this year.

sorry if my reply was not clear enough for you.

so it was I who thought that if we marry at the end of this year and then we file for paperwork, means she will come here next year(2013) and not this one.

[mydream2012 0]

Read the CR-1 guides. I will always vote CR-1 over the K-1. It's pretty straightforward. We went for a civil marriage under the Special Marriage Act. No issues. Interview at Mumbai lasted for 3 minutes.

you will not believe the run around we are getting trying to find out about civil marriage. the marriage registrar himself says that we must have a religious ceremony and then bring proof of that and then only will he register the marriage.

can you please tell me a little bit more about your civil marriage process.

[July15 4]

you will not believe the run around we are getting trying to find out about civil marriage. the marriage registrar himself says that we must have a religious ceremony and then bring proof of that and then only will he register the marriage.

can you please tell me a little bit more about your civil marriage process.

Well, I didn't have a religious wedding we only had a civil ceremony -I'm not Indian though, I don't know if being of Indian origin makes a difference. But we had to hire a lawyer to do all the paperwork. OF COURSE, it was very expensive.

Edited March 27, 2012 by July15

[sachinky 465]

you will not believe the run around we are getting trying to find out about civil marriage. the marriage registrar himself says that we must have a religious ceremony and then bring proof of that and then only will he register the marriage.

can you please tell me a little bit more about your civil marriage process.

Are you both Hindus? In that case, you will have to be married under the Hindu Marriage Act which I am not familiar with. The Special Marriage Act applies when the bride and groom belong to separate religions. I had to file a notice of intent 30 days prior to the wedding. Our wedding comprised signing the marriage certificate in front of the marriage registrar with 3 requisite witnesses in our living room. Then we exchanged rings and garlands. Afterwards, we had a reception for about 250 guests. It was low-key as far as Indian wedding affairs go. It took about 3-4 days to get our marriage certificate. No hoopla. Which part of India are you from?

[sachinky 465]

hi,

the priest said that the ceremony cannot take place before the end of this year.

sorry if my reply was not clear enough for you.

so it was I who thought that if we marry at the end of this year and then we file for paperwork, means she will come here next year(2013) and not this one.

You mean there's no auspicious date till the end of this year when the two of you can get married?

[MrsNotBonJovi 18]

you will not believe the run around we are getting trying to find out about civil marriage. the marriage registrar himself says that we must have a religious ceremony and then bring proof of that and then only will he register the marriage.

can you please tell me a little bit more about your civil marriage process.

OP, I do not know which part of India you are from, but I guess this works the same in most places. I am from Chennai and I have friends who did it, so here is how it could possibly be done if your Registrar office insists on a religious ceremony. Get married at a local Indian temple with the temple priest officiating,take a few pictures with guests during the marriage ceremony, speak to the temple authorities and ask if they will sign a letter saying you got married at the temple. Most temple authorities will oblige, if you agree to make a donation to the temple. This certificate is considered valid enough at most Registrar offices, you can say you did not have a formal wedding card printed and get affidavits from your parents etc. if needed. Once you get this stuff into the Registrar office, it takes about a week to get the marriage certificate and then you are good to go. You really do not need to wait till end of year to get married.

I also know of cases where people have completely skipped the religious ceremony part (what if you happen to be an atheist etc.?) and done only the civil marriage at the Registrar office itself.

If you need more info, message me and we can talk. Do not worry, all will be well.

[mydream2012 0]

Well, I didn't have a religious wedding we only had a civil ceremony -I'm not Indian though, I don't know if being of Indian origin makes a difference. But we had to hire a lawyer to do all the paperwork. OF COURSE, it was very expensive.

can you give me some details on the process itself as i am being told there is no such thing as a civil ceremony. how much did it cost? if you want, please feel free to send me a private message.

Are you both Hindus? In that case, you will have to be married under the Hindu Marriage Act which I am not familiar with. The Special Marriage Act applies when the bride and groom belong to separate religions. I had to file a notice of intent 30 days prior to the wedding. Our wedding comprised signing the marriage certificate in front of the marriage registrar with 3 requisite witnesses in our living room. Then we exchanged rings and garlands. Afterwards, we had a reception for about 250 guests. It was low-key as far as Indian wedding affairs go. It took about 3-4 days to get our marriage certificate. No hoopla. Which part of India are you from?

yes, we are both hindus. not sure if/how that affects the marriage.

the answer we are getting is that there is no civil marriage, go marry in a temple and come back with the certificate from the temple.

i am from Delhi.

You mean there's no auspicious date till the end of this year when the two of you can get married?

that's what the priest said, so now we cannot do a religious ceremony till the end of this year. only option was civil marriage, but everyone keeps saying there is no such thing, only registration of marriage after the ceremony.

OP, I do not know which part of India you are from, but I guess this works the same in most places. I am from Chennai and I have friends who did it, so here is how it could possibly be done if your Registrar office insists on a religious ceremony. Get married at a local Indian temple with the temple priest officiating,take a few pictures with guests during the marriage ceremony, speak to the temple authorities and ask if they will sign a letter saying you got married at the temple. Most temple authorities will oblige, if you agree to make a donation to the temple. This certificate is considered valid enough at most Registrar offices, you can say you did not have a formal wedding card printed and get affidavits from your parents etc. if needed. Once you get this stuff into the Registrar office, it takes about a week to get the marriage certificate and then you are good to go. You really do not need to wait till end of year to get married.

I also know of cases where people have completely skipped the religious ceremony part (what if you happen to be an atheist etc.?) and done only the civil marriage at the Registrar office itself.

If you need more info, message me and we can talk. Do not worry, all will be well.

we can't do the religious ceremony because the priest has already said to not do it till the end of this year and her family is committed to that.

i am from Delhi.

[Pat2Bos 2]

Hi there, K-1 is essentially a fiancée visa through which you can get her to USA with the condition that you will marry her within the next six months (Hindu/Muslim/Christian doesn't matter) and then apply for CR-1 in USA. If you can get K-1 then it would be the best option since she can come with you to the US immediately. The flip side would be that not a lot of her family or friends would be able to attend the wedding since it would happen in US. If she gets a K-1 visa but you choose to marry her in India, the K-1 visa lapses immediately and you will have to apply for CR-1 from India. Now that can take anywhere between six weeks to a year (in my case it took 8 months).

On the marriage, the fastest (and cheapest) marriage is a court marriage. There are two ways, either you can get married in a traditional Hindu ceremony and register your marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act (but both of you have to be Hindus for this- you will have to sign a declaration). The other way (without a traditional ceremony) is that you get married under the Special Marriages Act, 1954 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Marriage_Act,_1954). There are no restrictions but of sex (no same sex marriages) and some prohibited relationships (incestuous in other words). The process is fair and simple, the only issue is that you have to give the notice to marry at least a month in advance in the local marriage registrar's office and both of you have to be present for that. I got married in Delhi and the link to the office is - http://dcsouth.delhigovt.nic.in/registeration_marriage.htm#SM you can look for the local office wherever your fiancée lives as at least one of the partners need to be a resident (with proof- Driver's License/Bank Pass Book/Voter I-card/Pan Card/MTNL Bill) of that area. You will also need three witnesses from the same area (with at least two of the earlier mentioned documents). The best thing is that once you give the notice you can get married anytime after 30 days. The actual marriage takes less than 5 minutes and you get the certificate (two copies) on the spot within half an hour (of course with some humoring of the staff with sweets and a couple of 100 Rs notes).

The best thing would be to send somebody down to the office and ask for the booklet on Special Marriages Act (only 10 Rs. but hugely helpful) and then just follow it. One thing which threw us off was no-objection certificate from the US embassy (they would happily do it for $50 but would also clearly say on the certificate that they don't take any responsibility).

Once you get the certificates the real battle begins with the filing of I-30 forms.

Feel free to ask for any clarification/additions

Pat2Bos

I need your expert help with my visa questions. been reading the forum for a few days but still really confused.

I keep going back and forth between the two visa options: K1 and CR1/IR1.

I am a US citizen and she is in India.the priest told our families that religious wedding can be done in november and if we go that route and then file papers,it may take two years from now till she comes here and this is killing us both.

i am trying to find if there is a faster way of getting her to usa or if you can provide any other suggestions.

here are some questions that i need help with.

K1:

Can we get married(religious hindu wedding) at any point with this visa?

her family was told that after we get the visa, we can do the religious wedding ceremony before she comes to USA. is this true? is there such an option?

If we get married either before or after she gets a K1, what will happen to the K1 application, does it gets converted to CR1 saving us time or does the process starts all over again?

CR1/IR1:

Can i go over for a week and we do a court marriage in india and file for CR1 based on that? i cant find any info on court marriage in india, from all the info her family gathered, there is no such thing as a court marriage and only a registration of marriage after the religious wedding ceremony.

will doing a court marriage now, and then a religious marriage in november work out well with the whole process? i don't want our case to be denied because of this.

which visa has a better option of getting approved or in other words, which one is more risky of the two visas?

can you please help me?

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

Hi there, K-1 is essentially a fiancée visa through which you can get her to USA with the condition that you will marry her within the next six months (Hindu/Muslim/Christian doesn't matter) and then apply for CR-1 in USA. If you can get K-1 then it would be the best option since she can come with you to the US immediately. The flip side would be that not a lot of her family or friends would be able to attend the wedding since it would happen in US. If she gets a K-1 visa but you choose to marry her in India, the K-1 visa lapses immediately and you will have to apply for CR-1 from India. Now that can take anywhere between six weeks to a year (in my case it took 8 months)

I'm not sure where you're getting your information about the K-1 but it is incorrect and it's not going to help the OP. I'm not sure where you're getting six months from. When a person is granted a K-1 visa, they must marry the USC who petitioned them within 90 days. That's 3 months, NOT 6 months. You cannot come to the U.S. immediately after filing for the K-1. You have to petition in a similar way to the CR-1. It takes an average of 9 months to be granted a K-1 visa.

Why would someone go the K-1 route, get married in the U.S. and then file for the CR-1? The process would be complete at that point (the K-1). If the OP wanted to go back to India and do a religious marriage, then his wife would need to get AP/EAD or wait until she filed for AOS. Filing for a CR-1 after the K-1 would be pointless not to mention a waste of time and money.

Also the K-1 does not "lapse immediately" if the petitioner were to marry the beneficiary. If the couples chooses to marry while there is a pending I-129F, then it is up to the petitioner to withdraw the petition and file the I-130 for a spouse. Failing to do so could mean a denial of a visa attached with a material misrepresentation charge (since the couple is married therefore directly violating the terms and conditions of the fiance visa).

I've never heard of a CR-1 case completing in 6 weeks. Not even with an expedite. Giving the OP false and misleading information will not help him or anyone else seeking advice from these forums. I suggest you get your facts straight next time before you decide to post.

OP, have you consulted the marriage registrar regarding the Special Marriage Act? I'm not sure if it is applicable when both parties are Hindu.

If you cannot marry in India in a non-religious ceremony and you do not want to wait another year, maybe you could look into marrying in a third country. For example, Thailand grants Indian nationals a visa on arrival for 15 days (if arriving by air). I just wanted to offer this suggestion since it has not been mentioned yet.

Best of luck.

[Pat2Bos 2]

Dear AKSinghSingh79,

I admit my mistake on 180 days instead of 90 days for K-1. You are right there.

But on everything else I am bang on. When I said K-1, I meant getting a K-1 and not just filing for K-1 as MyDream2012 wants to get her fiancée to US ASAP. If he can prove the credentials of his relationship, she will get the K-1, get to US, get married and apply for conversion to CR-1 which would be easier since the credentials have already been established. You can check with other members of VJ and they will vouch for it. The fundamental point being "if she can get the K-1".

On the six weeks CR-1, just because you haven't heard anything doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I am aware of a case in Bombay where the girl married to a US citizen (the bride coming from an influential Gujarati business family) got a CR-1 in less than six weeks. Tortoises can turn into rabbits overnight if you can have six US senators endorse your petition, so please hold your horses. I gave six weeks as the absolute lower limit whereas it has also taken almost two years for people of specific nationalities to get CR-1 (my colleague's Pakistani husband just arrived after waiting that long).

What I meant by lapsing is that once you get married while being on a K-1 visa, you are obligated to inform USCIS that you have gotten married and in that case your K-1 will be invalidated in the anticipation that you will now apply for CR-1. If you don't inform the USCIS immediately that you have gotten married then a charge of perjury can be brought against you which might result in fine or/and punishment for the US citizen concerned and a life ban on travel to US for the non-US citizen in the equation. I don't know how many people would be willing to run that risk by hiding their marriage while being on K-1 visa.

On the Special Marriages Act, 1954, I wish that you would have read the act first before commenting. Having gotten married under the act I can safely say that spirit of the act is that anybody as long as the two people concerned are of opposite sexes and don't come under the purview of prohibited relationship, can marry irrespective of caste, creed or religion. In terms of the basic difference between getting married under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and Special Marriages Act (SMA) is that under HMA you have to declare in writing that you are a Hindu whereas in SMA there is no such compulsion. You can very well say that you are a Hindu/Muslim/Christian/Sikh/Parsi/Baudh/Jain/Rastafarian/Jew or an agnostic or atheist and can still get married under the SMA.

On getting married in a third country without any of them living there for long term, this is a problematic route on many counts. First, in the visa interview the first question would be why did you get married in a third country? Second, when the US citizen wants to apply for PIO in India on the basis of his India spouse, the marriage certificate has to be apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, which does is for the marriages solemnized in India as verified by local officials. If they apply in US, they can do without MEA apostilled only if the marriage has taken place in US as verified by the local Indian consulate. So, in case of a third country marriage that will never happen because neither MEA nor Indian consulate would recognize a marriage certificate from a third country.

So please spare us the condescension and check the facts first.

Pat2Bos

I'm not sure where you're getting your information about the K-1 but it is incorrect and it's not going to help the OP. I'm not sure where you're getting six months from. When a person is granted a K-1 visa, they must marry the USC who petitioned them within 90 days. That's 3 months, NOT 6 months. You cannot come to the U.S. immediately after filing for the K-1. You have to petition in a similar way to the CR-1. It takes an average of 9 months to be granted a K-1 visa.

Why would someone go the K-1 route, get married in the U.S. and then file for the CR-1? The process would be complete at that point (the K-1). If the OP wanted to go back to India and do a religious marriage, then his wife would need to get AP/EAD or wait until she filed for AOS. Filing for a CR-1 after the K-1 would be pointless not to mention a waste of time and money.

Also the K-1 does not "lapse immediately" if the petitioner were to marry the beneficiary. If the couples chooses to marry while there is a pending I-129F, then it is up to the petitioner to withdraw the petition and file the I-130 for a spouse. Failing to do so could mean a denial of a visa attached with a material misrepresentation charge (since the couple is married therefore directly violating the terms and conditions of the fiance visa).

I've never heard of a CR-1 case completing in 6 weeks. Not even with an expedite. Giving the OP false and misleading information will not help him or anyone else seeking advice from these forums. I suggest you get your facts straight next time before you decide to post.

OP, have you consulted the marriage registrar regarding the Special Marriage Act? I'm not sure if it is applicable when both parties are Hindu.

If you cannot marry in India in a non-religious ceremony and you do not want to wait another year, maybe you could look into marrying in a third country. For example, Thailand grants Indian nationals a visa on arrival for 15 days (if arriving by air). I just wanted to offer this suggestion since it has not been mentioned yet.

Best of luck.