No profession is more closely tied to Kerala's Christian families than nursing. Schools of nursing attached to mission hospitals sent Malayali nurses to Delhi and Mumbai from the 1950s, then to the Gulf, then to Britain, Ireland, Germany, Italy and the United States. In a great many families, a daughter or sister in nursing abroad is the reason the household stands where it does.
The usual shape of a Kerala marriage is that the bride joins the groom's household. When the bride is a nurse on a health or care visa abroad, it is often she who can sponsor a spouse — and so it is the groom who moves.
This is now common rather than unusual. What causes difficulty is not the arrangement itself but families discovering it late. Raise it in the first conversation.
Nursing is shift work. Nights, weekends and Christmas are worked. A spouse who has not lived with that will find the first year harder than expected. Families that match a nurse with someone in healthcare often do so for exactly this reason — the pattern is already understood on both sides.
Almost always in Kerala, during leave, with the couple returning afterwards. That constrains the date more than most families expect, so fix the leave before fixing the hall.
Profiles on our nurse matrimony pages record the country of residence alongside rite, diocese and parish, so families can see from the start whether the arrangement they have in mind is realistic.
Bengaluru holds one of the largest Malayali Catholic populations outside Kerala. How families there search for...
Life abroadWhen one side lives in the Gulf, Europe or North America, the marriage runs on two clocks — the family's and t...
Catholic brides and grooms from every rite and diocese. Each profile is reviewed by our team, and registration is free.
Register free Browse profiles