About 4 months back, we blogged about NRI grooms and their marriage prospects going down the drain with the stock market. WSJ concurs.

Without rehashing some of the points from the earlier post, here’s the top 10 tips for potential grooms.

1. Do your research. Go prepared. You will be asked to expound on the effects of the economy on the job market, your job, your prospective bride, her parents’ chances on travelling to the U.S, etc.

During a two-week wife-hunting trip to India in December, Mr. Marwaha interviewed 20 potential brides in 10 days. He says several parents asked him, “How has the recession impacted your job?” Mr. Marwaha says he assured them he hadn’t been affected at all, but still he returned to the U.S. brideless.

2. Never mind that you are a consultant and make about twice what a salaried employee would make for the same type of work. Do not, I repeat, do not bring that up in your marriage interview

Rahul Tamrakar, 32, a full-time consultant for International Business Machines Corp. in Chicago, has been looking for a bride back home in India. But he says prospective in-laws were worried that “consultant” was a euphemism for “unemployed.”

Replace consultant with “expert”, “specialist”, “professional”. Anything but “consultant”.

3. By now you’re probably used to submitting your tax documents for applying for anything from a car loan or a home loan to your immigration status. Remember to take them with you, to submit with your I420 – Application to wed thy daughter.

One parent asked to see his tax returns. He refused, and the talks fell through. Now, “I’m trying to meet up [with] girls who are in the U.S. already,” he says

4. Cleaning a toilet takes a grand total of 2 minutes, if that. Bringing that up in your marriage interview, bad idea.

in the U.S., “people have to even clean their own toilets,” says Hasit Dave, 55, who runs the Klassic Match Marriage Bureau in Ahmedabad, a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Funnily, it was not too far from Ahmedabad, in nearby Sabarmati, that one M.K.Gandhi cleaned toilets, the hard way, to teach the dignity of labor, but I digress.

5. When in India, speak Indian. Know the latest jargon. If she says you make her weak in her knees, it’s probably not a good thing.

Anisha Seth, 26, has been looking for a groom for two years now. But she feels “jittery” about considering nonresident Indians as possible options.

6. You may think you make a lot of money, she may not agree with you.

While she’s open to the idea of giving up her independence, she worries that given the state of the U.S. economy, a groom based in America might not be earning enough to support her.

7. Be prepared to shell out more money to match making consultants experts. While most services are lowering costs due to reduction in spending, matchmaking services are upping costs for NRI grooms.

Given the difficulty in finding matches for Indians abroad, some matchmakers are now charging them more. Mr. Dave of Klassic Match charges a minimum fee of $100, versus $50 for candidates living in India. He charges more for specific requirements.

8. Smart, educated and ….. docile? Stop looking for paradoxes.

For instance, he says some overseas Indians want a bride who is smart, fluent in English, and “simultaneously, docile in the house.” He says such women are now harder to find, so he bumps up his fees for some searches.

9. Go the Lou Dobbs route. Look in America.

Mr. Marwaha, the San Francisco software engineer, learned that the hard way.Among the 20 or so women he met, the parents of half of them were reluctant to send their daughter to the U.S., either because they were worried Mr. Marwaha would lose his job or because they felt they couldn’t verify his credentials. The other women just “didn’t click” with him, he says.
Now, “I’m trying to meet up [with] girls who are in the U.S. already,” he says.

Good luck going that route. Unless she is a student or H1B holder like yourself, you will probably get accused of going after her for the green card.

10. And last but not the least, move back to India.

Some overseas Indians are throwing in the towel. Software engineer Abhishek Khaitan, 30, moved back to India in January after living in the U.S. since 2004. Mr. Khaitan has found a job in the south Indian city of Hyderabad and has been in touch with potential brides. “Things are working out, being here,” he says.

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