Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
My friend is an Indian-American who currently lives in USA. He had been married for four years with a long distance relative family member in India. But his marriage had not been legally accepted by the Indian-USA Embassy under the Hindu Act Law. The finance visa had been declined so he filed for the green card visa �I-130 visa� for his wife. But lately, his in-law family has shown no interest and the girl rejected to come to live in USA. There had been no correspondence between both families for last one year. And the worst case scenario, his in-law family has been moved to an unknown location and has not even tried to contact for the whole year. My friend has tried contacting his in law-family by phone, email and personal mail-in letters but still no response. What should my friend do now? Wait for more time or get married to a different girl and move on? Do my friend need to file a divorce or not as his marriage was not legally accepted in India from the Indian-USA Embassy?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If your friend was lawfully married according to Indian law (whether Hindu Marriage Act or whatever), his marriage should be recognized by any court or legal tribunal of the United States (including the U.S. State Department).
However, if this marriage was not in accordance with the requirements of the
applicable Indian law, then your friend needs to determine why this is so
which one of the many Indian lawyers who post in this forum may be
in a position to assist him with and to advise him, accordingly.
Until the above question has been answered, i.e., whether your friend has been
validly married under Indian law, there would be no way to determine whether
he could file for a Virginia divorce (if he were to decide on such a course
of action).
Furthermore, U.S. embassies or consulates (as far as I am aware) do not normally involve themselves in the intracacies of the marriage laws of a host
country beyond, perhaps, the perfunctory examination of documents that may be required for a visa application which makes your claim regarding the U.S. Embassy in India in this case somewhat puzzling.
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