junk

Thanks for weighing in. A detailed fire ritual and going around the fire 7 times uttering marriage vows is a central part of a Hindu wedding, which is typically performed at a temple/wedding hall. At the same time, every Puja/Homam (a casual religious worship) also has a fire ritual, and is typically performed at personal residences (although community level fire rituals are also performed at a Temple) In our case, we did nothing close to a wedding, except for the appearance of a 'fire pit' in one of the photos that we submitted of the Puja (religious worship celebrating the engagement), which was just attended by immediate family at a private residence. In case of India, 'local' practices are too diverse and vary widely across cities, regions, etc. The K-1 consultate is in Mumbai, a Western Indian region, whereas my fiance hails from the Souther Indian region. Therein lies my worry of a misconstural by the CO of our casual, home Puja involving a fire ritual as having the appearance of a wedding, since both can involve a fire ritual. Wonder if anyone with a deeper understanding of the Indian cultural nuances and/or any similar experiences with the Mumbai Consulate can comment/share their experience with similar nuances?

Hi Folks, We applied for a K-1 in October 2022, got the NOA1 and waiting for the NOA2. Back in August 2022, before applying for the K-1, we had an engagement ceremony with friends and family. We also had a small family gathering wherein we performed a Devi pooja (religious worhsip) involving a Fire ritual, to celebrate the engagement. We had submitted ample photos from the engagement ceremony in our LOIs, as well as some photos of the Devi Puja (a celebratory religious worship) involving a fire ritual in one of the Supporting Affidavits from my family members, supporting our intent to marry, and clearly mentioning that it's photos just photos from a religious extension of the Engagement celebration. Read elsewhere on these forums that any inclusion of photos involving 'Fire rituals' within the engagement proof submitted as a part of the I-129F package have the potential to be misconstrued by the CO as an 'appearance' of an informal, unregistered 'Hindu' wedding, and can be used as grounds to deny the I-129F petition by the Consular Officer, under INA 214(b). Should I be concerned? What can we do in terms of any additional proof/documents to carry to the interview, to assuage any concerns or misconstruals by the CO of the post-engagement Puja (celebratory worship service with a fire ritual) as a wedding, which it is actually NOT? Thanks in anticipation of your thoughts/opinions!