Tier 1 dependent visa rejected

[ankan.naik]

Hi,

My wife's Tier 1 dependent visa was rejected recently. Folloing is the reason provided in the letter.

In support of your application you have provided a copy of your Form of Hindu Marriage Register, however religious marriages are not officially recognised in UK law.

I had provided a Hindu Marriage Register from the executive registrar of muncipality. I again checked with them and they said if I had to get married, then I could do it in the court, but just for registration, they have the authority to provide the certificate.

They also agreed to provide the Orissa Govt guidelines which says after 2006, all the marraiges can be registered under DM's office for which the authority has been provided to the muncipality by the collector. If I send all the guidelines documents of Orissa Govt and additional letter by collector, will that help?

Please provide your inputs. Also do I need to send the documents to UK Appeal papers to UK or the Mumbai Embassy?

Rgds,
Ankan

[geriatrix]

In support of your application you have provided a copy of your Form of Hindu Marriage Register

Did you submit this document or something similar - duly signed and stamped by the registrar / magistrate?

While the document is a valid document of registration of marriage, but the fact that a form of marriage registration is being used / authorised by local government as a marriage certificate (rather than issuing a marriage certificate on another piece of paper) is perhaps the reason caseworker / ECO has questioned its legality.

Your appeal should succeed but you / your representative / lawyer will have to provide clear explanation of the local law(s) and procedures for the ECO / immigration judge to understand the intricacies and be convinced that the document is indeed a legal marriage certificate.

It is up to you where you wish to submit the appeal - at the issuing post or in the UK.


regards

[ankan.naik]

Thanks for your input, moderator. So what do I need to do now? Shall I get the marraige registered in Court/Registry office and then again provide them the documents? Will that solve the issue? Please have your say on this.

Rgds,
Ankan

[geriatrix]

Oops .... apologies! You replied while I was editing my response.

I found the form you referred to in your post (hopefully it is the one) and having looked at it thought appropriate to edit my response.

Your next step(s) depend on whether you can wait for months for the appeal to reach its conclusion or whether you wish your dependant to be granted EC without delay. If the former then you may appeal (as suggested above). If the latter then apply again with a proper marriage certificate.


regards

[t1s2010]

There are too many registration forms over internet for Hindu Marriage.
Putting a few here. Which one is suitable.

1
2
3
4

[nm]

Hi,

Every state in India will have their own kind of template for the marriage certificate. What should be the acceptable format of UKBA ? It's great help if any one can share such template.

[ankan.naik]

Thanks for your inputs, guys....even the different formats provided here mention the term "Hindu Marriage" which UKBA says is not recognised. However, I enquired that many people have got their visa on same certificates already. May be the case worker was ignorant on this.

Now I am left with two options. Either I apply for a fresh visa for my wife. Even for that, I have to go back to India and get ourselves registered in front of Registrar of Marriage. So we have to give them a notice of 30 days in order to get this done. The other option is to send supporting documents along with the previosu marraige certificate in my appeal e.g. Collector's recommendation , guidelines of Orissa Govt which says the authority has been passed on to the muncipality to issue marraige certificates, and lastly that as I belong to Hindu religion, my marriage will come under Hindu Marriage Act. All this might justify and convince them that my marraige is genuine.

Or is there any way I can request for extention of my appeal and buy some time which says I have to reapply within 28 days? Please somebody guide.

Rgds,
Ankan

[geriatrix]

Or is there any way I can request for extention of my appeal.

AIUI, this is not possible.


regards