Marriages are made in Heaven, Visa's are issued at the Consulate
-Sudhir Shah, Advocate, Mumbai

After giving 21 days advance notice you can attend the office of the Registrar of Marriages along with your would be wife/husband, Sign the Register there in the presence of the Marriage Registrar and declare yourself married under the Special Marriage Act. If you are religious minded and a Hindu, the Priest will perform your marriage ceremony in less than 2 hours and you then will be a married person. If you belong to Muslim faith then the Kazi will perform your Nikah and it will be merely a matter of a minute for the bride to say “Kabul Hai”. If you are a Christian by religion, it will be easy to utter the words. “I do” in Church in the presence of a Priest. Getting married is not at all difficult. But if you marry someone residing in USA and desire to travel to USA after your marriage, obtaining a USA visa may drain your energy because even if the Marriages are made in Heaven, visas are issued at the Consulate and Consular officers at the USA Consulate are extremely skeptical when an application for a USA visa is made based on the relationship of a marriage.

If you marry a USA citizen, you fall under the Immediate Relative Category and your USA citizen spouse can file Form I-130 for an immigrant visa for you. These visas are not restricted in any way and can be issued in any number in a year. However as more and more US citizens marry aliens the number of such petitions have increased day by day and today it takes between 1 to 2 years for the Service Centers in USA to process and approve such petitions.

A USA citizen if he/she has met an alien in person during last 2 years and desires to marry that person can file a fiancé visa (K-1) petition which may be processed within 6 to 8 months. Thereupon the alien can apply for a finance visa in his/her home country and on receipt of the same can travel to USA, marry with that USA citizen and then that USA citizen spouse can sponsor that alien for an immigrant visa. During the pendency of the immigrant visa petition, the alien spouse can reside in USA and upon the petition being approved can adjust her/his status to a permanent resident.

A USA citizen married to a foreigner, during the pendency of the immigrant visa petition, can also sponsor his/her spouse for an fiancé visa (K-3) which can be issued within 6-8 months and thereupon the foreign spouse may enter USA and stay there till the petition for immigrant visa is approved and thereupon adjust his/her status to a permanent resident.

A green card holder i.e. permanent resident of USA is not in the same happy situation as a USA citizen. Green card holders if they marry a foreigner, can sponsor their spouse for an Immigrant visa under family sponsored 2ndA Preference category. These visas are restricted by quota numbers and thus at present an Indian married to a green card holder has to wait for a period of 5-6 years after the petition is filed to receive the immigrant visa. During this period unfortunately they are not granted visitors or other similar category of non-immigrant visas since to receive such visas the applicant has to display non-immigrant intention in traveling to USA.

Hence before marrying someone residing in USA, it would be prudent to know the requirements of obtaining a visa.

8 TIPS FOR THE APPLICANTS OF DEPENDENT SPOUSE VISA

• Before entering into marriage consult an Attorney qualified in USA Immigration Laws and find out the requirements to receive dependent spouse visa.

• Keep proofs in the form of photographs and writings of your meetings and contacts before and after the marriage with your USA spouse.

• Take ample photographs of your marriage ceremony and reception.

• After marriage, if female, it would be advisable to change your name in your passport from maiden to married.

• Add your spouse’s name into your existing bank account and nominate him/her as your successor in your properties.

• Ask your spouse to write letters to you, send gifts to you, officially transfer money to you and keep records of the same.

• Know everything about your spouse, his habits, his family members, his work place, his friends, the house where he lives in USA, the car which he owns, etc.

• If your spouse’s marriage with you is his/her second marriage then gather all proofs concerning the first marriage including photographs of first marriage, photographs after the first marriage, marriage certificate, if marriage has resulted into a divorce, court proceedings and if the marriage has terminated on account of death, the death certificate.