Interim Decision #2526 

MATTER OF. LWIN 

In Visa Petition Proceedings 

A-20205803 

Decided by Board September 1, 1976 

(1) The United States - citizen petitioner applied for immediate relative status for the 

beneficiary as her spouse under section 201(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

The district director denied the petition on the ground that the beneficiary, who had 

lived with an Indian Christian woman in Burma from 1963 to 1965, had a prior undissolved marriage in Burma, and the petitioner appealed. 

(2) In Burma, a marriage contracted between a Christian and a non-Christian, or between 

two Christians, must be solemnized in accordance with the requirements of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. That act requires that for such marriage to be valid it must be 

solemnized before one of the persons named in the act and be recorded with the 

Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 

(5) Where the beneficiary denied he had married in Burma, and there was no civil 

documentation of beneficiary's alleged prior marriage, and the affidavit of beneficiary's 

father indicates he did not witness or participate in a marriage ceremony in Burma 

involving the beneficiary, it is concluded that there was no prior marriage in Burma and 

the marriage on which the instant petition is based is valid for immigration purposes and 

the petition will be granted. 

ON BEHALF OF PtaTLIONER: Pro se 

The United States citizen petitioner applied for immediate relative 

status for the beneficiary as her spouse under section 201(b) of the 

Immigration and Nationality Act In a decision dated November 18, 

1975, the District Director denied the petition on the ground that the 

beneficiary had a prior undissolved marriage in Burma. The petitioner 

appealed. The appeal will be sustained. 

The beneficiary is a male Buddhist, native of Burma. He married the 

petitioner on May 10, 1974, in Orlando, Florida, after obtaininga divorce 

from a Florida resident. 

The evidence in the record establishes that from 1963 to 1965 the 

beneficiary lived with'an Indian Christian in Burma. From that cohabitation a child was born in 1965. The beneficiary states that he did not 

marry the mother of his child. 

In the record we have an affidavit from the father of the beneficiary 

stating that the beneficiary did marry the Indian Christian female. 

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However, the affiant states that he did not attend any marriage ceremony. The United States Embassy in Rangoon, Burma informs us that 

there is no civil documentation of the marriage in Burma. 

Given the conflicting evidence in the record regarding the applicable 

law of marriage in Burma, assistance has been requested from the 

Library of Congress. We have received a memorandum of law dated 

July 1976 on the applicable law in Burma. 

We are informed that in Burma when one or both of the parties are 

Christians, marriage can be validly contracted only in accordance with 

the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. This Act requires for a validity of 

the marriage that it be solemnized before one of the persons named in 

the Act. The Act further requires that all marriages solemnized in 

accordance with it be registered with the Registrar-General of Births, 

Deaths and Marriages. 

The evidence in the record indicates that the beneficiary could only 

have married his purported Burmese wife under the requirements of 

the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. The beneficiary was steadfast in his 

denial that he had married in Burma. The Embassy informs us that 

there is no civil documentation of a marriage by the beneficiary in 

Burma. The affidavit of the beneficiary's father states that he did not 

witness or participate in a marriage ceremony of the beneficiary. 

We conclude that there was no prior marriage in Burma, and that the 

beneficiary is the spouse of the United States citizen petitioner. Accordingly, the appeal will be sustained and the visa petition granted. 

ORDER: The appeal is sustained and the visa petition granted. 

ADDENDUM 

THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE ACT 

(Registration Provisions) 

4. Every marriage between persons, one or both of whom is or are a 

Christian or Christians, shall be solemnized in accordance with the 

provisions of the next following section; and any such marriage solemnized otherwise than in accordance with such provisions shall be void. 

5. Marriages may be solemnized in the Union of Burma— 

(1) by any person who has received episcopal ordination, provided 

that the marriage be solemnized according to the rules, rites, 

ceremonies, and customs of the Church of which he is a Minister; 

(2) by any Clergyman of the Church of Scotland, provided that such 

marriage be solemnized according to the rules, rites, ceremonies, 

and customs of the Church of Scotland; 

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(3) by any Minister of religion licensed under this Act to solemnize 

marriages; 

(4) by, or in the presence of, a Marriage Registrar appointed under 

this Act; 

(5) by any person licensed under this Act to grant certificates of 

marriage between native Christians, 

9. The President of the Union may grant a licence to any Christian, 

either by name or as holding any office for the time being, authorizing 

him to grant certificates of marriage between native Christians. 

Any such licence may be revoked by the President of the Union and 

every such grant or revocation shall be notified in the Gazette. 

[If any person licensed under this section solemnizes or affects to 

solemnize any marriage under Part VI or grants any certificate as 

therein mentioned, knowing that one of the parties to such marriage or 

affected marriage was at the date of such solemnization not a Christian, 

he shall be liable to have his licence cancelled, and in addition thereto he 

shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence under section 73, and shall be 

punishable according.] 

27. All marriages hereafter solemnized in the Union of Burma between persons one or both of whom professes or profess the Christian 

religion, except marriages solemnized under Part V or Part VI of this 

Act, shall be registered in manner hereinafter prescribed. 

29. Every clergyman, of the Church of England shall send four times 

in every year returns in duplicate, authenticated by his signature, of the 

entries in the register of marriages solemnized at any place where he 

has any spiritual charge, to the Registrar of the Archdeaconry to which 

he is subject, or within the limits of which such place is situate. 

Such quarterly returns shall contain all, the entries of marriages 

contained in the said register from the first day of January to the 

thirty-first day of March, from the first day of April to the thirtieth day 

of June, from the first day of July to the thirtieth day of September, and 

from the first day of October to the thirty-first day of December, of each 

year respectively, and shall be sent by such clergyman within two 

weeks from the expiration of each of the quarters above specified. 

The said Registrar upon receiving the said returns shall send one copy 

thereof to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 

30. Every marriage solemnized by a clergyman of the Church of Rome 

shall be registered by the person and according to the form directed in 

that behalf by the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese or Vicariate in 

which such marriage is solemnized, and such person shall forward quarterly to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages returns 

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of the entries of all marriages registered. by him during the three 

months next preceding. 

31. Every clergyman of the Church of Scotland shall keep a register of 

marriages, and shall register therein, according to the tabular form set 

forth in the Third Schedule hereto annexed, every marriage which he 

solemnizes under this Act, and shall forward quarterly to the 

Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, through the Senior 

Chaplain of the Church of Scotland, returns, similar to those prescribed 

in section 29, of all such marriages. 

32. Every marriage solemnized by any person who has received 

episcopal ordination, but who is not a clergyman of the Church of 

England, or of the Church of Rome, or by any Minister of religion 

licensed under this Act to solemnize marriages, shall, immediately after 

the solemnization thereof, be registered in duplicate by the person 

solemnizing the same; (that is to say) in a marriage register-book to be 

kept by him for that purpose, according to the form contained in the 

Fourth Schedule hereto annexed, and also in a certificate attached to the 

marriage register-book as a counterfoil. 

34. The person solemnizing the marriage shall forthwith separate the 

certificate from the marriage register-book and send it, within one 

month from the time of the solemnization, to the Marriage Registrar of 

the district in which the marriage was solemnized, or, if there be more 

Marriage Registrars than one, to the Senior Marriage Registrar, who 

shall cause such certificate to be copied into a book to be kept by him for 

that purpose, and shall send all the certificates which he has received 

during the month, with such number and signature or initials added 

thereto as are hereinafter required, to the Registrar-General of Births, 

Deaths and Marriages. 

36. The Marriage Registrar shall also add such last-mentioned 

n-urnber of the entry of the copy in the book to the certificate, with his 

signature or initials, and shall, at the end of every month, send the same 

to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 

37. When any marriage between native Christians is solemnized by 

any such person, clergyman or Minister of religion as is referred to in 

clause (1), clause (2) or clause (3) of section 5, the person solemnizing the 

same shall, instead of proceeding in the manner provided by sections 28 

to 36, both inclusive, register the marriage in a separate register-book, 

and shall keep it safely until it is filled, or, if he leave the district in 

which he solemnized the marriage before the said book is filled, shall 

make over the same to the person succeeding to his duties in the said 

district. 

Whoever has the control of the book at the time when it is filled shall 

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send it to the Marriage Registrar of the district, or, if there be more 

Marriage Registrars than one, to the Senior Marriage Registrar, who 

shall send it to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, 

to be kept by him with the records of his office. 

PART V. 

Marriages solemnized by, or in the 

presence of, a Marriage Registrar. 

38. When a marriage is intended to be solemnized by, or in the 

presence of, a Marriage Registrar, one of the parties to such marriage 

shall give notice in writing, in the form contained in the First Schedule 

hereto annexed, or to the like effect, to any Marriage Registrar of the 

district within which the parties have dwelt, or, if the parties dwell in 

different districts, shall give the like notice to a Marriage Registrar of 

each district, and shall state therein the name and surname, and the 

profession or condition, of each of the parties intending marriage, the 

dwelling-place of each of them, the time during which each has dwelt 

therein, and the place aL which the marriage is to be solemnized: 

Provided that, if either party has dwelt in the place stated in the 

notice for more than one month, it may be stated therein that he or she 

has dwelt there one month and upwards. 

. 

55. The Marriage Registrar shall forthwith separate the certificate 

from the marriage register-book and send it, at the end of every month, 

to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 

The Marriage Registrar shall keep safely the said register-book until 

it is filled, and shall then send it to the Registrar-General of Births, 

Deaths and Marriages, to be kept by him with the records of his office. 

PART VI. 

Marriage of native Christians. 

. . . 

62. Every person licensed under section 9 shall keep in English, or in 

the vernacular language in ordinary use in the district or State in which 

the marriage was solemnized, and in such form as the President of the 

Union may from time to time prescribe, a register-book of all marriages 

solemnized under this Part in his presence, and shall deposit in the office 

of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, in such form 

and at such intervals as the President of the Union may prescribe, true 

and duly authenticated extracts from his register-book of all entries 

made therein since the last of those intervals. 

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