Marriage in China certificate of marriageability · Certificate of Marriageability in Marriage in China
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Certificate of Marriageability in Marriage in China
Certificate of Marriageability in Marriage in China
The first thing that any foreigner needs to wed a Chinese national in China is a certificate of marriageability. The certificate is proof that the applicant is not currently married, a fact reflected in the Chinese danshenzhengming (单身证明), which literally means “single certificate.” A certificate of marriageability is obtained from your government, usually from an embassy or consulate, and then presented to the Chinese government upon application for a marriage certificate. One thing to bear in mind when getting a certificate of marriageability is that you must present a copy translated into Chinese to the Chinese government when applying for your marriage certificate. Some countries, such as the United States, provide a bilingual English/Chinese certificate, but if your embassy/consulate does not then you must obtain a notarized translation from a Chinese government office.
In general, if you are applying for a certificate of marriageability in China it is important to remember to bring the following items when applying at your embassy/consulate:
your passport.
notarized proof that any previous marriage has been terminated. Put more simply, you must obtain from the local or national government in your home country officially notarized copies of official documents stating that you are divorced. It is not uncommon for foreigners in China to have to fly back home to get their divorce paperwork sorted out!!! To save yourself this hassle make sure that you have the correct paperwork before you come to China, or have it sent to you in China.
your partner’s national ID card, or shenfenzheng (身份证).
your partner’s hùkǒu (户口), or residency permit, which every Chinese citizen has. It may come as a shock to many foreigners that officially Chinese need permission from the government to relocate within China. An individual’s hukou is proof that they have permission from the government to live in a certain area of the country. Millions of Chinese migrate from their home districts to others areas of the country, but their hukous remain in their home district in the possession of family, the local police, the last school attended or the last place of employment. This is a problem because the hukou must be presented to the embassy or consulate in order to receive a certificate of marriageability. Therefore, if you're applying for a certificate of marriageability outside of your Chinese partners home district, then their hukou must be sent to your current location, which will take at least a couple of days.
your partner does not need to present their passport, but if available it may help to bring it to speed up the process.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Marriage in China
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Marriage in China Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.