A wife left in India while the husband works abroad faces a practical, not legal, obstacle course. The right to maintenance under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (corresponding to Section 125 CrPC), under the Hindu Marriage Act or the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, or under the DV Act, does not diminish because the respondent holds a foreign visa. What changes is the mechanics: where to file, how to serve a man in another country, how to proceed when he ignores the summons, and — the question that decides whether the order is worth its paper — how to recover against his income and assets. Each stage has an established answer.
Jurisdiction: the wife's residence anchors the case
The maintenance jurisdiction is deliberately claimant-friendly. Section 145 BNSS (corresponding to Section 126 CrPC) permits proceedings in the district where the respondent resides or last resided, but equally where the wife resides — so a wife living with her parents in Delhi files in Delhi. The DV Act, by Section 27, similarly allows filing where the aggrieved person resides, where the respondent resides, or where the cause of action arose. Personal-law maintenance claims travel with the matrimonial petition or as independent proceedings before the Family Court. The respondent's foreign residence never ousts jurisdiction; at most it colours how service and evidence proceed.
Service abroad: the stage where cases stall, and needn't
Interim relief does not wait for his convenience
Once the court is satisfied of service — or of deliberate evasion — the proceedings move. Interim maintenance under Section 144 BNSS or Section 23 of the DV Act can be fixed on the wife's affidavit and the material she can marshal about his income: the affidavit of assets and liabilities, his employment and designation abroad, social media and immigration-linked indications of lifestyle, remittance records, property holdings and bank statements to which she has access. Courts recognise that a wife rarely holds her NRI husband's payslips, and draw reasonable inferences from status, qualifications and standard of living; a respondent who wants a different figure must appear and disclose.
Suppression cuts both ways: the wife's own affidavit of assets must be candid. The credibility earned by full disclosure is itself an asset in a contest where the other side's finances are opaque.
Enforcement: making the order bite
| Route | How it operates against an NRI |
|---|---|
| Warrant for levy under Section 144(3) BNSS | On default, the court issues a warrant for levying the amount due in the manner of a fine; sentence for default remains available month by month, which matters the moment he visits India. |
| Attachment of Indian assets | Bank accounts, fixed deposits, rental income and immovable property in India can be proceeded against; maintenance orders are executable as money decrees through the civil machinery where the statute so channels them. |
| Employer-linked recovery | Where the employer has an Indian establishment or salary is remitted to Indian accounts, attachment of those receivables is practical and effective. |
| Reciprocal transmission | For certain reciprocating territories, maintenance orders can be transmitted for enforcement abroad under long-standing statutory arrangements; where the country is not covered, Indian-asset execution remains the mainstay. |
| Coercive presence measures | Persistent contumacy can justify warrants and, in appropriate cases, court-directed steps that make travel to India legally uncomfortable — a significant lever for respondents with family and property here. |
Practical counsel
For the wife: plead his foreign employment with as much specificity as the record allows, seek electronic service early, press for interim maintenance rather than waiting for perfect proof of income, and identify Indian assets at the outset so enforcement follows the order without a second investigation. For the NRI respondent: non-appearance is a strategy that compounds — arrears accumulate, ex parte findings harden, and Indian assets and travel remain exposed. Appearing through counsel, disclosing honestly and contesting quantum is almost always the wiser course than absence.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice or a solicitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a wife in Delhi file for maintenance if her husband lives abroad?
Yes. Section 145 BNSS lets maintenance proceedings be taken, among other places, in the district where the wife resides. Her residence in Delhi grounds jurisdiction regardless of where the husband lives or works, and the same is broadly true of DV Act proceedings under Section 27 of that Act.
How is an NRI respondent served?
Through the modes the court sanctions: service at his last Indian address and through family where permitted, by registered post or courier to the foreign address, through email and messaging platforms where the court so directs, and formally through the Ministry of External Affairs machinery for service abroad in countries with which arrangements exist. Courts in matrimonial matters routinely permit electronic service where the respondent is evading.
What if he simply does not appear?
The court can proceed ex parte and fix interim and final maintenance on the material available. Section 144(3) BNSS provides the enforcement machinery for defaults, and an ex parte order can later be set aside only on demonstrating good cause, ordinarily on terms including payment of arrears.
How is the money actually recovered from abroad?
Primarily by making the order effective within India: warrants for levy against his movable and immovable property here, attachment of Indian bank accounts and rental income, and recovery from employers with an Indian presence where salary is remitted. For reciprocating territories, statutory arrangements for transmission of maintenance orders exist; where they do not, execution against Indian assets remains the practical route.