I am working in Berlin as a software engineer on an unlimited contract and a blue card holder.
I got married in February 2018.
My wife had applied for spouse visa in Mumbai consulate in the month of May.
After the visa application, they asked for documents verification and we paid the fee of 45000 INR for verification.
There was a formal verification process of the marriage related documents done by an investigation officer. He collected following documents from my wife, my father-in law and her family:
- wedding invitation cards(from bride as well as groom’s side)- wedding album photos(several from each rituals performed as per Hindu marriage)- undertaking letters from all the witnesses present during the marriage registration. In this case my father -in -law, his elder brother, my mother-in-law,- my ID proof from Germany as well as India, my wife’s ID proof from India- after marriage photos of us together- photographs when she had come to see me off on the airport when I was leaving for Germany,- my passport pages photocopy(visa and entry stamp pages)- my salary slips,- he also called the priest who had carried out the rituals during wedding- he had visited the hotel premises and the baquet hall where the wedding had taken place and talked to the people there- also the marriage bureau office where we got our marriage registered.
If you see the list, we have provided whatever was asked and also every possible thing to prove.
After the verification was done in the month of June(mid), this week (August), my wife received the rejection of visa email.

The reason cited as "the prerequisites for the marriage registration were not met.Therefor the marriage certificate is invalid."
We consulted the lawyer and contacted the marriage bureau, and got the confirmation that there was no flaw ion the certificate.
After enquiring the Mumbai consulate, we got a reply as "The refusal of the visa is the sole discretion of the officer and cannot be reversed.
 
Unfortunately, we cannot give any more information in addition to what has been mentioned in the refusal letter.
"
now we are in a dilemmamwhether to apply for remonstration or re apply for the visa.
the problem in both the option is:
- remonstration: Do not know how much more time it should take and whether we will get any reply from the consulate or not. Because, after spending that much money for verification of documents and providing everything asked during the investigation, the application is rejected. So it seems entirely whimsical and dont know if anything will change after remonstration.or maybe I am not aware of the process about what happens after remonstration ..."any knowledge from members here based on experience is appreciated"
- Visa Re-application : The only thing which we can do different is get the marriage certificate apostilled to get the document authenticated which in my opinion during the verification process conducted by Mumbai consulate should have been done.again , I might be wrong.

If any one has experience or suggestions, please suggest. We are in desperate need of that.

Thanks a lot in advance for the help.

-Fani

Hi
I am in a same boat. My visa got rejected because mine was the love marriage and the place where our marriage ceremony was performed according to hindu marriage act was in some legal trouble after few years of my marriage and their registration got cancelled after few years of my marriage. I have a legally valid certificate of my marriage as  after ceremony it was a registered court mrriage. That marriage buro started working again with changed brand name but my marriage is invalid because of cancellation of earlier brand name.
I don't know what should i do. I come from  a small town , difficult to find immigration lawyer even?
can anyone please help?
In marriage is legally registered with the authority. 
Sorry, I couldn't answer your question but hopefully somebody will help both of us
Thaks in Advance