Hi all. I am in a very concerning situation that I hope you all can help me with.
8 years ago, when I was 23 years old, I got married back in my home country. It was an arranged marriage where I didn't see the girl until the day of the marriage itself. Predictably, things didn't work out and we separated after 3 days without even consummating the marriage. The girl went back to her home and I have never seen her again. She sent me a notarised divorce affidavit where she declared she did not want to stay with me and by islamic law we are now divorced since I vested in her the power to divorce me in the kabin nama (divorce contract) and that we shall never again consider each other husband and wife. I didn't challenge it. By traditional islamic law, after 90 days, we were to de divorced. 90 days passed and I start living my life as a divorcee. It was a family marriage and my family all said we are now divorced, hence why I never had reason to look into this further.
After a few years, in 2020, I got married again and am now the father of 2 sons. I received my ITA a few weeks ago in the CEC class. I didn't even know my past marital history needs to be mentioned until I saw the full application after ITA. Since they ask for divorce certificate, I started to dig into my first marriage and I realised that the divorce wasn't executed properly by my country's law. It wasn't enough for her to just send me an affadavit. She also needed to notify the Union Chairman who will form an arbitration council and request the parties 3 times to meet for reconciliation. Once the 3 notices are sent and no party shows up/reconciliation can't be done, the divorce certificate is issued.
Given this newfound information, I have already sent my Union Chairman a notice of divorce. Naturally, no party is contesting. I should be receiving my divorce certificate in 60 days. But the problem is, my ITA lapses in 40 days.
What is the best thing to do in this situation? Should I just let the ITA lapse, get my divorce certificate, then wait for a new ITA? But can I get an ITA just now (while still being technically married to first wife and second wife as well by the laws of my country), and then do AOR after receiving my divorce certificate? Or should I wait for ITA once the divorce process is finished and I actually have the certificate in hand?
Or should I just apply somehow with my existing ITA?
8 years ago, when I was 23 years old, I got married back in my home country. It was an arranged marriage where I didn't see the girl until the day of the marriage itself. Predictably, things didn't work out and we separated after 3 days without even consummating the marriage. The girl went back to her home and I have never seen her again. She sent me a notarised divorce affidavit where she declared she did not want to stay with me and by islamic law we are now divorced since I vested in her the power to divorce me in the kabin nama (divorce contract) and that we shall never again consider each other husband and wife. I didn't challenge it. By traditional islamic law, after 90 days, we were to de divorced. 90 days passed and I start living my life as a divorcee. It was a family marriage and my family all said we are now divorced, hence why I never had reason to look into this further.
After a few years, in 2020, I got married again and am now the father of 2 sons. I received my ITA a few weeks ago in the CEC class. I didn't even know my past marital history needs to be mentioned until I saw the full application after ITA. Since they ask for divorce certificate, I started to dig into my first marriage and I realised that the divorce wasn't executed properly by my country's law. It wasn't enough for her to just send me an affadavit. She also needed to notify the Union Chairman who will form an arbitration council and request the parties 3 times to meet for reconciliation. Once the 3 notices are sent and no party shows up/reconciliation can't be done, the divorce certificate is issued.
Given this newfound information, I have already sent my Union Chairman a notice of divorce. Naturally, no party is contesting. I should be receiving my divorce certificate in 60 days. But the problem is, my ITA lapses in 40 days.
What is the best thing to do in this situation? Should I just let the ITA lapse, get my divorce certificate, then wait for a new ITA? But can I get an ITA just now (while still being technically married to first wife and second wife as well by the laws of my country), and then do AOR after receiving my divorce certificate? Or should I wait for ITA once the divorce process is finished and I actually have the certificate in hand?
Or should I just apply somehow with my existing ITA?