INS rejects Marriage Certificate

G

gupta_gagan

New Member
Hi Immigration Gurus, please help with your guidance.

My wife is a derivative applicant on my Green Card application. Recently, we applied for Advance Parole for her. The INS responded with a RFE where they requested a Marriage Certificate among other things.

We do not have a Marriage Certificate issued by the Courts in India. So we went to the local Indian Consulate in San Francisco and got their version instead. However, the INS rejected this marriage certificate from the Indian Consulate.

Now we are in a spot. We really cannot go to a US court and get re-married because our I-485 application was filed last year in July as a married couple. If we send a new marriage certificate to the INS for the Advance Parole, it will be inconsistent with the filing status on the I-485. And the US Courts will not issue back-dated marriage certificates. So I am not sure what to do now.

I really appreciate any help or suggestions.

thanks and regards,
Gagan
 
Gagan,

INS does not accept birth & marriage certificates issued by the Indian Consulate, probably U will need to get the certificate from India.

My 2 cents

Arz....
 
the correct way to do this is to get the Marriage cert from the registrar where the marriage happenned. It may not even take a long time. But to get the cert, both of you have to be physically present at the Registrar and sign...

If there is an alternative way for you to travel to India, do it and get the cert...
 
I don't have answer but, here are some thoughts:

Read item#2 from following Murthy's bulliten (VOL. IX no. 31; August 2003, week1)
http://www.murthy.com/aug0103.pdf It has some info related to Marage certificate.

I guess there is some thing one could do by affidavits (as in birth certificates) if original marriage certificate is not available. Talk to a lawyer to see if it is possible. Also did you check with registrar's office in your home town in your home country to see if it is possible to register the marriage by showing photographs, video, wedding invitations and witnesses? I know several people who didn't have any plans of coming to US hence didn't register when they got married but later on came to US and got GCs! Don't know how they managed to get marriage certificate!

Goodluck
PCee
 
Looks like affidavits may not work...

I was reading instructions for GreenCard-Lotterie and in that they specified instructions for birth certificate as below:

3. BIRTH CERTIFICATE: All applicants ARE REQUIRED to obtain and present a birth certificate. It must state the date and place of birth and the names of the parents. The certificate must also state that it is an extract from official records. For those who were adopted, you must obtain a certified copy of the final adoption decree.

IF BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS UNOBTAINABLE: In rare cases birth certificates may not be available because records have been destroyed or because the government will not issue one. In such cases, you are reyuired to

Obtain a statement to that effect from the civil registrar's office.
Obtain other evidence of birth.
A baptismal certificate may be used if it shows the date and place of birth and names of parents AND if it took place shortly after birth. If that is not obtainable, a close relative, preferably the mother of the person, should make a written statement giving the place and date of the person's birth, names of parents, and maiden name of the mother. The statement must be attested to before an official authorized to administer oaths or affirmations.

Where as for marriage certificate they say:
8. MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE: Married persons are required to present a copy of their marriage certificate. YOUR SPOUSE AND/OR CHILDREN CANNOT IMMIGRATE WITH YOU IF YOU FAIL TO BRING THIS DOCUMENT. Proof of termination of a marriage must also be obtained (e.g., death certificate of spouse, final decree of divorce or annulment).
 
In india u cannot get marriage certificate without being present there. I got my MC in march this yr after long time . If you cannot travel to NDIA then check with your lawyer you might need some affidavits which might be alternate to MC.
 
You don't need to be present in India to get your Marriage Certificate in India.

if the mariage held in a church
- get the MC from the church and go to the Registrar of Marriage office in your state and get the MC. It is very simple.


if the marriage held in a hall or temple, get a letter from the hall or temple manager and submit some reasonable marriage photos, wedding invitation to the registrar of marriage along with a application/letter from both the parents. They may issue the MC after verification.
 
reply

I know that an affidavit is the method many people have used and that this is accepted by the INS

You need two affidavits from close relatives

This is simple to obtain.

Ask your parents to handle this.
 
Affidavit might work...

One of my friend was not having marriage certificate, he submitted an affidavit while filing for AoS. He has got his GC.

I was the one who signed his notarized affidavit made in US.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
MBM
 
Originally posted by gupta_gagan
Hi Immigration Gurus, please help with your guidance.

My wife is a derivative applicant on my Green Card application. Recently, we applied for Advance Parole for her. The INS responded with a RFE where they requested a Marriage Certificate among other things.

Click to expand...

Gagan, when u filed for ur wife's 485 itself - what proof did u provide to prove that she is indeed ur wife? its only my opinion - but that same evidence mite work for AP too, if it worked for 485 filing, dont u think?

If no evidence was given while filing 485 itself - then u could get RFE for 485 too...just wondering...I presume ur lawyer wud have asked you for some papers that go to prove that u r indeed married to the lady in question, while applying for 485 itself...else how cud u even apply for ur wife as derivative ? cos our lawyer asked for our marriage cert...
 
drkamath,
That's very good question, for that matter I would like to extend it a bit...

Mr. gaga, is your wife here on dependent visa (H4) or independent visa like F1/H1? If she is on a dependant visa then probably what ever you provided as proof to get that visa may be still applicable in the current case (ofcourse things changed a lot in the past year or so but still...)

-PCee
 
Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. When we filed for our I-485 last year then we submitted the marriage certificate from the Indian Consulate as well. Since the INS hasn't picked up my 485 file yet, this issue hasn't posed a problem for the 485. I am sure I will get a RFE for that later.
 
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