Guide
How to write a marriage biodata
A biodata is the first thing another family sees, and usually the only thing they see before deciding whether to talk. This is what belongs on it, what does not, and a template you can copy.
Last reviewed 1 September 2026
What a biodata is for
A rishta biodata has one job: to let another family decide, in a minute or two, whether a conversation is worth starting. It is not a CV. Nobody agrees to a marriage because of a biodata. They agree to a phone call.
That framing changes what goes on it. If the purpose is to start the right conversations and prevent the wrong ones, then the useful fields are the ones that would end a conversation later anyway — sect, city, whether you intend to settle abroad, whether you already have children. Getting those on the page is a kindness to everyone. Leaving them off does not create possibilities, it just moves the disappointment three weeks later.
The eleven things that belong on it
Almost everything another family needs sits in these eleven fields. The order matters less than the completeness.
| Field | Why the other family needs it |
|---|---|
| Name | First name and family name is enough at this stage. |
| Date of birth | Write the date, not “27 years”. A biodata circulates for months and an age goes stale. |
| Height | Asked for in nearly every enquiry. Leaving it blank invites the question rather than avoiding it. |
| City and country | City, not full address. Where you live now and where you expect to live are often different — say both. |
| Sect and practice | Sunni, Shia, Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahl-e-Hadith. Add a line on practice: prayer, hijab, whether you want a practising partner. |
| Marital status | Never married, divorced, khula, widowed. If there are children, say so and say who they live with. |
| Education | Highest qualification and the institution. Two lines. |
| Work | What you do, not who you work for. “Software engineer” is useful; the company name is a way to be found. |
| Caste or biradari | Only if it genuinely matters to your family. If it does not, leaving it off widens the pool. |
| Family | Father’s occupation, mother, number of siblings and whether they are married. Families are matching families. |
| What you are looking for | Four or five specifics. This is the single most useful part and the one most often left vague. |
That last row is where most biodatas fail. “Looking for a good, religious, educated person from a decent family” describes almost everyone and filters nobody. “Sunni, 26–31, Masters or above, settled in the UK or willing to move, no objection to my mother living with us” is a real set of requirements, and it is the difference between a short list you read properly and a long one you skim.
What to leave out, and why
A biodata is a document you lose control of the moment you send it. It gets forwarded to an aunt, who forwards it to a friend, who forwards it to a group. Assume every biodata will eventually be seen by someone you did not choose, and write it accordingly.
- Home address. City is enough. A street address on a forwarded sheet is a safety problem, particularly for women.
- CNIC, passport or any ID number. There is no stage of a rishta at which another family needs this.
- Employer name and office location. Your role is relevant. Where to find you on a Tuesday afternoon is not.
- Phone numbers and social media handles. These belong to the introduction, once both sides have agreed, not to the document.
- Photographs embedded in the file. Covered below — this is the one people regret most.
- Salary. An income band, if you must. An exact figure invites the wrong kind of interest.
A template you can copy
Copy this into a document and fill it in. It fits on one page, which is the point. Delete any line that does not apply rather than writing “N/A” eleven times.
Name — Full name
Date of birth — DD Month YYYY (city of birth, if relevant)
Height — e.g. 5′6″
Currently living in — City, country
Willing to settle in — City or country, or “staying here”
Nationality / status — e.g. British citizen, Pakistani passport, Spanish residency
Sect — and one line on practice
Marital status — and children, if any, and who they live with
Education — Highest qualification, institution, year
Work — Role and field
Languages — e.g. Urdu, Punjabi, English
Family
Father — occupation (or late)
Mother — occupation or homemaker
Siblings — number, and how many married
Family based in — city
Looking for
Age range —
Sect —
Education —
Location —
Anything you will not compromise on —
Contact — through [parent / sibling / the desk], not a direct number
Five mistakes that come up again and again
- Writing it like a CV. Achievements, certifications, a skills list. The other family is not hiring. They want to know how you live.
- An age instead of a date of birth. Biodatas circulate for months. “26 years” written in March is wrong by August, and it reads as carelessness to a family checking details.
- Vague requirements. “Educated, religious, good family.” If your requirements do not exclude anyone, they are not requirements, and every proposal you get will be a guess.
- Hiding something that will surface anyway. A divorce, a child, a health condition, a plan to emigrate. It comes out, and when it comes out late it reads as concealment rather than the ordinary fact it is.
- Two pages. The second page is rarely read. If a point needs three paragraphs, it is a conversation.
Common questions
What should a marriage biodata include?
Name, date of birth, height, city, sect, marital status, education, work, family composition, and what you are looking for. That is enough. Anything a stranger could use to find or pressure you belongs in a private conversation, not on a sheet that will be forwarded: home address, ID numbers, employer name, social media handles.
How long should a marriage biodata be?
One page. Families read dozens of these and a second page is rarely read. If something needs three paragraphs to explain, it is a conversation, not a line on a biodata.
Should a photograph go on the biodata?
Not on the sheet itself. Once a photograph is embedded in a document it travels wherever the document travels, and you lose any say in it. Send photographs separately, to one family at a time, after both sides have shown genuine interest.
What is the difference between a biodata and a CV?
A CV argues that you are capable. A biodata describes how you actually live — prayer, family, where you expect to settle, whether you want children. The commonest mistake is writing a biodata like a job application, which tells the other family almost nothing they need.
If you would rather not write one at all, that is what the registration form is for — it asks the same questions in about six minutes, and nothing you enter is published anywhere. You can also read how we protect what you send us.
This desk reads biodatas and sits between families for a living.
Registration is free and takes about six minutes. Nothing about you is published, your number never appears in a proposal, and you can see what we find before you decide on a package.