Marriage in India - some questions

K

kagemusha

Registered Users (C)
I became a US citizen last year and may be getting married in India later this year. My wife-to-be is an Indian citizen. Is there any special paperwork needed in order to register the marriage in India (given that I am no longer an Indian citizen) ?

I am also planning to split my time between India and the US (spending most of my time in India) until my future wife's K3 visa is approved. As I understand it this process could end up taking a year or more. Now if we she were to get pregnant in the meantime and the child was born in India - what then ? I know that the child automatically inherits US citizenship but does he/she have to enter the US first as a permanent resident (which could mean another long-drawn K4 visa process) ? Or can we directly apply for his/her US passport in India ?

I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light here.

Thanks,
KM
 
I think your wife-to-be should be able to enter the US on a fiance visa and then you can get married here in the US. I know a friend who went through this, but I don't remember what kind of fiance visa it was.
 
I think your wife-to-be should be able to enter the US on a fiance visa and then you can get married here in the US. I know a friend who went through this, but I don't remember what kind of fiance visa it was.
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Yes, the K1 fiance visa is an option but something that will not work for me due to cultural issues. In India the idea of an unmarried girl traveling to the US to be with her husband-to-be is frowned upon. Besides most of our family is in India and so it also works better from a logistical point of view for us to have our marriage in India.

Now some people do work around this by doing a traditional marriage in India (that is not registered) followed by a registered marriage once the spouse makes it to the US. I have considered this but decided against it for various reasons.

-KM
 
The child will be a US citizen at birth. Get a passport and a consular report of birth abroad for the child.
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Thanks Triple Citizen ! I just wanted to be prepared for all eventualities in case my stay in India ends up being longer than expected. Now I am not sure what the role of the K4 visa is if we can directly get a US passport for the child. Under what circumstances is the child required to enter the US as a permanent resident before claiming citizenship ? That probably applies for the scenario where the parents gets naturalized after the child is born.

-KM
 
Triple Citizen said:
The child will be a US citizen at birth. Get a passport and a consular report of birth abroad for the child.
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I'm not sure if that is true. I think the laws are different for cases when both parents are US citizens and only one parent is. You will probably get more accurate information on the R2I (Return to India) forums.
 
Yes the laws indeed differ. The OP is a naturalised US citizen. So as long as he spent 5 years physically in the US, his kids born overseas will be US citizens.

Amicus said:
I'm not sure if that is true. I think the laws are different for cases when both parents are US citizens and only one parent is.
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Why? Is this forum only full of idiots??? :)

Amicus said:
You will probably get more accurate information on the R2I (Return to India) forums.
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kagemusha said:
I became a US citizen last year and may be getting married in India later this year. My wife-to-be is an Indian citizen. Is there any special paperwork needed in order to register the marriage in India (given that I am no longer an Indian citizen) ?
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No. You don't need any special permission. However, I heard, one has to register the marriage (I am sure you are planning for this anyway).
I was told that, if you talk to registration officer, they may be able to visit during marriage and give you certificate without you and bride paying visit to their office. In my case I went 3 months after marriage (with 3 witnesses). registrar told me I was late as per rules.

kagemusha said:
I am also planning to split my time between India and the US (spending most of my time in India) until my future wife's K3 visa is approved. As I understand it this process could end up taking a year or more.
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If you are planning to stay in India for 6 months or more, DCF is another option. DCF is probably faster and cheaper.

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/uscisi130pet.html

kagemusha said:
Now if we she were to get pregnant in the meantime and the child was born in India - what then ? I know that the child automatically inherits US citizenship but does he/she have to enter the US first as a permanent resident (which could mean another long-drawn K4 visa process) ? Or can we directly apply for his/her US passport in India ?

I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light here.

Thanks,
KM
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Your son/daughter gets US passport directly assuming you meet the requirement they have (like 3 or 5 years of stay in US).

http://chennai.usconsulate.gov/birth_abroad.html
 
If you are planning to stay in India for 6 months or more, DCF is another option. DCF is probably faster and cheaper.
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As I understand it, DCF is faster to get to the end of the process (green card) but the wait in India may be longer. Also I will be continuing my current employment with a US company - just working from the Indian office. So I will not be able to produce proof that I am employed in India or paying taxes there.

-KM
 
kagemusha said:
As I understand it, DCF is faster to get to the end of the process (green card) but the wait in India may be longer. Also I will be continuing my current employment with a US company - just working from the Indian office. So I will not be able to produce proof that I am employed in India or paying taxes there.

-KM
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You may be right. I see from their website that they need proof of employement and taxed paid in India. I thought it is one of the options to show that you are living in India. I see that it is inclusive with rest of the stuff. Sorry that DCF may not work for you. I would still try to send an email and see if they can provide more claraity.

I wonder why it would be a problem if I decide to move to India for few years and retire there (not work)!
 
So, if one is in India & not working, can they apply for DCF?

If child is born with only one parent as U.S citizen (who stayed for more than 5 years in U.S), the child can apply for U.S passport? What it K-4 visa then? Is it for dependent if born before one parents gets U.S citizen?

Has anyone filed 'Declaration of renunciation of Indian citizenship' to get visitors visa? Does the last part of the form to be signed by someone other than you to vouch for correctness? Can that person be Indian citizen or has to be U.S citizen?
 
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