Schedule Interview for new H4 at Mumbai - appreciate any help.

I

imu79

Registered Users (C)
Hi everyone,

I searched the forums for these questions but couldn't find threads answering these questions - I may have been lost in so many threads. Please bear with me if these questions have already been answered. I would even appreciate if you can point me to the thread in case these questions have already been answered.
Anyway - here are the questions that I have:
Is it possible to schedule an interview appointment date for a new H4 visa before marriage? I know a colleague of mine did that last december at the chennai consulate - He scheduled for an interview date while he was here in the US itself which is why he could bring his wife back with him within his one month vacation time that he had. But I've recently heard that the H4 applicant must have the spouse name on the passport before he/she applies for the H4. Was it not the case earlier? If there has been a change of rules and my to-be wife indeed has to have my name on her passport after our marriage, is it still possible to schedule an interview date before the marriage (for the Mumbai Consulate - just in case the rules vary for different consulates)? If not, how long does it take to add the spouse name to the passport since I would like to bring my wife along with me after we get married instead of her having to come alone. I will be in India for a month (Mid Dec to Mid Jan 2005) in which time hopefully I'd want to have all these finished off. I know its a bit early to be asking these questions but just wanted to be prepared. I would appreciate any help on this.

Thanks in advance,
Imran.
 
Is it possible to schedule an interview appointment date for a new H4 visa before marriage?
A) Yes it is. I did it my self. My marriage was on 25th of Feb 2004 and I scheduled appointment in the first week of march. I scheduled the appointment on Feb10 th or something. You just need all the information on your spouses passport.

But I've recently heard that the H4 applicant must have the spouse name on the passport before he/she applies for the H4. Was it not the case earlier?
A) I am not sure if there is any law, but I guess it may prove that your marriage is genuine. I am not sure. In my case we did add each other names to passport. For this we needed marriage certificate. Since my father-in-law is an IAS officer in India we could get every thing done in one day from back door. (Hate to admit this., but it is true. If you want to get things done quickly, we have to do this in india). But my wife did not change her last name. Some people did tell me that she also needs to change her last name. She did not do this because all her degrees are in her old name and she already finished 2 of her US medical license exams with her mainden name. So she thought it would be a long process.


If not, how long does it take to add the spouse name to the passport since I would like to bring my wife along with me after we get married instead of her having to come alone. I will be in India for a month (Mid Dec to Mid Jan 2005) in which time hopefully I'd want to have all these finished off.
A) I understand your concern. I was in the same situation. Here is what I did
(i) Be ready with all the documents, including passport pictures and DDs.
Practically you should not have any thing to do after the marriage. However it might be useful to take DDs in the last minute because the rates may change.
(ii) Set up appointment before marriage.
(iii) You need to register the marriage. At some places in India, you can invite the registrar to the marriage and he/she will register the marriage at the same time. Just visit the regstrars office early and find out. Idea is to get your marriage registration in at most a day or two. Again, since this is in india you can always try to use influence/money if you can :(.
(iv) if possible take the certificate and passports to passport office and use "misc. services" application to add spouse name. again try to use influence /money if you can. Otherwise this might take upto a week.

This is what exactly I did to get the visa. 25th was my marrige. We went for interview to chennai on march 3. And we returned to US on 10th. I know that these are not the things one wants to do immediately after wedding. But you have to prioritize.....
 
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Isn't it that in mumbai you have to submit your docs atleast 30 days in advance to the courier service ?
 
Thanks, IndoKiddo, for all the info. In case of Chennai Consulate, whatever you said makes perfect sense. But as IPC302 mentioned, the mumbai consulate requires all the documents to reach 30 days prior to the interview date in which case I can't go about this the way you did. So this leaves me with only one choice - I can submit all the documents without the spouse name on either of our passports. Basically my question now is - is it of any risk to submit the documents without the spouse names on our passports? We, ofcourse, will be having all the other required documents and pictures to prove our marriage. Has anyone else got an H4 this year without having the spouse name on the passport? If its a risk, I definitely wouldn't want to take any chances - so if its going to involve any risk I'd rather settle with my to-be wife coming after me back to the US. I'd appreciate any input, ideas, feedback, thoughts, etc on this matter.

Thanks all !
Imran.
 
I don't think it is a big risk not adding spouse names.. Like I said I do not think it is required by law. I know friends who did not do this. Then again they went to Chennai consulate.
Consulate office has phone numbers so call them and ask if it is absolutely necessary. Explain your situation. Tell them it may take a week to add spouse name and you do not have that kind of time. If nothing works out, just submit the passports with out name change. Hey in the worst case, they will deny the visa. And you can reapply later after adding names.But I doubt if they are going to reject if your job is stable and you have been in status all the time. Then again it is Visa so anything could happen.
 
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hmm..you're right. What I'll do is call the consulate and see what they have to say about this. If they say its not really a big issue, I'll go ahead and apply with the spouse names on the passports. Definitely worth giving it a shot - just as you said - in which case I could bring my to-be wife along with me :). I think I have a pretty stable job (or so I think :confused: ) and I have been in status all the time so that shouldn't be a problem atleast. I appreciate your help on this and thanks for the quick replies :)

regards,
Imran.
 
IMU79,

when u take appointment they ask you to submit the docs 30 days before the appointment date .And they want the marriage certificate also that time. though at their website in the checklist the marriage doc is not the compulsory doc required but i talked with the Visa-services mumbai yesterday and she told me that as of now unless they get the marriage certificate they are not going to forward the case and your appointment will not be valid . They are going to update their website soon .

Regarding getting your name in spouse passport that could be done in a day if you go through some broker ...thats simple part ..search on google with word "passport mumbai" it will show you the middayclassifies link .... you can get in touch with them ...

Seems to get visa from mumbai is gonna big task now ......Good luck ....
 
IPC302, IMU79. Thanks for the info.

Do u have the Mumbai Visa -services contact number. I also wanted to contact them find out if the marriage certificate document needs to be send 30 days before the appointment for H4 visa ( though while scheduling the appointment the checklist did not mark marriage doc as a mandatory doc ) I am planning to get married in mid Oct and returning back to US end of Oct.

If the marriage doc is a must then i too will have to come alone and have my spouse join me later after 1 month or so.

Thanks
 
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