h1 and h4 visa appt in mumbai consulate

amit500

Registered Users (C)
My name is Amit and I am working in US from last 6 yrs. My 6 yrs are up in Nov 2004. I have already got the H1 extension till Nov 2005. The H1B visa stamp on my passport expires in Nov 2004. I went to India 2 months ago and got engaged. I am getting married on Dec 6th. I came to US on F1 visa 9 yrs ago and I took it from Mumbai consulate.

When I go to India at the end of Nov, I will have to go to Mumbai consulate to get H1B visa. The last 2 times, I got my H1B stamped in Canada. Also my wife needs to apply for H4 visa. Can we go together? If yes, do I take one appointment through the web or two appointments?

Right now, it only shows dates upto Nov 7th on the web. How do I take appointment for Dec 6th? Is it better if she goes in person to the visa center to take an appt.

I am not married to her right now. We are only engaged. So I dont have the marriage certificate. And they want me to mail the marriage certificate for her H4 appointment. How do I take an appt before getting married?

Its taking 3-4 weeks to get an appointment in Mumbai. So if I wait to take the appointment till we get married, I will have to stay in India for more than a month. It will be very difficult if not impossible for me to take such a long vacation. The other option would be for me to schedule an appt for myself and then she will follow later. I wuold really hate to do this.

I would really really appreciate if any of you had similar situation or could help me? Thanks a lot. Also you could send me an email at amit500@yahoo.com also.
 
amit500 said:
My name is Amit and I am working in US from last 6 yrs.
My 6 yrs are up in Nov 2004.
I have already got the H1 extension till Nov 2005.
The H1B visa stamp on my passport expires in Nov 2004.
I went to India 2 months ago and got engaged.
I am getting married on Dec 6th. I came to US on F1 visa 9 yrs ago and I took it from Mumbai consulate.

When I go to India at the end of Nov, I will have to go to Mumbai consulate to get H1B visa.
--that is correct Amit ji or Amitabh Bachan saheb
The last 2 times, I got my H1B stamped in Canada. Also my wife needs to apply for H4 visa. Can we go together? If yes, do I take one appointment through the web or two appointments?
----- Please go to US consulate Mumbai and read the info, I think have to take two take appointments( I am not expert)
Right now, it only shows dates upto Nov 7th on the web. How do I take appointment for Dec 6th? Is it better if she goes in person to the visa center to take an appt.
--- Others will reply
I am not married to her right now. We are only engaged. So I dont have the marriage certificate.
And they want me to mail the marriage certificate for her H4 appointment.
--That is correct
How do I take an appt before getting married?
Its taking 3-4 weeks to get an appointment in Mumbai. So if I wait to take the appointment till we get married, I will have to stay in India for more than a month. It will be very difficult if not impossible for me to take such a long vacation. The other option would be for me to schedule an appt for myself and then she will follow later. I wuold really hate to do this.

I would really really appreciate if any of you had similar situation or could help me? Thanks a lot. Also you could send me an email at amit500@yahoo.com also.
---- others may help, becase your wife needs marriage certificate for H4 Visa apoointment, do you know that if you know any lawyer or go to court then that lawyer can get you married 1-2 years before? and can get you marriage certificate with the date when you were in India, you just need MEMRUDOM OF MARRIAGE Form and anybody can mail you from India ask 2-3 copies and sign both the copies and mail it back to India, pay to lawyer and he will get you marriage certificate in 1 day. if you are from Bombay ask your wife to visit Bandra East Court just got down at Bandra east and walk to court, she will find many lawyers out of Bandra court standing and many shops that supply marrage certificate forms, she can take 2-3 copies and can mail it to you and also can talk to any lawyer standing out side court to get Marriage certificate from registrar of marriage in 1 day, she may have to pay between rupees 500 to 1000 to lawyer and any person can sign as wittness, make sure to write the date of marriage when you were in India. if you are from Gujarat same can be done if you are from Maharashta same can be done in Nagpur, Pune , Akola or Amravati or any other city I think you know the coust system in India.
 
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You go! ginnu (or whatever you might be called these days). Nice advice you are giving ... ;)
 
thank you so much ginnu

Ginnu,
Thank you so so much for your prompt reply. i will talk to my fiancee and father to see if we want to take the option of getting a marriage certificate with an old date. what if the visa officer asks me in the interview, that why did you do court marriage in july and taking your wife in dec? what do i say?

Ginnu, another important question. I called the mumbai visa services and i got their answering system. it still mentioned that drop off service is available for non immigrant visas. Is it true?

If anybody else has gone through a similar situation or has a similar problem, please share with me. my email is amit500@yahoo.com and we can help each other.

Thank you very very much.
Amit
 
amit500 said:
Ginnu,
Thank you so so much for your prompt reply. i will talk to my fiancee and father to see if we want to take the option of getting a marriage certificate with an old date. what if the visa officer asks me in the interview, that why did you do court marriage in july and taking your wife in dec? what do i say?
----- to get married and to take your wife with you is YOUR choice and to come to US is also her choice, to get married in Mandir, court, before registrar of marriage or Gurdwara and at home is YOUR choice. to call the guests or to take a BARAT is YOUR choice, if you ask for dowery/any other demands from parents of the girl then you will be punished :D
Ginnu, another important question. I called the mumbai visa services and i got their answering system. it still mentioned that drop off service is available for non immigrant visas. Is it true?
----no it is not true
If anybody else has gone through a similar situation or has a similar problem, please share with me. my email is amit500@yahoo.com and we can help each other.

Thank you very very much.
Amit
 
amit,

Be very very careful and weigh all the risks and benifits befor using fradulent documents. Just my 2 c.
 
alren I concur with u.

fraudulent documents are big risk and may cause permanent bar on applying for visas.

I would not attempt anything like this.

talk to embassy, the marriage certificate can be provided to them later on interview along with pictures etc. or else take a later appt for wife, she can go in alone for H4 and join later.
 
Ishwar said:
FYI the marriage certificate received through lawyer or registrar of marriage is not ”fraudulent document” I got married in Mandir 4 years before and I did not have any marriage certificate. I just did the same as Ginnu has posted. How you say that it is fraudulent document? The marriage certificate is genuine if it has registrar of marriage seal
Your case would be having a cert for the same (or similar date) of your marraige 4 yrs. ago.

It is a fradulent doc. as far as your conscience is concerned and if you goof up at the interview in terms of marriage dates, etc. U're in for a trouble.

Ishwar, your case was stating that the marriage did take place X years ago. In this case the marriage has not yet happened.
 
Thanks ginnu, alren, Ishwar and waitin_toolong

Thank you very much for all your comments. Its a big help for people like me to hear from your experience and expertise.

After doing lot of thinking, I have decided not to take the marriage certificate route. As it is wrong and I would definitely be very uncomfortable if the visa officer starts asking questions.

naturally, my fiancee is feeling bad that we might not be able to come back together.

here are the things i m planning to do

1) ask her to go to the mumbai visa center and take 2 different appts, one for my h1b before marriage and one for her h4. when they ask her for marriage certificate for her h4 appt, she can explain the situation. if they dont allow her to take a h4 appt without marriage certificate, then proceed to 2

2) after marriage we both go to visa center and request them to give h4 appt with an early date. they might not consider this an emergency situation and might not give us an early appt. if they do, good, if they do not, proceed to 3

3) we find out what appt dates are running for calcutta consulate. if its very near in the future, we go to calcutta for her h4. can we go to calcutta consulate? if not then, she has to wait and join me later after her h4 appt in mumbai.

What do you experts think? I would really really appreciate if you have any suggestions or advice. i dont want to make a mistake and regret it later.

Thank you very much.
Amit
 
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anybody replied to amit query

Did anyone reply to Amit. I am in similar situtation. I have got to get
1. Married
2. Get H1 extension stamped
3. Get a new H4 visa.
4. All this in a month which has so many holidays..nov- dec. :rolleyes:

I am thinking of sending h1 and h4 packages together, although they will have no proof of marriage or anything. I would like to get one appointment for both h1 extension and h4.

Advise me please, if this is possible, if not suggest a new path...
Thanks a lot
Dino
 
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