HELP NEEDED

[Ajay330 0]

My fiance and I have the worst luck. So i'll start at the beginning.. We get engaged in India. She's from South Africa. Her uncle in india says, "sign a marriage certificate just incase you guys need it." We told him clearly NOT to submit it after we leave because I will be filing for a K1 fiance visa. Well, what do you know? He submits the certificate. Now the interview was April 22nd. She went without her Police clearance because that didnt come in and also she went without original I-134 because the Iceland volcano disrupted the FedEx package. Well interview goes well supposedly, and they say submit the original I-134 and the PCC when u get it and more evidence of our relationship. So we get all that together and submit it and then they called back and said that we will be calling you back in a week and to remember you are still under oath. So a week passes and so does the next. So now my fiance wants me to get involved. Well i called friday and the assistant said we are still verifying something in india. OMG WHAT? I call her up and tell her to call her uncle right now and ask if he submitted that stupid marriage certificate. OMG YUP. NOW WHAT? Well he told me to call back monday and i did this morning and a lady answered and originally she said the were looking into a previous marriage and then put me on hold. She comes back and says "Oh, i'm sorry there is another Vanmali in our system, your fiance is under administrative processing and can take up to 3 weeks" #######. Could they be verifying our certificate? We did spend all our time in india. We went on a trip and submitted hotel bills and airline reciepts all from india. HELP! What do I do???

[sachinky 465]

So you did get married in India?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

dude,

seriously? Its nothing but following the red tape train, and if you follow all the rules set out clearly you wont have any issues. I followed, as well as tens of thousands of people, the rules, and they had no issues.

I suggest you take a step back. Make sure you have every....single...last...piece ....of.....requested.....material they ask for, double check it. triple check. quadruple check it, then add some extra stuff to it to make sure you dont have any more issues. Rather than stress out and rush things, relax, read through everything they need, and then take it from there.

Remember you will spend a lifetime together so a few months more doesn't make a big difference in the grand scheme of things ....

Dude, seriously... I think you glossed over the OP's post, saw the "AP" thing, and just concluded it's no big deal - this is routine stuff. The beneficiary's uncle submitted a MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE in a K1 VISA CASE! This IS serious! Married people are not eligible for a K1 visa!

Ajay, was there a legal marriage? I know the laws in India are complicated, and depend on the religion of the couple, and who has jurisdiction over the marriage. If the marriage is determined to be legally binding in India then you're screwed. You need to refile a CR1 petition. If it's not legally binding, then you need to try to collect as much evidence to prove this as you can possibly get, and submit it to the consulate.

Whatever possessed you to think it would be prudent to sign a marriage certificate?

[sachinky 465]

The problem is, in India, a 'religious wedding' -- when held in accordance with the laws of the particular religion to which the bride and groom belong to -- is deemed to be a 'legal marriage'. So if you walk around a fire seven times and exchange garlands in front of a priest, you're married. No court would ever overturn that.

And moreover, a marriage certificate is DEFINITE PROOF of marriage -- religious or legal, it doesn't really matter at this point.

Married people are NOT eligible for fiance visas.

Edited June 8, 2010 by sachinky

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The problem is, in India, a 'religious wedding' -- when held in accordance with the laws of the particular religion to which the bride and groom belong to -- is deemed to be a 'legal marriage'. So if you walk around a fire seven times and exchange garlands in front of a priest, you're married. No court would ever overturn that.

And moreover, a marriage certificate is DEFINITE PROOF of marriage -- religious or legal, it doesn't really matter at this point.

Married people are NOT eligible for fiance visas.

First, let me qualify what I'm about to say by stating that I'm no expert. Like most people here, I only know what I read on the internet...

I think it depends on the religion and type of marriage. There are no less than five separate sets of laws that govern marriage in India; the Christian Marriage Acts, the Hindu Marriage Acts, the Muslim Marriage Acts, the Parsi Marriage Acts, and the Special Marriage Acts (for civil weddings). An unregistered marriage under the Hindu Marriage Acts is still legally binding, while an unregistered marriage under the Christian Marriage Acts might not be because the act makes registration compulsory. I know that the government of India is trying to make marriage registration uniform and mandatory across the country, but the laws still currently differ on whether an unregistered marriage is considered legal and binding.

An important factor in this case would be whether there was an actual marriage ceremony, or they just signed a marriage certificate. Was the certificate also signed by an officiate? If they just signed a marriage certificate, then there is the question of whether the marriage was registered. There is also the question of religion. For example, my understanding is that the Hindu Marriage Acts require both spouses to be Hindu.