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Marriage... How does a foreigner marry a chinese woman?
May 25, 2007 15:13
  • FARSIDE
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Hi,

I just have a few questions that i hope someone on here can help me with, I am engaged to a woman in Guangzhou and we want to marry soon, But i am unsure on how i do this because i am from England, What type of visa do i require? What paperwork etc etc... She mentioned to me that i must bring a "singles certificate / certificate of marriageability" to show that i am not married.... But in England we don't have this type of certificate, So do i just write out a statement saying i am single and then get a solicitor to sign it? Is this enough? Also now someone has told me i need to have a residence permit to be able to marry her... So can i not marry a chinese women if i am not living in China? Can someone who knows what i must do please take me through this step by step,

Thanks in advance,

Danny.
May 26, 2007 16:34
#1  
  • INMEDIC
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Dear Danny,

My name is Terry and I married a Chinese woman in China in 2005. I am from the USA though but to marry a Chinese woman in China I think is the same. If you were divorced, you have to have your divorce papers and have them translated in Chinese. You have to have a blood test to show you do not have any blood disease. You have to write a letter stating you are single and have it translated in Chinese. The US Consulate has a document for that so you should ask your consulate or embasy. You have to have small pictures of yourself and of you and your wife together. You will also have to pay a fee. I hope this should help you. Good luck.
Terry
May 28, 2007 06:32
#2  
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Hi Terry,

Thanks for your quick reply :) Do i have the blood test at home or in China? I don't have any pictures of us together because my suitcase went missing at the airport with my photos and negatives, So do i need to go back to China to have more taken of us together before i can apply at the chinese embassy and have them legalise / accept everything?

Many thanks,

Danny.
May 28, 2007 20:06
#3  
  • MAY001
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Hi Danny,
I've found some useful information about marry a Chinese in Central Government's website. You can check and read: http://english.gov.cn/service/marriage.htm
Congratulations to you and your wife!
May 30, 2007 05:39
#4  
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Hi May001,

Thank you very much for the information :)

Cheers,

Danny.
May 30, 2007 09:29
#5  
  • APAULT
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What about taking her overseas and getting married? Overseas would probably include Hong Kong or Macau. I don't know the implications but it might have other advantages (or disadvantages!)
May 31, 2007 00:54
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  • CHRISWAUGHBJ
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You will need a certificate of no impediment to marriage and its notarized translation, your passport, her hukou and her ID card and the photos. The photos are "official style" photos, kind of passport-like, of you and her together, any photo studio in China will do them, just tell them you want marriage certificate photos. Go to the local Civil Affairs Bureau, fill out the forms, hand over the (very small) fee, you're good to go. I've never heard of any visa or residence permit requirements, although I think you can assume quite safely that you must be legally in China. All legal requirements for medical tests have been abolished. If anybody tells you you need any medical test of any kind, they're wrong. Check the marriage law (my wife and I have a copy lying around somewhere) if you have any doubts- copies of all laws can be bought at Xinhua Bookstores.
Jun 3, 2007 02:44
#7  
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I am planning a trip in August to meet a special woman, can you give me any advice about marriage and what needs to be done before I travel and where to get it done. I live in Seattle now. I have had a hard time getting good information on this subject, any help would be great.
Jun 6, 2007 00:57
#8  
  • CHRISWAUGHBJ
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Assuming all is good and you will be getting married:

You will need the documents I mentioned. The photos can be done at any photo shop in China. As an American, you'll be able to get the Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage at the US Embassy in Beijing and I believe any US consulate in China- the State Dept will have a list of embassies and consulates and their contact details online, check it out- the rest, I think, should be fairly simple. Get your passport from whereever it is Americans get passports, get your visa from your nearest Chinese embassy or consulate.

Except, of course, that there will likely be one particular branch of the Civil Affairs Bureau/Minzheng Ju/民政局 in your special woman's hometown which handles marriages between Chinese and foreigners. Ask her to check up on that. Also, your Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage will need to be translated- that's a notarised translation, so your special woman will not be able to do the translation herself- but the local Civil Affairs Bureau should be able to recommend a local, qualified translator- again, ask her to check up on that.

Her hometown is important- you will only be able to marry your special woman in the city in which her Household Registration/Hukou/户口 is registered.

That's all the advice I can think of. I know, it seems like a lot of hassle, but break all of this down into several smaller tasks and it becomes manageable.

Best of luck!
Jun 7, 2007 00:29
#9  
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I live in California and I married my Lao Po this past December in Guangzhou.

The process is really straight forward, just some steps to go through and a few bucks.

First, there is no longer any requirement for a blood test or any medical tests. NONE !!

Go to the Chinese Consulate at San Francisco web-page, and look up the details under the visa link on the page. Even though each Consulate in the US has a web-page, the SF Consulate page is the most detailed and user friendly.

Download and fill out the two forms, then have the declaration of single status form notarized and have it certified by your WA Secretary of State office.

Mail with the fees (Certified Check) to the Consulate that serves your region/state. I have not checked since December, but I think WA is also covered by the SF office ?? They had my certificate back to me in four days.

My wife resides in Guangzhou, so we went to the marriage office in the downtown area and filed all the paperwork, had the docs translated there from English to Chinese (300 RMB) and then completed everything and were married in about two hours. There were additional fees of about 200-300 RMB. Previously, one had to have the docs translated eleswhere and this took as long at a week or so. In GZ anyway, they will now do it in about one hour.

Hope this helps.
Jun 7, 2007 01:47
#10  
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Thanks for all the helpful info :) I'm good to go now ha ha. Now all i have to do is get my cert of no impedement and statutory declaration and get a solicitor to sign it then get the chinese embassy to sign it / legalize it, Then get it translated into Chinese when i arrive in Guangzhou.



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