Meeting Parsis when you live abroad

Living abroad, the nearest Parsi family may be a long drive away, and the person you might marry could be in your own city, in another part of the country you live in, or back in India. Community events help, but they come round a few times a year, and you tend to meet the same faces. Ushta is a free app where Parsi and Irani Zoroastrians meet each other wherever they live, with every member verified first. Here is how it deals with distance and time zones.

Choose how far to look

In your preferences, Distance has three choices: Same city, Same country and Anywhere. It starts on Same country, so if you live in the UK your three come from members across the UK. Choose Anywhere and they can come from any country, India included.

Same city matches the city as each member types it, so write yours the way most people would: the name of the city, not your neighbourhood or suburb.

Introductions across countries

With Anywhere chosen, a member in Melbourne can be shown a member in Mumbai, and a member in Abu Dhabi one in Leeds. Each profile shows the city its member lives in, so you can see at a glance how far apart you are.

Conversations start with a note, a short message about something in the other person's profile. A note waits 14 days for an answer, so nobody has to reply in the middle of their night. Once you both want to talk, you chat in the app, and you decide whether and when to share a phone number.

Time zones, made fair

New profiles arrive in Discover at 9:00 in the morning, in the time zone Ushta takes from the phone number on your account, and nobody can change it by hand to get their three sooner or more often. So a member in London and a member in Mumbai each get their three at nine o'clock local time.

Where a country has more than one time zone, Ushta uses one for all of it: New York time for a US number, Toronto time for a Canadian one and Sydney time for an Australian one. If you live abroad but kept your Indian number, your mornings stay on India time. Ushta knows the time zones of the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, the UAE and many other countries, though not yet every one. If it does not know your number's country yet, it goes by the country you live in where it can, and otherwise puts you on India time for now.

Verification from wherever you are

Verification works the same in Auckland as in Ahmedabad. You add a government ID and a selfie taken in the app, and a person on our team calls your phone for a short chat, wherever you are. If you live outside India, you can use your passport or your driving licence. Only our verification team sees your ID and selfie, and both are deleted 30 days after our decision.

Families on two continents

Parents in India often help a son or daughter who lives abroad, and on Ushta they can do it openly. A relative can make and manage the profile, as long as the person it is for knows and agrees, and we confirm that with them on the verification call. The profile says that a family member manages it, and before anyone meets, the person it is for speaks for themselves.

Free, wherever you live

Ushta has no fees, no paid tier, no featured profiles and no advertising, in any country. Nobody pays to be seen more often, at home or abroad.

For the rest, see Questions people ask, or read why Ushta works the way it does in Zoroastrian matrimony, one community, many cities.