US Government being cheated?

Question

While going through few yahoo questions I have come across , American Christian got married with a Hindu Indian according to Hindu form of marriage without converting to Hindu religion . Such marriage itself was illegal as according to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 only two Hindus can marry according to Hindu form of marriage. Such marriage even got registered by the Marriage registrar which itself is wrong & illegal but as it happens by bribing such a marriage registrar the marriage certificate are being precured,which is being used by the parties for immigration to USA on the basis of marriage with an American person. The immigration department of USA send such a marriage certificate for verification through their Embassy in India who further have panel of lawyers appointed by the US government, simply confirm the marriage certificate as valid without going into the legality of the marriage itself, on this confirmation given by the Indian lawyers the US Govt. allows the immigration.

Does the US immigration department not aware of this illegality & is it not long time they get some honest lawyers on the Embassy penal who will not only confirm the validity of the marriage certificates but even the marriage itself on the basis of which such certificate is being issued ? Is the US immigration department sleeping after engaging few so called famous Indian lawyers who are only making money from them without going into the legality of who issue in totality. As an Indian Lawyer it is my legal duty to bring to the notice of the US government how they are being cheating by few of my professional guys out here. What action the US government proposes this this regard?

You guys are unable to understand that is not crime it’s the legality of the marriage. The immigration department of US issue immigration orders for any person married to an US person on the basis of marriage certificate, if the marriage itself is not legal how their certificates can be legal? If such is the attitude of the US government that they will allow any foreigner in their country that gets any such illegal certificates then GOD BLESS USA.

CV As far conversion to Hinduism is concerned who say there is no such process. The Arya Samaj sect of Hindus perform the Shudi ceremony where by the non Hindu is converted to Hindu religion & a proper certificate is being issued with regards to this, that a convert Hindu has to produce before the marriage registrar who on his satisfaction allows such Hindu form of marriage be registered not otherwise. If a person himself/herself make statement that he/she is Hindu on first instance nothing can be said about this but if it is found he/she made such wrong statement before the marriage registrar on oath as he/she say it in the form of affidavit, it will amount to perjury . More so making a wrong statement cannot make it right if there exist evidence to show such statement was wrongly made before the authorities. Don’t worry I'm not challenging your marriage but I'm just bringing in notice of your Govt. the illegality that’

What ever I stated about the provision of the Hindu Marriage Act here is as what is provided in the enactment itself. The Act itself says it will be applicable only to Hindus, it also specifically says that a Christian is not included in the definition of a Hindus. Now tell me if an Act applies only to a particular religion & not to the other one in question then any provision regarding that Act can how be taken for granted as legal for a person who is not a Hindu by definition itself. As far who am I to challenge this issue as I'm not holding any high official post here in India, where it is laid down any illegality can only be challenged by only high official not by any ordinary citizen. If the State dept. of USA commits any blunder only because of some wrong information given to them by someone from here, then what wrong I'm committing informing them the wrong act of the guys back home here. Rather my information should be appreciated by them & action taken on it.

No doubt the presumption of validity of any document put before the immigration department is there, but to check & verify its actual validity cannot be ignored & for your kind information the immigration department do the actual verification to confirm the document as legal & valid, otherwise any criminal/terrorist with help of forged documents will get into the country & will be menace for the society. No government of the world is such a fool that they will allow any one without checking his/her credentials & go by whatever the documents he/she produce to get such an immigration. You should think this issue from larger prospective where law order & security of the country is involved. As far USA is concerned the government there is more vigilant after 9/11 incidence & will not allow any one just to enter there territory with all wrong/forged documents. Be positive & reasonable in your thoughts.

Answer 1

Well I cannot say what US immigration people check or not but its very clear that UK & Canadian Immigration people not only check & verify the marriage certificates but even ask for the complete Photographs & video recording of the actual marriage ceremonies to verify that actual marriage took place between the persons & that too in presence of gathering of people. This is checked to verify the marriage & not depending only on the marriage certificates that can be obtained from the marriage registrar offices in India by bribing the officials over there. If the US immigration do the same they will catch hold of such frauds & cheating cases on the spot it self.

Answer 2

Vijay,
I have such a marriage myself! Not to cheat the US government (my husband was already a legal resident of the US at the time of marriage) but because getting married under the Hindu Marriage Act was easier than getting married under the Special Marriage Act. I think the problem really lies in the fact that there is no "conversion" mechanism for Hinduism. Who is anyone to say that I am not a Hindu? Even though I am not a born Hindu? If I say I am - than I am. I think most people who get married under that law don't do so to cheat the system but do so in trying to comply with the overwhelming complexity of Indian marriage laws!

Answer 3

You are talking of that Big time marriage that tok place recently where the bride threw her FIL out of the reception rt? ....I was following it up close due to that chick getting married to a filthy rich husband.

Thier marriage was registered even before the marriage as per the hindu customs was performed.

Well Money Talks!!

Forget that these these ppl have been litrally living with eachother for the last couple of year.

When it comes to the marriage certificate for emmigration, migration, etc. all they need is a valid paper document with a marriage photgraph to prove that they are married. Like amoung the Catholics the Church issues a marriage certificate which is actually not leagally valid, but most countries around the globe accept it.

According to me these guys only used the Hindu Customs as a theme for their marriage and to blow some money thats about it.

Now you might ask probably about respecting the religion - for that that Pundit whose basic buty is to protect the divinity of the religion was a part of that drama just for the sake of a few dollars - he needs to be lynched.

Answer 4

The US government presumes that the marriage was validly contracted and need not investigate the validity of the marriage because it has no authority to even invalidate the marriage. Thus, the couple could be validly admitted as married to the US. Under the generally accepted principles of International Law, a government is not required to investigate into the documents presented before it for immigration because it is assumed that relationships such as marriage were presumed validly contracted abroad.

Answer 5

First of all, I feel that everyone have been a bit prejudice against this question and I understand fully why, this question provoke too much controversial and whenever a question does, it get repercussion. I try to answer it as neutral as possible but actually your question sound a bit offensive in certain sense to be honest.

As to the answer, everywhere there is illegality going on in this world and America have the most failure in term of law enforcement as a developed country with every hour 4 woman being rape across the States. The issue here on hand is, the States either do not realise the ineffectiveness of the lawyers they hired in India or they simply do not bother to do something which I believe might be a bit of both. Every year they have thousands of illegal immigrant flooding in across the world mainly from Mexico and those problem getting massive as you notice recently on the boarder issue with Mexico, a little sham marriage will be the least of their concern.

Secondly, Indian and States might have different prospective of what is a Hindu Indian marriage, as such your idea of illegality might not be really illegal to them, even if it does, like I say it least of their concern.

Thirdly, it might also be that the States do not even understand Hindu at all. As for me, I am not belonging to any religion but I study major religion in depth for research purpose. I did buddhism, Hindu, Christian, Taoism and Confucism and I am surprise a Taoist or a Christian have less understanding of the true history or meaning of their teaching. Too much religion have been filter over the years with different people insert their own way of teaching or understanding into it. So it might just be a different understanding problem.

Lastly, if it is really illegal the way you mentioned it to be, as someone in India and not high above in authority there is pretty much nothing you can do except telling us the problem here. There is too much involve to prove what you said is right and that alone need lot of work and connection to get the right department to listen. So all in all, I do not agree or disagree on the illegality part of the marriage as all country have their own law to govern it.

In reply to your additional thoughts, first of all, I know it is inside the enactment itself but what I am saying is religion is a very subjective and not objective thoughts. Like what CV said, if someone claim he or she is a Hindu, who are you say it is not. It is always in the heart not in the paper, in a substance not the form. Example, some people claim they muslim but eat pork, some people who claim they are christian but never follow the teaching of god, even they go to church or temple does not make them one. However, someone who do not have the so call Hindu conversion paper you mentioned but practise all the Hindu religion faithfully, who are you to say he or she is not a Hindu? Religion is always something that is so abstract and so sensitive government do not wish to go into detail of what define a religion. You ask 100 people they can all give u different account of Hindu mean. So if in your case, the person is really not a Hindu totally then it is illegal, however if the person is only not a Hindu in your sense, then it is not illegal.

Furthermore, you and me is both working adult. You should know the cruelty and practicality in this world. I am not saying illegality of law can only be challenge by those high in power but it is more effective. Give you example, there is a loophole in law, will it be more effective if it was being point out by the president or someone on the street. If president point it out, immediate changes is going to get done, if someone on the street, u need to go through all the different level of assessment and might die off in the middle. This is a real world vijay, rich, powerful, famous does get you lot of perks. Ordinary people like us if want something to get done, either media attention is capture or massive support from other ordinary people like us.

Answer 6

Well, I'm not wanting to insult you here. But, the Hindu Marriage Act may not be recognized here as a valid reason to deny the immigration.
Such a law here would be held as unconstitutional. So, while the couples involved may have committed some crime in India, the marriage is not a crime here.

Answer 7

Dear Friend,

At the outset let us bless the Hindu Indian partner of USA Christian on their unification by marriage.
The whole world will go with any matter as it relates to America or it's citizens,even if they are on thewrong side.

If America can commit Himalayan blenders like invasion of Iraq a sovereign nation with out any proof of possession of WMD by Iraq and destroy the social,economic and industrial status of Iraq, the issue you have raised is nothing seriously illegal as they went by expert opinion of eminent Indian lawyers.

UK taught the world believe neither what you hear nor what you see but go by detailed enquiry and documented evidence on any crime supposedly commited by people in society.

For eg. an employee is hale and healthy but the doctor's cirtificate is accepted that he was not doing well and was under medical treatment eventhough he was on a picnic to Goa or any other picnic spot in India or abroad.

The whole society across the world needs to be overhauled and we can not help accepting things as they happen whether you like it or not.

Your question needs to b addressed in detail but in this matter of your question,America is not losing anything and one Indial Hindu woman is getting a better life in America and better bless the couple and leave it to the all powerful American people and Government to safe guard their interests.
With Best Regards,
NQS.

Answer 8

Get a life

Answer 9

This may be immigration fraud.