Thinking of doing a civil marriage first, then a traditional wedding later, any problems?

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

My fiance and I are putting our heads together to try and come up with a good solution for us so we may begin our CR-1 petition within the next few months.

I just got back from India where we had our engagement party. His parents were extremely happy and shortly after my departure they went to the Pandit to have a wedding date set.

However, the Pandit told them 2012 was NOT an auspicious year for us to marry (in the traditional Indian style), but January 2013 is a very auspicious time. So we were trying to think of a way around this so we don't have to wait 2 years to be in the U.S. together.

We were thinking of doing a simple court marriage in the spring then having our big Indian wedding in January next year.

We were concerned, however, that doing it this way may affect our immigration process. We already know we are going through a tough consulate (New Delhi) and being an interracial couple does not help.

I am willing to wait until next year as well, but I'm sure everyone on here can relate that nobody wants to add unnecessary time away from their loved one. How can we do this in the best way while honoring his cultural background and his parent's request?

Any advice and suggestions are welcome.

[andy desai 3]

Sure.. there are ways to avoid this.

what you guys can do is apply for a Fiance visa. He can come over to the United States. Get Married. Apply for Ajdustment of Status and then go back to india for the big fat wedding.

I always preferred this route...however.. things got complicated in india because of cultural issues. Applying for I-129F is just more $$ like (1200 bucks extra) and a lots of documentation. But i think its still better than dealing with a long distance relationship. We just went through this paperwork in 2009.

its a lot of work! Aplying for Fiancee visa, adjustment of status, removal of conditions... and then finally apply for US citizenship which we just did. if you need any info feel free to call 2016753879

Best

Nirav Desai

[Deep2009 18]

AK--- What ever you do, how ever you want to proceed?

Please do the following - USC has to goto American Embassy to get "No Objection Certificate for marrying to Indian citizen".

You can Put in USC name and Indian Citizen name on the No objection certificate, number of marriage registrars where you go for registering marriage ask for this...

This will make your case very easy and it will sail through the Embassy very easily.

If have question about this, please email me.

[Harsh_77 716]

Simplest thing I would say is get married in civil ceremony in next month or so and file the CR1 immediately.

You should have CR1 approved by Nov or so and he can come to US. When he enters on CR1 it a GC on arrival itself don’t have to do no AOS or nothing and are free to travel.

So in 2013 whenever you guys want you can go back to India and have a traditional wedding.

Legally though you would be married in 2012.

[Deep2009 18]

Simplest thing I would say is get married in civil ceremony in next month or so and file the CR1 immediately.

You should have CR1 approved by Nov or so and he can come to US. When he enters on CR1 it a GC on arrival itself don’t have to do no AOS or nothing and are free to travel.

So in 2013 whenever you guys want you can go back to India and have a traditional wedding.

Legally though you would be married in 2012.

:thumbs: :thumbs:

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

Sure.. there are ways to avoid this.

what you guys can do is apply for a Fiance visa. He can come over to the United States. Get Married. Apply for Ajdustment of Status and then go back to india for the big fat wedding.

I always preferred this route...however.. things got complicated in india because of cultural issues. Applying for I-129F is just more $$ like (1200 bucks extra) and a lots of documentation. But i think its still better than dealing with a long distance relationship. We just went through this paperwork in 2009.

its a lot of work! Aplying for Fiancee visa, adjustment of status, removal of conditions... and then finally apply for US citizenship which we just did. if you need any info feel free to call 2016753879

Best

Nirav Desai

I appreciate the advice. We originally were going to go for the K1 but switched when we seen how tough Delhi is on interracial couples.

I'm most concerned how a small civil ceremony will impact our case as we will be skipping a lot of the traditional components until our big wedding on Jan.

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

Simplest thing I would say is get married in civil ceremony in next month or so and file the CR1 immediately.

You should have CR1 approved by Nov or so and he can come to US. When he enters on CR1 it a GC on arrival itself don’t have to do no AOS or nothing and are free to travel.

So in 2013 whenever you guys want you can go back to India and have a traditional wedding.

Legally though you would be married in 2012.

Thanks for the advice. Do you think having a simple civil ceremony will negatively impact our case since we will be skipping a lot of the traditional marriage components until our official marriage?

Keep in mind we are an interracial couple as well.

[Harsh_77 716]

Thanks for the advice. Do you think having a simple civil ceremony will negatively impact our case since we will be skipping a lot of the traditional marriage components until our official marriage?

Keep in mind we are an interracial couple as well.

No it does not impact your case in anyways.... take some pictures during the civil ceremony.

I am sure you will have some dinner or lunch with close friends and both the families after the small civil ceremony, take some pictures at that point too.

Personally I did the similar thing we are interracial couple too, only thing is I went thru Mumbai we had no problems.

During my interview first question she asked was how we met and once I told CO I had known my wife since my college days she did not even care about the ceremony or any pics.

But having a small ceremony does not impact in anyways - as now you will have a marriage certificate issued by Govt of India which holds enough credibility.

If you have more question feel free to message me for more details

[mydream2012 0]

i am in the same boat, but we are both hindu. so how does it impacts our case if we only do a civil marriage and file for a cr1 based off that?

will there be any impact on our case because we will do the religious ceremony at the end of this year, and quite possibly, our interview date might be before that.