Student visa-divorce pending

[soln2006]

i am an indian citizen planing to study in the US. Have an american divorce which is not valid in india but is valid in US. passport says married- and had F2 visa earleir.so when i apply for the visa do i need to declare this. also once i am in US - i am divorced there - can i marry in the US. divorce is pending in court in india...can anyone please answer this...

 

[tamtom]

i am an indian citizen planing to study in the US. Have an american divorce which is not valid in india but is valid in US. passport says married- and had F2 visa earleir.so when i apply for the visa do i need to declare this. also once i am in US - i am divorced there - can i marry in the US. divorce is pending in court in india...can anyone please answer this...

Yes, the visa application asks you to declare your marital status and previous US visas.

Here is a page discussing Indian recognition of foreign judgements:

http://www.saisathyasai.com/Rahm-Public-Court-Records/resjudicata.htm

which lists several reasons why an Indian court might not recognize a foreign divorce. If none of those reasons applies to your US divorce decree, then in your Indian case you can assert that you are already divorced. If the Indian court recognizes it, then you can remarry.

On the other hand, if you remarry before the Indian courts recognize it, then the other party can raise a charge of bigamy against you in India, as happened in Narsimha Rao v. Venkata Kakshmi mentioned in the source above.

This does not look simple, so I'd recommend seeking the advice of a lawyer.

Hope this helps,

Tamtom