Getting married and H4 visa for spouse during covid

USA H4 Visa
1

Hi,

I’m currently living in US on a H1B visa and am planning to visit India in Nov/Dec 2020 and get married to my gf. We are thinking court marriage as not many people will risk attending a wedding during COVID. Once we get the marriage certificate, we will apply for H4 visa. Few questions:

  1. Will US embassies accept our application for a new H4 visa right now? My understanding is that embassies are currently only accepting renewal applications for F, J, M visas as well as those on H and L visas who qualify for an exception from the Presidential Proclamations?
  2. I recently came across this blog (from initial days of COVID, am22tech .com/h4-visa-incomplete-marriage-form-221g ) which says that US embassies in India require more than court marriage nowadays. They require a traditional marriage and wedding album for the same. I wanted to ask if this is indeed the case and should we also do a traditional marriage? Can an exception be made because of the COVID situation?
  3. I also need my visa renewed (expiring Oct 2020). Can I apply for the renewal and H4 visa for my gf simultaneously or will they have to be separate appointments?

Thanks,

Pranay

2
  1. You cannot get appointment now as you are not married yet.
  2. Not necessarily, as long as you have all legal documents, you are fine. You can always say COVID situation.
  3. You can get same appointment date, depending on the availability.
3

Hi Kumar,

Thanks for the quick reply. For 1), I was planning to get married in Nov/Dec. Post marriage, will the US embassy accept my future wife’s H4 visa application?

Thanks,

Pranay

4

After marriage for sure, she can. The reason is you are not subject to proclamation.

5

Thanks Kumar for the confirmation