We all have heard the saying, “love has no boundaries”. These boundaries also include the geographical ones. Transnational or International marriages, where two people from different countries fall in love and tie the knot has been very popular for the past few years. This concept lately became even more prevalent after the famous marriage of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Their wedding, at least as per the pictures, has been no less than a fairy tale. Two wedding ceremonies in Indian and English style, and both the families participating in full spirit.

Here’s one question – is an international marriage that easy for common people like us? Well, before you answer here are five real-life stories of transnational marriage.

1. Manpreet is an Indian Sikh woman born and brought up in a small town of Punjab. Her family makes her marry an NRI settled in Canada. As she shifts there with him, she undergoes a lot of trouble dwelling in a new culture, meeting foreigners, adapting their lifestyle and more. However, from the first day of their marriage, her husband shows utmost support and love to her, gives her enough time to get comfortable in her new surroundings. He never asked her to leave or change her Indian values, and so today they are having a blissful relationship.

2. Pankaj is an Indian guy, who got his job placement in an MNC in the US. After staying for 2 years in America, he fell in love with a Spanish girl. They both fell in love at first sight but language was a big hurdle in their relationship. They didn’t have a common language to speak and often used internet translators to converse. As they had a strong emotional bond, they decided to marry with an expectation that either of them will learn the other’s language. It has been 3 years of their marriage, they are still struggling with communication problems and now have zero understanding or patience towards each other.

3. Laura is a British girl married to Raghav, an Indian citizen. They both met at their college university and later got married. Due to their job and family commitments, they can’t leave their respective cities and meet only twice in a year. For the rest of the months, video calls are their only mode of interaction and communication. Being in a long distance relationship, that too with a person from a completely different culture, they often had issues in the beginning. But they showed patience, worked on the problems, got counselling and now are a happily married couple.

4. Donna, an American girl met an Indian boy Rahul at their workplace. They bonded well and got married after a year of knowing each other. Later, she shifted with him in Jaipur. Rahul completely understands her identity and choices. He never expected her to be a traditional home-maker but his family opposed her working outside and tried to change her as per their thinking. In spite of much effort from Rahul’s end to convince his family, he failed and Donna went back to America.  

5. Sahil is an Indian guy working in New Zealand for the past 4 years. He met a foreigner girl there and after 6 months of relationship, they both got married in a church. Now it’s been 2 years of their marriage and they fight almost every day. The common reason being Sahil doesn’t approve of her lifestyle and forces her to live as per his conditions. She tries a lot to make him trust her or understand her but fails every time, and today they are on the verge of breaking up.

Lessons and tips for a successful international marriage:

Surely each marriage has its own set of problems but when talking about transnational marriages, there are certain issues which are common. However, here are a few suggestions that can help you prevent possible issues in your marriage.

1. You both should have a common language to talk to each other.

2. You should respect each other’s identity and ethnic origin, and never try to change it.

3. Give time to your partner to get comfortable in new surroundings and understand your lifestyle.

4. Respect and celebrate each other’s traditions and festivals.

5. Find those activities which you both like and don’t just impose your preferences on the other one.

6. Make your family accept and respect your partner’s origin and lifestyle. Never disrespect your spouse’s country or thoughts.

7. Learn the good things from each other’s culture and incorporate them in your daily living.

8. Make room for her Bible along with your Geeta.

Are you willing to go beyond the boundaries knowing the pros and cons of International Marriages?