Is birth certificate for husband really mandatory

Sorry to bother you with this marriage registration problems again, but we still did not manage to get all the papers together.
Last I wrote in February then visa extension was not possible on a tourist visa and the rest of my visa to short for the 30-days notice period. Then we were waiting for a new voter card to be made as address proof which was impossible before and one month after the Indian elections.
At this point I did not Know that we would need a document to proof the age of my Indian husband. If he is fifty and it is dead obvious that he is not younger than 21 is a birth certificate mandatory and what is the way out if the birth is not registered and his mother does not remember the exact date of birth either? There should be more Indians with the same kind of problem! I end up paying lots of money as this Varanasi court is badly corrupted anyway, so please write if you see another solution.
b) Is registration of marriage easier if you claim that you are already married by performing some kind of religious rite? Easier in the way that less proof papers are required?

Your husband is Indian, and you are not? right?

If so, why are you worrying about what he needs. He can ask his married friends, his married family, he can ask the registrar.

As you say, there must be millions of Indians marrying without birth certificates; I'm sure it can't be a problem.

If you were to register a religious marriage, you would need evidence of that marriage, so either you go that way, or you stick to register office only.

I think the corrupt officials want to make some more money by harassing you...

By the way, a lot of other documents in a lot of official matters do end up being accepted as Date of Birth proof...

So, is a Date of Birth proof required, or are they specifically asking for a Birth Certificate?

Well other options are school certificates or maybe the voter card which has an age on which seemingly is just put on without checking but we have got none of them. I heard diffrent versions so far with good luck the voter card could be enough.
I have the same opinion asking for more paper is looking for a reason to ask for some extra bakshish. The officer seemed to be ready to accept other papers and the lawyer we asked for advice is the one stating we need a birth certificate. I know he should not be trusted. On the other hand side I have seen on the internet that they are also asking for birth certificates in Delhi as one of a document to register marriages so it is possible that the request is made.
Best solution would be that proof of age is not needed because it is obvious that we are both older than 21.

Go with the registrar. There is no need whatsoever for a lawyer; the only purpose they serve is to massively increase the cost of the whole thing!

Surely that officer is the only person whose opinion matters, not your lawyer, and not people on a travel site!

Presumably it would only be obvious if you both attended the court session?

Aha... Lawyers..!!

God save us from them

I am hoping the last part above was only meant as a joke, right...?

We (collectively) do end up giving quite good opinions, don't we?

No, it was not.

This is a travel site, and while the experiences and opinions of others can be valuable, I've seen some very stupid things said on here. It would be silly to rely solely on IndiaMike for either legal or medical advice from people who are essentially complete strangers. Would you take legal or medical advice from a plausible sounding stranger who you had just met in a bar?

I know of only two people on here who I know for a fact are professionally qualified to give legal / financial advice, and I think one who I trust is genuinely medically qualified. All the rest of us can and do offer is our own experiences, and opinions. These differ in quality, and I'm sure that longer term members get a sense of who they can trust and who is talking total poppycock.

Yes and no.

It's a travel site, but it is also a site for those visiting or moving to India for reasons other than travel. Among those are marriage and work.

As you say, it is down to the enquirer to weigh up the value of responses, but it's also true that certificates on the wall, or titles on desks, do not guarantee absence of poppycock.

Thus, whether or not this site's main focus is travel, its membership has a vast range of experience, including this particular area.

It's not as if all the ex-pat spouses are being asked for advise on what antibiotic to feed to a three-month baby. If it hasn't happened, it will! Then comments about professional competency will, and should, come fast.

Very true; I was responding perhaps too comprehensively and generally to the comment that I was surely joking, when I pointed out that at the end of the day it was only the court's opinion that mattered

Well I think even inside the office there are diffrent opinions. The lawyer said he talked to the judge who wanted this paper. Obviously the officer was also not asking for a non-objection paper of the German embassy and the embassy tells me that it an absolute must meaning that not having it makes it probably impossible to register the marriage in Germany later.
Part of it is a communication problem as the officer only understands but speaks very little English. anyway I am trying again today,

quetzal...
there are two documents which are mandatory for all indians in india today for anything and everything.

a. proof of identity
b. proof of residence
usually - either of the above has the date of birth.

if a marriage certificate requires proof of date of birth - then that is the law.
one of the reasons is, it acts as a deterrent to child marriages etc.
it is irrelevant how old you may look - documentation is necessary.
yes - in the absence of a birth certificate, a school leaving certificate with the DOB is legal.
there are instances where a person has neither - in which case there are other documents that are asked for in lieu of the former... and a lawyer can best advice you on them.

having no relevant documentation for anything - is definitely a problem, in any country.
if your husband is as old as you say... he should already be in possession of a voters id card and/or ration card...
if he does not - it is gross negligence on his part.
you can rant about the corrupt bureaucracy -
the fact is, if he had all the necessary documentation, you wouldnt be in such a quandary in the first place.

and why are you running around and facing language problems?
where is your husband ?
why isint he dealing with the relevant officials in the first place ?
surely he is more conversant in the local language.




:brishti

... and in the local ways of doing things, which is even more important.

Although we both did research, and I asked a few questions here on IM too, my wife did her best to keep me in the background for as long as possible when making enquiries of the registrar offices! And it was her that very ably sorted out all the basic requirements, including establishing that touts and lawyers take money for nothing.

brishti and Nick: Excellent points above... I too felt that way, but was hesitant in writing it out here