Can you get married in India on an Indian tourist e-visa??

[Blindian8793 14]

Hi,

I can't seem to find this information anywhere, so I decided to ask here.

 

Here's the situation:

I am a USC,  engaged to an Indian citizen living currently in Chennai (we began dating when he was in the US on the last leg of his student visa,  unsuccessfully being able to secure an H1B twice). We are looking to get married in India this year in the fall  so that we can finally begin the process of starting the CR1 visa process ( thanks to covid, we couldn't do so any earlier).  K1 is not an option because we would prefer that he continue to stay employed with our current employer so that he can just transfer to the States without losing seniority.

 

What we need to know is, if I am to get the tourist e Visa, would I be able to travel and  legally marry him without issue?  Will there need to be some special designation during my application process for the Tourist visa?  Or is there something else that I need to consider in order to enter India with the intent to marry?

 

The sooner we can get this information the better will be able to start the actual marriage and ceremony planning.

 

 

Thanks in advance!! 

 

[Saana 4]

I'm pretty sure I know a couple of (non-Indian) people who have got married to an Indian in India on a tourist visa. That said, I think it's quite a long process (a month+) under the Special Marriage Act so you should be prepared to spend a longer period of time in India.

[Jot18 47]

23 hours ago, Blindian8793 said:

Hi,

I can't seem to find this information anywhere, so I decided to ask here.

 

Here's the situation:

I am a USC,  engaged to an Indian citizen living currently in Chennai (we began dating when he was in the US on the last leg of his student visa,  unsuccessfully being able to secure an H1B twice). We are looking to get married in India this year in the fall  so that we can finally begin the process of starting the CR1 visa process ( thanks to covid, we couldn't do so any earlier).  K1 is not an option because we would prefer that he continue to stay employed with our current employer so that he can just transfer to the States without losing seniority.

 

What we need to know is, if I am to get the tourist e Visa, would I be able to travel and  legally marry him without issue?  Will there need to be some special designation during my application process for the Tourist visa?  Or is there something else that I need to consider in order to enter India with the intent to marry?

 

The sooner we can get this information the better will be able to start the actual marriage and ceremony planning.

 

 

Thanks in advance!! 

 

You are more than welcome to marry on EVisa. However that's valid for 30 days only and I don't that can be extended so it'd be hard get all the paperwork done under 30 days due to wait times. My marriage certificate took 2+ weeks and that was few weeks before Covid started in India in 2020. You should apply for regular tourist visa through VFS.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Jot18

[Blindian8793 14]

1 hour ago, Jot18 said:

You are more than welcome to marry on EVisa. However that's valid for 30 days only and I don't that can be extended so it'd be hard get all the paperwork done under 30 days due to wait times. My marriage certificate took 2+ weeks and that was few weeks before Covid started in India in 2020. You should apply for regular tourist visa through VFS.

Thanks for taking your time out to respond, I really appreciate it!

 

Would I have to be present for the entire time though?  He plans to submit the intent to marry prior to me arriving and I would think that because he is a resident in Chennai that any final pieces to getting the marriage certificate would be for him to follow up on versus us both needing to be there after the ceremony. I intend to stay for about 3 weeks,  however, I may have to look into getting the regular tourist visa if I need to be there for 100% of the process.