So you want to get Married in China?
I’m going to start this blog with a post about my experiences, as an English man, marrying the love of my life, a Chinese woman, in China. I’m probably going to jump around in following blog entries to explain how I got to the point of getting married in China, but to get things going, I’m going to talk about how I married a Chinese national inside China, so let’s start with how you might prove that you’re single…
TIME TRAVEL?
I did just say that this blog post will be about my marriage, and that future blog entries will jump back and forwards through time to explain how we got there. I’m going to add some context to that by saying that future posts might detail the journey I took, how I met my wife and how her family dealt with having a foreigner in their midst. However, for this first entry, I’m also going to talk about the days leading up to my marriage and what I needed to do in order to legally marry a Chinese national in China.
IS IT COMPLICATED?
First answer; No, the act of getting married in China is no more complicated than it is in the UK (as far as I know, however, I haven’t tried the UK system out so I’m basing this on input from friends and family, rather than experience).
Second answer; Yes. Whilst getting married is not complicated, being allowed to marry in China, as a foreign national, does require some preparatory activities that can seem a little daunting at first. Is it complicated? Well I think it is probably more complicated than marrying in the UK, but it’s not unsurmountable, you just need to understand the requirements.
THE HUKOU (THE FAMILY BOOK)
To understand why you need to take some extra steps before you can marry in China, you need to understand a little about the Hukou.
The Hukou is a Chinese government record that is used to record the people that make up a family. The record contains details of parents, siblings, spouse, date of birth and the area that the person is a resident of.
Recording the details of a Spouse provides an element of recording the legal status of an individual, more specifically, if they are married, divorced or single.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
A Chinese person that wishes to marry in China must prove the following:
- A male must be aged at least 22
- A female must be aged at least 20
- Both parties must be single, bigamy is illegal in China
When we consider a multi-cultural marriage between a Chinese person and a foreigner; the age limits apply to both the Chinese citizens and the foreign national. Age is an easy thing to tick off, you are both old enough, or one or both of you are not old enough, if you are not old enough, then marrying outside of China or waiting until you meet that requirement are your choices.
As for proof of being single; well that is the element that drives most questions for foreign nationals.
I should just say that I think there is an element of ‘proving you’re free and single to marry’ in the English marital system as well, it’s just less cumbersome. As far as I understand, an English wedding requires a notice period of 30 days, whereby your plans to marry are listed somewhere so that any objectors have the opportunity to come forward and identify reasons why you might not be suitable to marry.
However, with regards to English/Chinese marriage requirements; each country is different, and whilst I might be able to help you research those requirements, I can only really provide a story that follows my experiences as an English man marrying a Chinese woman.
THE SINGLE CERTIFICATE
I believe the easiest and cheapest way of proving you are free and single is to employ the services of the British consulate in China. This was a simple task, although for me and my plans, this involved, almost military precision planning.
To begin, you should visit the Consular Appointments section of the very useful www.gov.uk
In China you have to chose the closest centre to where your partners Hukou is registered. In my case, my wife is from Shanxi Province in Northern China, there are occasional ‘pop-up’ offices but the closest permanent office is in Beijing:
For other regions in China and for other countries, the parent link can be found here:
https://www.consular-appointments.service.gov.uk/fco/
The .gov.uk page has all the official UK government material, blogs like this and numerous others will give you the best advice they can, but that advice is based on our most recent experiences. Rules change, some things will become more efficient and some will become less so. So it’s always worth cross checking any information you read or hear with the official source. Feel free to drop me a note in the comments section if you have questions or further advice, if I can’t help then hopefully someone else can fill in the blanks for us.
BOOKING YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH THE CONSULATE
You will be able to chose a date up to around 8 weeks in advance, which is almost convenient.. I say almost because the opening hours are a little restrictive, so you still need to plan your trip carefully, especially if you’re flying in. This is not a difficult location to find in Beijing, but planning to fly in, get through customs/border control and taking a couple of trains might find it difficult to do that in the limited opening window. Check, and check again before you book your appointment.
You will be asked for the reason of your appointment, as ever, provide all the information you believe is useful to speed things up.
I received an appointment confirmation almost immediately and around a week later this was followed up with sample documents that I needed to complete but not sign in readiness for my appointment. I was offered the option of completing an Affidavit or Affirmation (the former being a religious statement and the later being a non-religious statement). You are required to complete one, however, either is acceptable. The choice is based on your religious needs.
AT THE CONSULATE
When you receive that email advising you to complete the Affidavit or Affirmation it will also advise you to bring a number of items to the appointment with you. Importantly this includes both your spouse-to-be and their ID as well.
What documents do I need for the appointment?
You will also need to bring with your passport, your partner’s I.D. and hukou book (if marrying Chinese national). If you or your partner have been previously married then you will need to bring the original copies of your divorce certificate/decree absolute or death certificate.
At the time of writing, the fee was RMB440, payable in Cash or Card, it is always in the local currency and will be taken from you before any documentation is checked.
Remember that Affirmation or Affidavit that you completed earlier? Well once your documents have been checked and copied, you will be invited into a small room, a very small room in the case of the British Embassy in Beijing.
This is a small sound-proof room with a pane of glass dividing the room into two. Again, this is not a personal service, this is not meant to make you feel comfortable in the warm embracing arms of your governments foreign office. This is a business.
An officer of the British Embassy will enter a door from the other side of the glass, they will check the documents again. In my case, they asked me to confirm some details, they also asked my wife-to-be to confirm some details such as her date of Birth for example. After these checks are complete, you will then be required to swear your oath. This has to be a ‘single take’ as I believe they record your oath for some reason. You will be reading your partners registered address as part of this oath, so make sure you brush up on your pinyin, I suggest you practice reading his or her address before attending this appointment so that you do not find it too difficult on the day.
I received an appointment confirmation almost immediately and around a week later this was followed up with sample documents that I needed to complete but not sign in readiness for my appointment. I was offered the option of completing an Affidavit or Affirmation (the former being a religious statement and the later being a non-religious statement). You are required to complete one, however, either is acceptable. The choice is based on your religious needs.
MAKING IT OFFICIAL
At the end of this, the official will ask you to sign the oath in their presence, they will then sign it and give it an official seal. The document has both English and Chinese writing so should be accepted by all Marriage offices in China that are able to marry Foreign nationals.
You will be passed the document, that’s it, you are officially single…
You have 6 months from the date of issue to become married, in our case, we went straight to the Marriage Office the following day, but that’s another blog entry 🙂
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