Brit getting Married in India: Documents and procedure confusion

Makhana

Hello Indiamike,

I've visited loads of sites over the past few months as well as getting advise from friends and families who supposedly have knowledge about this topic, but every time I think I know exactly what I need to do, I hear somthing else which contradicts it.

I've read the various topics on this forum, but while they are helpfull they do not have answers to some of the questions I am worried about, so please bare with me on this post.

A little about myself, I am a 27 year old Sikh man and I am going to get married to a girl who I was engaged to in India in September. It was an arranged meeting by my family and a friend of my aunts. We got along, both of us were prepared for marriage so we got engaged.

Now, this is all new to me but one of main worries at the moment is that I have heard that a girl who is under 21 cannot get married in India? Or is it that I cannot bring her over to the UK untill she is 21? She just turned 20 today, the wedding has been set for April next year. I am only worried about this as friends and families have already booked tickets for the wedding.

I've read online at the UKBA site that a person has to be 21 if they want to sponser someone for a marriage visa though. Any help or advise on this would be very much appreciated. If she can't come to the UK, or we can't apply for her to come here to the UK untill she is 21, even that would be a great weight lifted off my mind. It would give me more time to save and finish off my house.

The other thing that is causing me a headache is the whole Court Marriage procedure. If my wedding is on the 25 April 2009, when do I have to register or let the register office know for an interview? I am going to be going a week before the wedding to India. I've now heard I need to be there for 30 days prior to the Gudwara wedding and the interview. But then I've also read a provision which says that only one of the spouses has to have lived in the country for 30 days. Confusing.

As far as I know, my family will be going to the Court Office\Register Office and letting them know that my wedding will be on the 25th April a month before. Then apparently they will let them know a time and date after the religous ceremonial wedding date. Will the girl or the girl's family have to get her to sign a form and have it sent to me in the UK and then submitted back to the court\register office? I was thinking I better find that out now before it's too late. Faxing such documents like this would be fine to be resubmitted yes?

The other thing is the documents. I've been told I need so much random documents such as

*Birth Certificate
*Pay slips: Evidence of tax paid especially
*Savings: Do I need to just have a steady income? I've got saving but at the moment it's nothing substantial but I have been putting away over half my wage for the past few months into a savings account.
*Letter from employer
*Letter from parents\gaurdians house saying that they will allow me and my wife to stay at their house.
*Evidence of "communication": Phone cards and itemised bills, letters etc.

All of the above is no problem for me to get though. Just thought I would ask if it's all neccessary and if they are all original documents...do I need to get them stamped by a Notary?

The other thing is this "Certificate of Intention" to get married. Where do I get this? I've read it on the site, but I can't find the PDF link to print this document.

Also, I need to renew my visa...what option do I tick when I go to the passport office, as I think I have to tell them I am going to India to get married.

Sorry for all the questions, I would appreciate if someone can help me put my mind at rest. I was assured by family members and a solicitor that it's not a major bother to get married in India. At the moment, I am more confused as to where I stand then ever before. So much of the information which relates to me is scattered about the place and the net, it makes it confusing to see where I would fit in, and what the legal obligations me and my fiance have to fulfill.

I've met a solicitor, but he wasn't willing to go into the nitty gritty details of what needs to be done without me forking over some cash first, even for the initial meeting.

Thanks in advance for the help Indiamike! If there is anything else I should be made aware, please let me know also. Thanks.

edwardseco

I do know the paperwork should be filed 30 days in advance. But, I doubt it has to be both spouses present. I arrived 5 days in advance and the lady's side did all the paperwork, Didn't arrive in town till a day or 2 beforehand to nerve wracked inlaws to be (in my next life I will be kinder to my relations). There are just too many good bookstores in Delhi. Nick can give more details. Someone who knows about the intricacy of the British side. You may need to get the bride's family to sponsor you for the visa..

Nick-H

Sorry: I do not know the intricacy of the British side, as my wife and I are settled in India.

The British visa/immigration stuff is also always changing, and has done even since my wife last went there as a visitor a couple of years ago. The British immigration and visa sites are very helpful and will explain what you need to know. Generally speaking, the Brit authorities will need to be satisfied that the relationship is genuine, and that you can house and support your wife.

Again, we married under the Special Marriage Act; a register-office marriage (the formal bit, very un-romantic) which is for those of mixed religion, or those who do not want to get married under the other acts. This required 30 days notice, I think we both had to be there (we were anyway), and was very, very simple and cheap: it does not require agents or middle-men who multiply the cost by thousands!

It seems that Sikhs, in India, are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act. You should google that and read it. The different Indian marriage acts give different rights to husband and wife, and both of you should be aware of, and happy with that. This things, like any contract, do not matter at all when everything is going well.

The age for marriage in India is 18 for women: no problem there.

You need to sort out the documents and other requirements under two separate headings: one for the marriage in India, one for the UK immigration for your wife.

Indian visa for you: I think that, before marriage, they will only give you a tourist visa. That was my experience. There is no special permission to marry in India, as there is in UK. There is, therefore, no documentation relating to the marriage, that you need to give for your visa to India. You can tick 'social'!

At this point: Are you of Indian origin? If you are, then you may already qualify for PIO or OCI. This entirely covers all possibilities (work, study, living) for you in India. If your evidence of entitlement is clear (eg cancelled Indian passport, or cancelled Indian passport of the parent, etc) PIO can be quite quick. You should enquire about this, if you wish to, at the India n High Commission: VFS, the outsourcing company, do not handle PIO or OCI applications.

I have never heard of a certificate of intention to marry. You may be asked for a certificate of no impediment. You will find this discussed on other threads.

I would suggest a visit to your local Citizen's Advice
Bureau, who will be very experienced at handling these queries (at least the UK side), and will not complicate matters so as to be able to charge more!

It really is not a major bother to get married in India! Quite a few members here have done it. One has had big problems with a dishonest registrar, some have paid considerable sums to agents to look after all the details, others, such as myself, just did the registrar thing (my Indian wife researched the details and requirements) simply and cheaply.

Congratulations and best wishes for the future. Please feed back your experiences to add to the knowledge present on this site to help others in the future.

AprilFlower

Well at least as far as your actually marriage is concerned, there shouldn't be too many problems. My husband and I did pay to have an advocate do our civil marriage paperwork but it was less then 1000 rupees (I think 700 but can't remember for sure) 3 years ago. After the process I have had to through for getting my lerner's permit, I am thinking that was some of the best money spent to date. We had absolutely no problems. We went and signed some papers and 2 or 3 days later we came back to get our marriage certificate. It was not at all the nightmare we expected. I should add that I am American and my husband is Indian.

I think Nick has done a great job of covering the important info but just wanted to say don't freak out with all of the headaches going on right now and congrats on your engagement.

hikkaduwa

We (Indian/Dutch couple, both living in Bangalore), did our registration last month in Bangalore. Since I am not a Hindu, we had to do the special marriage act.

Both of us needed to come in person. This because both of us had to sign. We needed to bring our passport copies, address proof and I believe 4 photographs each. There are lots of registration offices and you need to find out which one does your area. This is also why you need to bring your address proof.

It didn't take us too long and the cost? 33 rupees...

30 days later we came back with 3 witnesses, signed our marriage certificate and left. I think that part costed 100 rupees or so.

So, nothing to worry about!

curtdfw

My experience (US/Indian couple married in Delhi August '07) was very much like that of hikkaduwa and AprilFlower, though I recall the fees being higher. We engaged an advocate to do much of the legwork, which I recommend, unless you're blessed with infinite patience and lots of spare time, which I am not.

Nick-H

The fees sound about right.

For a Special Marriage Act wedding, there really is no legwork. It takes three visits to the Registrar: to give notice, to get married, and to collect the certificates.

Given that the foreigner will, by definition, be marrying a local, one need not even worry about language barriers.

The advocates and agents and touts would like you to believe otherwise

chika1

hello,

Im afraid im looking for information myself...
My fiance is currently working in the UK and i in spain...we are looking to get married in india..preferably bangalore as thats where my family is ...im not sure how to go about this...we were hoping a member of my family there would be able to set the registry marriage date for us and we would be over for two weeks for the whole process. Would this work? I have an Indian passport and Maarten is Belgian.

Would a solicitor be able to handle most of the process?
thanks x

Nick-H

If you want to marry under the Special Marriage Act, I think at least one of you must be present to give 30 days notice, and that one must have been resident in the area for 30 days.

Suggest you get a family member to speak to the local registrar.

As I keep on saying about this --- it is cheap, and you don't need a lawyer or any kind of middle man to set things up for you. If you want one, they will start crawling out of the wood work dead fast, and the costs will rise dead fast.

Remember that the register office wedding is very impersonal and unromantic.

Where do you both normally live, and where do you plan to settle? If it is not India, then why marry there?

edwardseco

She wants it where her family is. My inlaws were dead sure they wanted the legal part where they could witness it. None of those Hyderabadi marriages to a shady foren for a their pukka daughter.

I didn't handle the arrangements but I know my inlaws didn't use an advocate. They paid a little consideration to get the registrar to do the needful at the wedding, more romantic AND more legal protection (witnesses) for their side..