mickey79

Glory!

I'm an Indian Citizen, born and brought up in India.
My girlfriend is an American citizen, born and brought up in US.

We're flying to France and will be getting married in Paris. Upon her return to US, my wife will file for the Spouse Visa in the Vermont Service Center, while i will fly back to India.

Are there any hassles in this kind of a marriage and procedure for filing the petition? Are there any specific requirements that need to be met in the Marriage? What all do they ask for? What do we need to provide?

Since we're marrying in a 3rd country, not in the home country of either of us, would there be any problems because of that?

Any help will be sincerely appreciated..

Thanks,
Mickey

meauxna

Check out the US Embassy website; there's often tips for Americans marrying citizen's of that country, which you might extrapolate to include 'foreigners'.

Birth Certificates or other documents may need to be officially translated/Apostilled.

One thing I've noticed about marrying in Europe: it may take 2-4 *weeks* to get a marriage license. Plan accordingly.

tara

Hello Mickey,

The Indian Embassies are NOT to be messed with.

Reviewing your history of posting here shows you are 23, have not yet met your fiance, have been turned down for business visa twice and also turned down for a B1.

In March you say you are applying for a K1 fiance visa. Then, still in March, you say you will be getting married in India. You also wanted a H1 but the prospects did not materialize.

Relax, take a deep breath. Get focused. Expect a wait whatever course you take, try not to complicate things.

Do you have parental consent?
Did/will you have an engagement party?
Why did you choose a 3rd country to marry in?

Excuse me for asking these questions, but they may well be asked during your interview.


Best wishes,

jg1012002

If you marry in Paris, France then you will have to process there. If you marry overseas, then the processing has to be done in the country you married in. At least that was what I was told because we were thinking of marrying overseas. Do they offer DCF?

If you process in India, have you registered under the Special Marriage Act? If not, more than likely the visa will be denied as India requires that when marrying a US citizen.

I also am marrying an Indian national. As I said, we were going to marry in Dubai and do DCF, but to get the Eligibility certificate from the Indian consulate, required registration under the Special Marriage Act, which required publication in a local paper in India for 30 days -- which really takes about 60 days total. I was only in Dubai for 19 days.

I am glad my fiancee lives in Dubai because from what I have heard and read the processing in India is hell for American/Indian relationships.

Khadija

I'm not 100% positive, but I think the location of the marriage is only an issue if you're going to file for a K3 in which case then the interview would be conducted in Paris. If just wait for the the I-130 to be processed, then it would be India. Do you know at which service center the I-130 will be filed? Makes a difference when deciding whether a K3 is worth the extra money (it is if the answer to the question is Texas or Nebraska). As for what's necessary in India there are a lot of others on this NG more knowledgeable than I on those idiosyncracies.

Good luck on whatever you do.
P

DCMark

Are you really getting married in France? The rules for getting married there are complicated. You do not simply walk in off the street and get married. The wedding banns have to be posted for 30 days (?) and there may be a residency requirement.

mickey79

Firstly, Tara..

Thanks for your response and i'll be glad to answer you. Though a lot of new data has come to my knowledge now after reading these responses, let me just start by answering you..

I am 24 years old, and my girlfriend is 30. We haven't met once, we've known each other through the internet, for 8 months now. We're truly in love and we plan to get married and live in United States together.

Twice i have been denied a B1 Visa, though once in 1995, the other earlier this year.

"In March you say you are applying for a K1 fiance visa. Then, still in March, you say you will be getting married in India. You also wanted a H1 but the prospects did not materialize."

Very true. Simply because we have been looking for the fastest and best possible way to get married and start our lives together. We came to know about K1, the Fiance Visa, which seemed like the best solution, but soon after we learnt about the "new" K3 Spouse Visa which was a better & faster solution, as per the US Immigration Website. So we planned for that.
Due to certain personal reasons, my girlfriend's visit to India seemed a bit difficult and problematic, due to which we came up with the idea to meet in a 3rd Country and get married there, and start the process.

H1 had always been an idea .. but yes, it certainly did not materialize and always looked like a long shot. Never looked like a solution.

The desperation, i feel, is evident, but that's what True Love is about, can't deny that.

Parental Consent is not a problem. None of our families have a problem with our marriage and relationship.
We havent met so naturally we aren't engaged.. as for party, i would love to invite every person on earth to our engagement or marriage.. the issue right now in our hands is all about the process and what we need to do for that.

Why we choose a 3rd country is because till now i'm not certain as to the process and timeliness and procedures and even feasibility of getting the K3 by getting married in India, so it did look like a possible option.

These should answer your questions.. and now mine would be.. what do we do? If my girlfriend were to come to India and for us to get married here in court.. what procedure, possibility, and feasibility are we looking at? Each time i come here i get new information, problems, issues etcetera.. nothing is clear at all. I dont even know yet whether we should go for Fiance Visa or Spouse Visa.. !!

To answer DCMark.. yes well, the 3rd country option is out of question now. I found out about the requirements for getting married in France and it's not possible. You need to be there 40 days preceeding the marriage, amongst other issues.

Thanks for your time and will be hoping for a response.

Mickey.

tara

Hello Mickey,

Fiance and Spousal visa's timelines shift every now and then. At one point, one will be shorter then another longer, then the wind shifts and vise versa. So set your course and aim there, don't get diverted.

As there are some red flags in your application, it would be wise to collect the trail of your relationship. Start as far back as you can. This means all mails and should include snail mail. Your mails should mention your upcoming engagement and the plans you have for the future. You might mention that you have chosen to immigrate to the US as here children are in school.
You should both correspond with each others parents and families, and the fact of your engagment, and her upcoming visit should be addressed.
Before she leaves her friends may have an "engagment shower" for her, and the invite and pictures can be used.
When she arrives an engagment party in India can be held with family in attendance.
You can then have "testimonials"written from friends and family who will see you together as a couple and will concur on your relationship.

Marriage would be possible. Under the Special Marriage Act, different faiths may marry. But there is a 30 day posting of the bonds. It is also possible under the Hindu Marriage Act. However if she is willing, she can convert to Hinduism and and there is no wait. Hindus can marry/Buddhists/Jains/Sikhs without wait also .

You can read about Indian marriage laws and registrations at:
http://www.bharatmatrimony.com/regmarriage/regmar.shtml
and:
http://www.ap.gov.in/card/faq_mar.htm#2

Hindu marriage Act:
http://www.ap.gov.in/card/hind_mar_act.htm

Special Marriage Act:
http://www.ap.gov.in/card/spe_mar_act.htm

Once you make your mind up, there are sites that will walk you thru the papers you will need.

Best wishes,

jg1012002

Mickey,

If she is willing to come to India, you can marry there and do Direct Consular Filing (DCF), if they still do that. Seems like the Mumbai office does DCF. However, I have read that some embassies are no longer do DCF after the 7/1/03. If you choose to do DCF in India, document everything, take alot of pictures of the engagement party, wedding, get letters from your relatives attesting to engagement, marriage, etc.

Another option is Australia for marriage. Only takes 3 days and they do DCF -- again call to make sure before.

DCF is normally processed very fast (faster than either the K1 or K3) and you enter with an immigrant visa -- so you can travel in and out whenever you need. However, again contact the embassy to make sure they are still doing the DCF.

Another problem with this maybe when you will get the interview there and if they do additional security clearances. I'm not sure how long the embassy takes for interview or their procedure for DCF (walk in versus scheduled interviews), and the additional security clearances could take 4-6 weeks. If you have the ability to fly to and from Australia during that time, that could be a solution.

tara

Hello Mickey,

Mumbai does not take the DCF application, but New Delhi does, and that is where you live.

For information on people who have done this, search out posts by "A. Chakra" and "Kadeshpa ".

But my gut feeling is that you should stick with either the fiance or spouse visa, due to the facts of your case.

New Delhi has a memo on the office wall that stating "as a courtesy they will allow DCFs for non India residents and US Citizens" (on a case by case basis). Of the newsgrouper's who have gone this path, none that i recall, have been non PIO. It will ultimately be up to you if you want to try this.

Best wishes.

makkabokka

well i dont understand why u want to go to france to get marired but its ur call so i wont say anything but if thats the only reason i would suggest the good thing will be if u get married in india and do dcf at new delhi and well u will have to wait for month or two no matter where u marry. but as its ur call

amys

I am being direct here. The only way you want to be with her is that she should fly to India to meet you. If you decide to get married in India, do your homework. I don't know the process in getting married in India well. In my opinion, the mumbai consulate in particular, will frown upon this if you get married in a third country. They will wonder why your fiance will not see your own country and marry you.

It was also very hard for me to decide to fly to india. But I really wanted to meet him so much that I left two small young kids home. I flew all the way to India with alot people not supportive. I even left a few months after 9/11. A single female leaving children to meet a person for the first time was not an ideal situation. But I knew he was the love of my life. It was hard to make that decision but both of us our happily married now.

Your fiance should try her best to meet you in your country if at all possible. She will be very happy once she is there to see India. So much culture. I am hoping to go back to India in december and spend time with my husbands family.

amy

makkabokka

exactly i think she should come to india and marry. its going to be hard to explain all this to mumbai embassy and since the guy is from india he surely will know lot of more stuff about india and its procedures there if not may people will help him here

mickey79

Glory!

Thank you folks.. getting some good knowledge here.

Me & my girlfriend are finally deciding to start collecting the appropriate info and go ahead with things. She's planning a trip to India where we shall do the needful. Her trip to India is certain.. so now we need to just freeze upon our aim and targets and take the best possible route.

From what i have been reading around everywhere, at this point of time, the Fiance Visa sounds more feasible and appropriate, and do correct me if i'm wrong. It does seem more feasibly in terms of what we have to provide for it and all its' requirements. We will definately get engaged here in India and she can file for the Fiance Visa for me upon her return to US. Since she's in New York.. she'll be using the VSC.

There is one major confusion that has been in my mind.. i'm reading out on so many posts regarding DCF, none with clarity, but most importantly, though each post states DCF to be fast and a good choice, each post somehow ends in a "Be careful" and "Stick with Fiance/Spouse" warning kind of thing. As also expressed by tara, "My gut feeling is.. "
This is confusing me. Why is everybody writing in this manner about DCF? What exactly is wrong or risky with DCF? Because though every posts about it suggests it to be fast and good.. i'm unable to decide if we should go for DCF or not due to these spooky warnings in the end about it..

And by the way, they do have DCF in New Delhi.

So right we have it decided that she'll visit me here in India .. we just need to finalize upon the Visa (Fiance, Spouse or DCF) ... and collect whatever we may need to fulfil it's requirements.

I would also appreciate if someone can guide me to any Immigration Lawyer here in New Delhi, who may have experience with such and might be able to provide me info here and even help us.. and at the same time.. Experienced and Credible lawyer there to assist my girlfriend during/for our process.

Thanks again folks, much appreciated.

Supremacy,
Mickey

SundarV

DCF is the fastest way to get into the US with a green card. However, this way could be troublesome to someone whose marraige is not traditional in the Indian sense. By traditional I mean marrying within their religion and with someone younger than you. You can argue that this is a very myopic view and most would agree with it. However, that is reality with some of the US consulate in India. I think that is the main reason for the warning. I think there was one poster "mdmd???" who went through DCF and whose wife was caught in administrative review. I do not know what happened to the case. So they are just giving you some warning.

Also, even with fiancee visa you have to be careful. As Amy and other posters would tell you, their fiancee were put through lot of trouble because of "non-traditional" marriage. So make sure you have all the evidence. Also, very very important that you don't lose your cool when you are interviewed. You may (I hope you don't) get baited and insulted, but please be cool and calm.

Sundar