Indian+Thai marriage

Hi all,

I am curious to know if anyone has an experience and / or information on marriage process between an Indian & a Thai.

My partner is a Thai national and has a double entry 30-day stay Indian visa. We are considering marrying both in India and Thai - the traditional way - and officially, in India only.

Is there any way that she can stay in India for a longer time before (we register) marriage? Is study visa a good option?

What is the process and required documents for both of us?

Will she have to surrender her Thai passport & citizenship post marriage?

Please share your thoughts.

Many Thanks

Sadly, I have no specific information about Thai and Indian nationals getting married, but since my spouse is not an Indian national, I'll try to answer at least some of what you ask.

Also, try looking in the specific sub-forum for marriage related questions. You might have better luck getting all your questions answered there.

In general, I do not see this being a problem. You should be able to use the special marriage act to get married in India. There quite a few posts about how you can get married under this act in the marriage related sub-forum.

It would appear that you will need to be resident in India for at least 30 days, and then give a 30 day notice regarding the marriage. Once the notice period has expired, you can get married under the act. The marriage certificates will most likely have to be apostilled to be recognized by Thailand.

Staying longer after registering a marriage is doable, based on your marriage certificate. In that case you would have to convert her permit to live in India.

However, since you want her to stay longer than the 30 days her visa allows, before registering a marriage, then you will need a visa that allows a longer stay. Maybe a longer tourist visa (or even a student visa like you suggest) would solve this problem.

No, she does not have to surrender her passport or citizenship after marriage. In fact, she will not become an Indian citizen after marriage automatically. The only situation in which she can become an Indian citizen is if she lives in India for a considerably long amount of time.

After marriage, she retains her nationality and passport. If you decide to live in India, she will have to get a residence permit to live in India. After one year of marriage she will be eligible for a PIO card.

Hope this at least answers some of your questions.