Blue Slip IR-1 Interview - Pakistan Divorce Docs Needed

[sohail10 10]

supermom82, on 20 September 2010 - 07:04 AM, said:

Hi, I recently had my ir1 interview at the islamabad embassy and at the end of the interview, i was issued a blue slip and the CO told me that he can not issue me a visa.

So, the blue slip that i got has the section 221(g) portion checked and they have asked me to submit two divorce certificates (one from union council in urdu and another from the family court which should be in english) for my husband's previous marriage.

I had already submitted the bilingual (both english and urdu) certificate that i got from the union council, however the CO told me that it is not in the format that they require.

Now, i have spoken to a lawyer who specialises in family law and she has told me that the family courts issue a 'court order' and not a certificate, only when the divorce is initiated by the wife (khula). In our case, my husband had initiated and divorced his ex-wife and for this, as per the lawyer no court order is required.

I hope all of this is not too confusing.

What i want to know, from anyone who has been in a similar situation or is familiar with divorce laws in pakistan is that , why the embassy did not accept the divorce certificate that i had issued and how should i go about the case if no court certificate can be produced? Should i get a legal opinion from the lawyer and send it to the embassy stating that no court order is issued if the divorce is given by the husband?

I was hoping that the US embassy would be familiar with divorce formalities in pakistan and a complication like this should not have happened....

My wife's interview was yesterday, and now we are having this very same issue. The interviewer said they need an URDU divorce certificate from Union Council even though she had the original bilingual Union council certificate at the interview. So, we will get this URDU document from the Union Council without a problem.

Now my concern is that on the blue slip they are also requesting a English Certificate from the family court??? But the officer only mentioned the Union Council Certificate as the document we're missing. So, do we need an English Divorce Doc from the Family Court ? Does anyone have any concrete information?

My wife's divorce was also through talaq, so do we really have to go through the hassle of approaching the family court.... this could take months. I'm thinking I should try the route supermom82 took above.

Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.

[S_AL_ 1]

My wife's interview was yesterday, and now we are having this very same issue. The interviewer said they need an URDU divorce certificate from Union Council even though she had the original bilingual Union council certificate at the interview. So, we will get this URDU document from the Union Council without a problem.

Now my concern is that on the blue slip they are also requesting a English Certificate from the family court??? But the officer only mentioned the Union Council Certificate as the document we're missing. So, do we need an English Divorce Doc from the Family Court ? Does anyone have any concrete information?

My wife's divorce was also through talaq, so do we really have to go through the hassle of approaching the family court.... this could take months. I'm thinking I should try the route supermom82 took above.

Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.

My uncle had to get both documents, one from the union council and the other from the family court. He went through the immigration process in 2010 and even though he was adjusting status in the US, he had to get these two documents from Pakistan in order to establish the proof. Sorry as it might seem a painstaking process but as far as I know, there is no way around it. And personally I'd suggest you provide all the documents they have asked for because say you send in the union council one and they take their time to process that and then they send you another request to submit the one from the family court... that will not only waste your time but add to the torture. So try getting all the documents and send them all in. they should have informed you at NVC what was needed but I'm sorry for the trouble.

[sohail10 10]

My uncle had to get both documents, one from the union council and the other from the family court. He went through the immigration process in 2010 and even though he was adjusting status in the US, he had to get these two documents from Pakistan in order to establish the proof. Sorry as it might seem a painstaking process but as far as I know, there is no way around it. And personally I'd suggest you provide all the documents they have asked for because say you send in the union council one and they take their time to process that and then they send you another request to submit the one from the family court... that will not only waste your time but add to the torture. So try getting all the documents and send them all in. they should have informed you at NVC what was needed but I'm sorry for the trouble.

Thx for your reply S_AL_ !

So my wife went to the Union Council today and spoke to the person in charge. He said 15yrs ago they made the document in URDU, but now everything is in this bilingual URDU/ ENGLISH format. They said they can provide us a letter in URDU, verifying the divorce occurred, and referencing the ENGLISH/URDU certificate. Now, we are unsure what the embassy means by an URDU Union Council certificate, when it doesn't exist ? I hope Union Council's letter will be sufficient.

I want to consult an immigration lawyer in Karachi, does anyone know a good lawyer, if so plz send me his info?

Any thoughts?

[sohail10 10]

Status Update:

We approached the Union Council and had an URDU Union Council Divorce Certificate made. The divorce certificate looks similar to the format I'm attaching below. The only difference is that in my wife's divorce certificate we only included one date - the effective date of divorce (which is the last date on the format). So, the sentences referencing any other dates do not appear in her divorce certificate. You can see the generic format below, I'm attaching it because it was very hard for us to figure out how the URDU document was supposed to look like. Someone from another forum was kind enough to email this format to us.

As far as the Family Court, we got a legal opinion from a lawyer stating that the Family Court is not involved in cases where the Husband gives the Talaq. I will upload more descriptive information inshAllah once our case is resolved. Please pray for us.

[sohail10 10]

Status Update : Visa Received !

Thank God, we received her visa yesterday. The visa arrived 15 days after we couriered the requested documents to the embassy. We submitted these documents to the embassy:

1) Union Council Divorce Certificate in Urdu

2) Union Council Divorce Certificate in Urdu - Translated in English

2) A legal opinion, from a lawyer in Pakistan, that states a Family Court certificate is NOT necessary

Our legal opinion states:

As per Family Laws in Pakistan, if the mode of divorce is ‘Talaq’ then the husband gives the

divorce and the Family Court is not involved. In this situation only the Union

Council issues the divorce certificate. Such was the case for WIFE'S NAME D/O

FATHER'S NAME holding CNIC No 12345 . Therefore, no divorce

certificate from the Family Court is issued.

Alhumdulillah these documents were sufficient. The whole point of this thread is to make it easier for other people in similar situations. I scoured the internet trying to come up with answers. The posts on visajourney.com were very helpful, but left some things unanswered. Feel free to send me a private message or reply to this post if you have any questions. I'll be happy to help.

[sbokhari 0]

Status Update : Visa Received !

Thank God, we received her visa yesterday. The visa arrived 15 days after we couriered the requested documents to the embassy. We submitted these documents to the embassy:

1) Union Council Divorce Certificate in Urdu

2) Union Council Divorce Certificate in Urdu - Translated in English

2) A legal opinion, from a lawyer in Pakistan, that states a Family Court certificate is NOT necessary

Our legal opinion states:

As per Family Laws in Pakistan, if the mode of divorce is ‘Talaq’ then the husband gives the

divorce and the Family Court is not involved. In this situation only the Union

Council issues the divorce certificate. Such was the case for WIFE'S NAME D/O

FATHER'S NAME holding CNIC No 12345 . Therefore, no divorce

certificate from the Family Court is issued.

Alhumdulillah these documents were sufficient. The whole point of this thread is to make it easier for other people in similar situations. I scoured the internet trying to come up with answers. The posts on visajourney.com were very helpful, but left some things unanswered. Feel free to send me a private message or reply to this post if you have any questions. I'll be happy to help.

[Did you submit the Legal Opinion on your own or was it done by a lawyer?]

Edited March 14, 2012 by sbokhari

[ZaraNasir12 0]

Hi,

I have the similar situation:

Did you use that same attached URDU Union Council Divorce Certificate and filled all info and get the signature from Union Council? or you got it new Urdu certificate from Union Council and then filled all info.

Please clarify where I can get this URDU Union Council Divorce Certificate?

Thanks for your help.

[sohail10 10]

Hi,

I have the similar situation:

Did you use that same attached URDU Union Council Divorce Certificate and filled all info and get the signature from Union Council? or you got it new Urdu certificate from Union Council and then filled all info.

Please clarify where I can get this URDU Union Council Divorce Certificate?

Thanks for your help.

Hi,

Basically, you can use the exact divorce certificate I provided. You should use it as a template, so have the Union Council use a blank letterhead and have them type in Urdu the Divorce Cert I provided. Make sure you fill in the blanks with the correct information - so have them type that information. If they can't type it for some reason, have them write it. So, the Union Council should make the Divorce Certificate. If you have any more questions let me know. The problem is that the U.S. embassy wants an URDU divorce cert, even though it seems that Union Council's provide English ones. So, that is why we have to go through all these problems.

[sohail10 10]

[Did you submit the Legal Opinion on your own or was it done by a lawyer?]

Our legal opinion was created and signed by a lawyer. We then mailed this legal opinion to the embassy.

[ZaraNasir12 0]

Hi,

Basically, you can use the exact divorce certificate I provided. You should use it as a template, so have the Union Council use a blank letterhead and have them type in Urdu the Divorce Cert I provided. Make sure you fill in the blanks with the correct information - so have them type that information. If they can't type it for some reason, have them write it. So, the Union Council should make the Divorce Certificate. If you have any more questions let me know. The problem is that the U.S. embassy wants an URDU divorce cert, even though it seems that Union Council's provide English ones. So, that is why we have to go through all these problems.

Hi sohail10,

Thanks for your reply.

one more question:

suppose a husband received a Talaq by khula from his wife, does he also need to get this divorce certificate from Union Council beside Family Court papers?

Thanks

[ZaraNasir12 0]

Hi,

I have related question:

If a husband's previous marriage ended up on Khula then does he also need to get divorce certificate from Union Council? or family court documents are enough?

Please reply anyone who had this experience. Thanks a lot.

[sohail10 10]

Hi,

I have related question:

If a husband's previous marriage ended up on Khula then does he also need to get divorce certificate from Union Council? or family court documents are enough?

Please reply anyone who had this experience. Thanks a lot.

I don't have experience with this. But, I think since it was a Khula the Union Council can't provide a divorce certificate, since only the family court deals with Khula. So, your family court document should be enough. You should probably submit a legal opinion drafted by a lawyer which states that since this was a Khula only the family court provides documentation and there is no need for a Union Council certificate since the Union Council can't provide any divorce documents in the case of a khula.

Edited June 25, 2012 by sohail10

[Saj & Anam 1]

I don't have experience with this. But, I think since it was a Khula the Union Council can't provide a divorce certificate, since only the family court deals with Khula. So, your family court document should be enough. You should probably submit a legal opinion drafted by a lawyer which states that since this was a Khula only the family court provides documentation and there is no need for a Union Council certificate since the Union Council can't provide any divorce documents in the case of a khula.

AOA Sohail10,

I have same situation. I filed IR1 for my wife and I am a US Citizen. I had previous marriage disolved by Khula (Filed by my ex-wife)in Karachi and I have Court papers in English from Family Court for a Divorce dissolved by Khulla with Court stamps.

Do, I need to get a certificate from Union Council too?? If I need it then where can I get it from in Karachi? Now a days everything is go through NADRA local Council office who issue on NADRA paper certificate.

I got my Marriage Register certificate from NADRA and my Marital status shows "DIVORCED" in it when I registered it for the marriage which shows that I was divorced before.

By reading posts it seems like it has been a major issue at Islamabad Embassy refusing visas on the basis of proper Divorce documents not provided.

Thanks in Advance...

[riz & wife 0]

I don't have experience with this. But, I think since it was a Khula the Union Council can't provide a divorce certificate, since only the family court deals with Khula. So, your family court document should be enough. You should probably submit a legal opinion drafted by a lawyer which states that since this was a Khula only the family court provides documentation and there is no need for a Union Council certificate since the Union Council can't provide any divorce documents in the case of a khula.

Hello sohail 10, today i got a call from embassy to bring these documents on my interview;

1) Original nikah nama in urdu and english

2) Original nikah nama of previous marriage (and i dont have it)

3) Original paper on the base of which u got ur divorce certificate from NADRA.

Now i am very confused. Thank u i can get 3) if i do the same as u have told and i do have original nikahnama in urdu and english too. What abt original nikahnama of previous shaadi and how can i get any paper from family court.

Thanks

[salman33 0]

Salam to all,

I am also in similar situation and so much confused. My wife is USC and she took divorce from her first husband by the way of Khula.

I went to my interview about 4 months ago and officer handed me blue slip and asked me to send us your wife's first Orignal nikahnama from previous marriage, Court certificate in english and Official Union council certificate in urdu with English translation.

now So far i have obtain her previous Nikahnama(Orignal) which took almost 3 months (from her husband), court order in English and union council Bilingual certificate.....Now i am confused that if i need to obtain a urdu one from Nadra as Sohail 10 or sbokhari did. In fact i went UC but they refused to offer such service and said we have given you a bilangual one and that should be enough. Now i dont know what i am supposed to do.....please help me as my case is hanging from a longtime.

Also i am wondering since i am send her previous orignal Nika nama in urdu, would they need english translation for that? PLZ help