Thursday, 27 February 2020

Procedure for NRIs to Get CENOMAR From Tahsildar in India


The metropolitan people have civil bodies, which look after the rights and requirements of India’s civilians. They have Municipal Corporations, the state’s High Court & sub-divisional magistrates. It’s like a walkover to access these governing authorities for fulfilling immigration-based requirements regarding documentation or paper work.

But, the village folks face a ton of challenges to get a single status certificate, which is also called CENOMAR in Philippines. However, this certificate is known with its different names in diverse countries, like Nulla Osta, Certificate of No Impediment and bachelorhood certificate etc..

CENOMAR or Unmarried Certificate:

CENOMAR or Certificate of No Marriage is uniquely defined as a significant legal paper, which reads that the person is legally single. The word ‘single’ determines that the person is not in any matrimony. Sometimes, this singleness is misunderstood as bachelorhood. To blur this misconception, it stands for the status of being divorced, widowed and bachelor.

These three conditions point on the single status of a person. The single status certificate is a legal proof, stating any of the foregone statuses, which determine the person has no spouse.

Mandatory for Solemnizing Marriage Abroad:
Many foreign countries, like the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany, the Philippines and a many more, have a provision of presenting the legal proof of being single. It is a precautionary measure from defaulters who engage in polygamy for getting citizenship of the country where they live in. It is simply because many European countries, Australia and other ones offer citizenship right after the marriage with their residents. The greed of acquiring foreign citizenship leads to this illegal practice.
Given the aforementioned fact, the foreign immigration authorities ask to present this certificate before marriage. This is why Indian citizens also require it before solemnizing wedding with a foreigner.  It helps to steer away legal challenges and denial by the foreign affairs ministry.   

CENOMAR from Tahsildar:
India has a pervasive practice of following the Hindu Marriage Act or the Special Marriage Act. These laws implicate, but do not mandate registering the marriage. Neither does India have a provision to register for bachelorhood certificate. So, it does not have any particular competent authority that issues the documented proof of being unmarried.

To overcome this rift, there are regional courts, SDM offices and Tahsildars where such applications are administered. Apart from metropolitans, the villages have Tahsildars who hold the legal rights to authenticate this status upon verifying the requisite documents.

Checklist of Required Documents:
Duly attested photocopy of the passport (first & last page)
Birth certificate
Aadhaar card
Ration card
An affidavit with the mention of the fact that the appellant is single/ unmarried.

Procedure: 
Once you have rounded up the aforementioned documents, follow these steps to get that bachelorhood certificate for NRIs.

Put all documents together and get them notarized.
Write-up a statement of being unmarried while putting down the residential and parental details on a stamp paper. It is called an affidavit. Get it notarized also.
Visit Tahsildar/ VAO office/ the Indian High Commissioner office. Generally, the villages don’t have the latter one facility. So, Tahsildar office is the only option left to be opted for.
Submit all notarized documents to the Tahsildar.
Pay the requisite fee against that service.
Subsequently, a police inquiry takes place within 30 days.  However, it is not mandatory. If the authority requires, it may carry it out.
You should have at least two witnesses to favour your affidavit. Those witnesses can be your relatives or neighbours. Ask them to be ready with their residential proof.
Once the police inquiry is done, the authenticated documents are sent to Tahsildar for attestation.

This is how the single status certificate is issued to the applicant from Tahsildar.

Attestation: 
The applicant should take it to the HRD of the state where he/ she belongs to.  It will attest within a week.

Then comes the attestation from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)! Nobody can directly contact it for attestation. Instead, there are some authorised agencies that deal with NRI services. You can get through those names of professionals from the MEA website. Approach any of them. It will ask for some service charges. Pay. The certificate will be sent within a fortnight or month. 

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