Two marriage certificates - one from India, one from US

[nuke49]

Hi,

 

I have a weird issue and I am hoping to get some answers or direction here. 

 

I got married in India few years ago and have a marriage certificate from Hyderabad where my last name was changed from maiden to married name. I was under the impression that I was going to come back to the States and change my last name. However, as soon as I got back from India (literally, days), my employer wanted to file my PERM. Since I didn't want to delay the process of filing PERM, my husband and I decided that we needed a marriage certificate  in which my last name is not changed ( in order to keep it same across all the documents that I ever had in my life, including my passport etc). So, we decided to get married in the US and obtained a new marriage certificate with a date about a month's time from the wedding date in India. On this new marriage certificate from the local US county, my maiden name is the same after marriage. 

 

So far, in the US, we have not had to submit any marriage certificate anywhere until however, both of us need to apply for Indian passport renewal. According to the BLS website, we need to give our notarized marriage certificate in order to add spouse's name in the passport. This made us wonder if giving the US marriage certificate would be considered invalid since the Indian Passport Office can pull up records from India and see that my last name is different? This situation also made us wonder if it is even ok to have two marriage certificates ? 

 

I would like to know if this is a real problem and if it is, what is the best way I can clean up this mess? 

 

Any insights will be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks much.

[nuke49]

Would like to also add that my 140 has been approved and so is my husband's. I would like to know if having two marriage certificates is a problem when we file I-485. My husband and I fall under the EB-2 category with 2012 PD. 

[permaudit]

You can as well give the US Marraige Certificate with the Maiden name. The Marriage certificate issued in India, will not update automatically with the Passport Center unless you ask for it.

 

For the BLS Application, you valid US Marriage Certificate would be sufficient. Note: The data of marriage would change to the one on the US Certificate and you may have to consider that for any other applications going forward in the US. I think its better not to use the India Marriage Certificate for anything else going forward, to avoid confusion.

[nuke49]

Thanks for your reply, usimmi14. However, can you elaborate on "The Marriage certificate issued in India, will not update automatically with the Passport Center unless you ask for it"? Is there a separate process for this? So far, I have thought that this updates automatically with the passport center or at least that they can pull up records. If this is not the case, it is good news for you.

 

I am definitely leaning towards using the US one for all purposes but I would like to make sure if this doesn't cause a problem on the road ahead to greencard/citizenship. That's one of my major concerns.

[Attorney_15]

Generally, under U.S. law a marriage legal in the place it is performed outside the U.S. is legal inside the U.S. When someone is married in India and then comes to the U.S. and gets a marriage certificate in the U.S. this generally can be a serious problem when there is a spouse who applied for a dependent visa (like H4 or L2) based on the marriage performed in 

 

Unlike India, in the U.S. there is no 'registration of marriage.' If people go to get a marriage certificate from a U.S. authority, the people are telling the government official that they are not married. While a man and woman (and now same sex parties) can get the license and certificate at the same time, they are not 'registering' a marriage performed elsewhere as is possible in India.

 

So, someone in this situation would usually be well served by consulting directly with an attorney for legal advice on what steps are necessary to take if any.