How to marry in India as an Australian citizen: the certificate, the 30-day notice and the paperwork

The Australian High Commission in New Delhi cannot marry you. Its older guidance page states that it “does not have the authority to conduct marriages in India”, and the Consulate-General in Mumbai says its certificate states that the post is “unable to confirm whether the person named is actually free to marry”. What the Australian posts in India do issue, for A$181 under the Mumbai Consulate-General’s 2026 fee schedule, is the certificate that, according to the High Commission, Indian authorities require before they will register the marriage. For anyone planning to marry in India as an Australian citizen, that certificate comes first.

Why an Australian citizen needs a certificate to marry in India

The Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage (CNI) rests on the applicant’s own declaration. The Mumbai Consulate-General describes it as “a general statement of the law in Australia concerning the recognition of foreign marriages”, and says the signed application form “is the equivalent of a Commonwealth statutory declaration” under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959. A CNI can be issued only if, on the applicant’s information, the parties are not closely related, are both at least 18 and are not already married.

The High Commission’s current page sets out the process. At least one applicant must be an Australian citizen. The Australian applicant books an appointment, attends in person, signs only before a consular official and pays on submission. To meet Indian authorities’ requirements, the form must give an Australian residential address. Applicants bring passports or photo identification, any divorce or death certificate from an earlier marriage, and English translations where needed. Applications are lodged in New Delhi or at the Consulates-General in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, and the High Commission states that Indian authorities “will only accept a Certificate of No Impediment issued by the Australian mission that has the jurisdiction over the place of marriage”. Smartraveller notes that DFAT can issue a CNI in Australia, but that “some local authorities only accept CNIs issued in their country”.

Older guidance gives a different fee: the earlier High Commission page, still online, lists the CNI at A$90. The Consular Fees Regulations 2018 set it at A$143 and index it to the consumer price index every 1 January. The Mumbai Consulate-General’s schedule of notarial fees as of 1 January 2026 lists a CNI at A$181, with the rupee amount changing monthly with the exchange rate. The High Commission’s own fee page still shows a 2023 schedule, and the next indexation day is 1 January 2027.

Which Act applies to your wedding

The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 applies to Hindus, and section 2 extends it to any person who is “a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion”. Section 5 allows a marriage between two Hindus if, among other conditions, “neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage” and “the bridegroom has completed the age of twenty one years and the bride the age of eighteen years”.

Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act 1954 allows a marriage “between any two persons” on similar conditions: no living spouse, capacity to consent, the man at least 21 and the woman at least 18, and no prohibited relationship. The High Commission’s older page says the Act covers marriages between people of different religions, “but people of the same faith can also be married under this Act”.

The Special Marriage Act route: notice, thirty days, three witnesses

Under section 5 the couple gives written notice to the Marriage Officer of the district in which at least one of them “has resided for a period of not less than thirty days immediately preceding the date on which such notice is given”.

Section 6 requires the officer to publish the notice by affixing a copy in a conspicuous place in the office. Section 7 lets “any person” object within thirty days of publication on the ground that the marriage would breach section 4. After those thirty days, the marriage “may be solemnized, unless it has been previously objected to”.

Under section 11 the parties and three witnesses sign a declaration in the presence of the Marriage Officer. Section 12 allows any form of ceremony, so long as each party tells the other, before the officer and the witnesses, that they take the other as their lawful wife or husband. The officer then enters a certificate in the Marriage Certificate Book, and section 13 makes that certificate “conclusive evidence” that the marriage has been solemnised. Under section 14, if the marriage is not solemnised within three calendar months of the notice, the notice lapses and a new one is needed.

The Hindu Marriage Act route and why registration matters

A Hindu marriage may be solemnised under section 7 “in accordance with the customary rites and ceremonies of either party”, and where the rites include the saptapadi, “the marriage becomes complete and binding when the seventh step is taken”.

Section 8 lets state governments make registration rules and make registration compulsory, but section 8(5) says “the validity of any Hindu Marriage shall in no way be affected by the omission to make the entry”. In Seema v Ashwani Kumar, the Supreme Court of India directed in 2006 that all marriages be compulsorily registered; a 2007 order in the case records that marriages “are to be made compulsorily registrable in respect of persons who are citizens of India even if they belonged to various religions”.

The Delhi Revenue Department‘s checklist for registering a Hindu marriage asks for proof of date of birth and residence, the wedding invitation card if available, ceremonial photographs, affidavits and, for a foreign national, a certificate from the embassy concerned on his or her present marital status.

The High Commission’s current page takes a different position from section 8(5). It states that a marriage in India “must be registered with Indian authorities (Municipal Corporation/ respective court) to be a valid marriage under the Indian law”, and: “If you do not formally register your marriage with Indian authorities, you are not legally married in India or Australia.”

How Australia recognises an Indian marriage

Smartraveller states that “you can’t register an overseas marriage in Australia”. Recognition comes instead under Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961. Section 88C applies the Part to a marriage solemnised in a foreign country and recognised as valid under the local law, and section 88D(1) provides that such a marriage “shall be recognised in Australia as valid”.

Section 88D(2) sets out exceptions: a party already married to someone else, a party domiciled in Australia and either party under Australian marriageable age, a prohibited relationship, or consent that was not real. Later subsections add others. The Attorney-General’s Department states that an overseas marriage is generally recognised if it “was a valid marriage in the overseas country, and would have been a valid marriage here”.

Under section 88G, an original or certified copy of a marriage certificate issued by an authority of the foreign country is “prima facie evidence of the facts stated in the document and of the validity of the marriage”, unless that authority is shown not to have been competent. The High Commission suggests couples could “consider getting an apostille” of the certificate. The Attorney-General’s Department notes that “some states and territories don’t accept overseas marriage certificates if you want to change your name”.

Why the registered certificate matters for a partner visa

Section 12 of the Migration Act 1958 provides that “for the purpose of deciding whether a marriage is to be recognised as valid for the purposes of this Act, Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961 applies”, with section 88E treated as omitted. Section 5F(2) also requires a mutual commitment to a shared life as a married couple to the exclusion of all others and a relationship that “is genuine and continuing”. The Department of Home Affairs page for the subclass 309 partner visa tells married applicants to “provide your marriage certificate or other evidence that your marriage is valid in Australia”.

The official sources describe a sequence: a CNI to register the marriage in India, an Indian certificate that Part VA treats as prima facie evidence, and a Home Affairs request for a marriage certificate or other evidence of validity in a partner visa application. This article is general information, not legal or tax advice.