All About China > Marrying A Lady In China
Doing it the UK way!
Paul Todd:
China, Beijing, British Embassy
How to register a marriage
How to get married (UK national to Chinese national)
• If resident here and you intend to marry a Chinese national, you will need a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI). You must be resident in China for a minimum of 21 continuous days before making a notice of intention to marry. (The 21 days is counted from your last entry stamp into China, previous stays of 21 days in China are invalid).According to the Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China, no marriage may be contracted before the man has reached 22 years of age and the woman 20 years of age. (Source link: http://www.novexcn.com/marriage_law.html ).
• To make this notice, you will need to go to either the Embassy or nearest Consulate, with your passport and your partner’s passport or IDcard, complete a notice of intention form and sign an affidavit to state that you are free to marry. If previously married, then we need to see either a divorce or death certificate.
• The notice will be displayed for a further 21 continuous clear days, starting the following day of application. If no objection is given, a CNI will be issued in both Chinese and English languages. By Chinese law you must marry in the place of your fiancé (e)'s hukou. If their hukou registration is outside the Consular Jurisdiction that you reside in (link to Help for British Nationals to show the who covers which areas) you will need to contact the local Marriage Bureau in their Province, to find out if they accept the Embassy or Consulate’s paperwork where you made the application. If the do not accept the stamp of a Consulate who is outside the jurisdiction, then inform us on application as the notice can still be displayed, it would just involve us asking the Embassy or relevant Consulate to issue the final CNI.
• The notice of intention can be obtained in the UK, contact your local registrar's office for further information. Once the notice has been displayed in the UK, you will have to take the paper to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to have it legalised, and then to the Chinese Embassy/Consulate in the UK for further legalising, this will save you having to do steps 1 and 2 here.
Website: http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk
Put "marriage into the search box.
• Marriage Deposits
Getting married in China is simple, however, a lot of people do not realise that you can deposit a certified copy of the translation of your marriage certificate at the General Register’s Office in the UK via us.
Documents we need to see;
-Chinese Notary copy with English translation. (A4 booklet) for us to retain
-British nationals passport (copy will be taken)
-Red book (copy will be taken)
You will then receive a notification back from the GRO once completed; the benefit will allow you to obtain a copy of your marriage certificate if you were to lose the original documents.
Paul Todd:
Ding' Ding' round 2:-
You cannot register an overseas ceremony at a register office. However, you can apply to have your documents sent from the relevant country and deposited with the General Register Office (GRO). You can then get copies of your marriage or civil partnership record more easily.
What you need to do
You can create a record of your overseas marriage or civil partnership at any time after the ceremony. You need to get the original documents, or certified copies, issued by the foreign authority – this is not an automatic process.
To create the record:
* your marriage or civil partnership must have taken place in one of the countries in the PDF linked below.[China is on this list]
* one of you must be a British citizen - only that person can apply to deposit the details
Only the consul for the district where the marriage took place can send the documentation to GRO, and GRO does not release original documents once deposited.
You receive confirmation when the documents have been deposited with GRO. Overseas marriages and civil partnerships are noted in the public indexes.
Getting copies of your overseas marriage or civil partnership record
Once recorded, you can request certified copies of the documents, which saves you having to contact an overseas authority. These are black and white photocopies of the material GRO holds and are not presented in the form of a British-style certificate. Photocopies are issued under the seal of the General Register Office and are usually acceptable as official evidence of your marriage or civil partnership.
For further information on the legalisation of documents, contact Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
If you need any other information about marrying or forming a civil partnership abroad, contact the General Register Office.
Contact the General Register Office for England & Wales
Marriages and Civil Partnerships, General Register Office, Trafalgar Road, Southport, PR8 2HH
Tel: +44 (0) 151 471 4803 - 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday
Fax: +44 (0) 151 471 4523
For events registered in Scotland or Northern Ireland
You can contact the relevant General Register
General Register Office for Scotland
General Register Office for Northern Ireland
Website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/index.htm
Paul Todd:
Ding' Ding" round 3
Declaration of No Impediment to Marriage
Please be aware - It appears that the Chinese Embassy are now insisting that Statutory Declarations are Notarised and are not being accepted if only a solicitor has signed. However, in a case this year, this was not required and the Stat Dec was signed by a solicitor and duly accepted.
It would be prudent to contact the Chinese Embassy before proceeding to clarify this requirement.
UK citizen to marry Chinese citizen.
For residents of United Kingdom you will require a Statutory Declaration. (A Self Declaration of No Impediment)
You must be aged at least 20 (Male) and 22 (Female) to be legally married in China.
You can draft your own Statutory Declaration.On a single piece of A4 paper type the document
STATUTORY DECLARATION
I, YOUR NAME of YOUR ADDRESS (including post code) United Kingdom
DO SOLEMNLY AND SINCERELY DECLARE as follows:-
My full name is YOUR NAME
My date of birth is YOUR DATE OF BIRTH and my place of birth is YOUR PLACE OF BIRTH.
My nationality is British and my passport number is YOUR PASSPORT NUMBER.
My full and permanent address is YOUR PERMANENT ADDRESS United Kingdom.
I am permanently resident in the UK and have lived in the UK all of my life. (if not true, then explain other countries of residence)
I am currently a YOUR OCCUPATION (stating if self or employed).
I was previously married to NAME OF PREVIOUS WIFE but was divorced on DATE OF DECREE ABSOLUTE as shown on the certified copy of the decree absolute attached hereto. I remain divorced to this day.
The section above is relevant if you are divorced. If you have never been married then delete this whole section. If you are a widower then replace section with:
I was previously married to NAME OF PREVIOUS WIFE AS SHOWN ON DEATH CERTIFICATE but she passed away on DATE OF DEATH ON DEATH CERTIFICATE as shown on the certified copy of the Death certificate attached hereto. I remain a widower to this day.
I am single, free to marry and know of no legal impediment to my marrying.
AND I make this solemn Declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835.
SIGNED AND DECLARED at
By
on
Before me
Leave the SIGNED and DECLARED section clear. Your solicitor will advise you where to sign.
Take this Statutory Declaration (unsigned) including your Passport, Birth Certificate, proof of occupation and address in the form of utility bills. The decree absolute divorce paper or death certificate to your chosen solicitor for witnessing and signing.
When this is completed.
The Documents - Statutory Declaration and Divorce or Death Certificate need to be taken or sent via courier service, Royal Mail or your Notary may offer to send the Documents to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for Legalisation.
If you decide to present the documents in person at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office allow at least two hours waiting time, phone first to check this. Or you can have it sent back to you by the Post Office allow 14 days, it is advisable to use recorded delivery.
Further Information.
You can use an agent, my recommendation is that you use an agent they may offer a Visa service as well. This will simplify the whole administration process for you in the UK.
Once the Documents have been authenticated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom.
The Documents then need to be taken to the Chinese Embassy in the UK or if you are in China the Chinese consulate-general of the province you are to be married in to be legalised. Further Information
The document is valid for six mouths from the date of legalisation.
(The documents will also need to be translated into Chinese, this I advise you to have done in China, in the City where you will marry. The marriage office can advise on a suitable translation service.)
The Legalisation Office of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Old Admiralty Building , Whitehall , London SW1A 2LG.
Tel:020-7008-1111
Web site: http://www.fco.gov.uk
(under services click LEGALISATION. Addresses and information for other UK offices is available on this web site)
Consular Section of the Chinese Embassy in London
31 Portland Place , London W1B 1QD
Tel: 020-72998427 (2:00p.m - 4:00pm ) Fax: 020-74369178
Office Hours: 9:00am-12:00pm Monday to Friday ( except holidays )
Web Site: http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk
Consular Section in Manchester
49 Denison Road , Rusholme, Manchester M14 5RX
Tel: 0161- 2248672 Fax:0161-2572672
Consular Section in Edinburgh
55 Corstorphine Road , Edinburgh EH12 5QJ
Tel: 0131-3373220 ( 3:30pm-4:30pm ) Fax: 0131-3371790
Getting Married
The marriage procedure in China is different to what you might expect in the UK.
The actual marriage formalities are carried out in a very matter of fact way, just a visit to an official marriage office with the required documentation and if all is in order, then you are married. Casual clothes are acceptable.
You then simply submit the application form, together with 3 photos of you both taken together (this can be done at any good street side photographic establishment, explain to the photographer that you require the pictures for upcoming marriage as background colour might be important)) along with the following documents to make a Declaration of Marriage Registration Application.
Chinese citizens must submit:
Identity card
Document of household registration
A Self Declaration of No Impediment to the Marriage
UK citizens (Foreigners) must submit:
Passport
Statutory Declaration including where necessary Death Certificate or Decree Absolute duly legalised as described above and translated into Chinese.
The pre-marriage health check is no longer compulsory.
The Marriage Certificates, one each ( a little red booklet including one of the photo's supplied) will be issued by the Marriage Registry office on the same day.The legal relationship of husband and wife is immediately established on this day.
Your marriage is legal under UK law.
I am going down the route of getting my Declaration of No Impediment to Marriage from my local registrars office and have an interview in a couple of weeks,so I will update this latter.
UK Mark:
Paul , thanks for your indepth posting , :D appreciate it
Scottish_Rob:
Yes me too buddy, thanks for all your efforts. :)
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