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Akanksha Bhatti   14 November 2023

Christian couple married 30 years ago, where should they get marriage certificate?

Case: A Christian couple married in Delhi about 30 years ago, and received a marriage certificate from their church in Delhi under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872. They have since been residing and have all their ID proof of Noida, UP. As per the visa process for travel, they are required to submit a marriage certificate.

Questions: 
1. If Christian marriage certificates are considered valid under the above Act, does the couple need to have a government issued marriage certificate too, or will the church issued marriage certificate suffice for the visa process?

2. If they do require the government issued marriage certificate, would the same be available at the local marriage registrar’s office as the marriage was solemnized in Delhi, and as per the Act, the details of all marriages conducted by the church need to be registered at the registrar’s office? 

3. If they they do need the government issued marriage certificate and the church issued marriage certificate will not suffice and is not available at the local marriage registrar’s office, then which location should the couple apply for issue of a marriage certificate, since they got married in Delhi, but have been residing with ID proof of Noida? 

Would be grateful for some advice on this. Thanks



Learning

 3 Replies

kavksatyanarayana (subregistrar/supdt.(retired))     14 November 2023

The marriage certificate issued by the church is sufficient.  If the certificate is lost, apply for a certified copy in the same church.  If it is not available the church people should certify the couple married on so and so date. Once registered marriage cannot be registered by the registrar's office.

Laxmi Kant Joshi (Advocate )     14 November 2023

The Christian couple married in church have to register their marriage in registrar office and obtain marriage certificate for visa purposes, the couple can register their marriage in Noida sub registrar office of their jurisdictional area .

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     15 November 2023

The certificate issued by the church would indicate that their marriage was solemnised in the church and it is not a valid marriage certificate.

The marriage certificate will be valid only if the same is issued by the competent authority.

If this is a problem then they can get an affidavit declaring the solemnisation of their marriage  and can add the church certificate as an authentic proof, this should be sufficient for visa purposes. 


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