I Can or Can't get married in China?

[BrandeX]

Hello everyone, this is a great forum and I have been reading through various posts, but I am unclear on one point which I would like to ask you other members about. I am currently "living" i Guangzhou for the last 4 months with my Chinese girlfriend whom I have known for a year now, and we are planning to marry. I had been deciding to go with marriage locally in this country, but I am not sure if I am eligible. I am staying here on an "L" class tourist visa, so I of course do not have a residence permit. (Those are given to people with "Z" work or "X" student visas, right?) So, without a residence permit, am I ineligible to be married in China, and our only option be to do it in the US?

 

Thanks much!

[warpedbored]

Hello everyone, this is a great forum and I have been reading through various posts, but I am unclear on one point which I would like to ask you other members about. I am currently "living" i Guangzhou for the last 4 months with my Chinese girlfriend whom I have known for a year now, and we are planning to marry. I had been deciding to go with marriage locally in this country, but I am not sure if I am eligible. I am staying here on an "L" class tourist visa, so I of course do not have a residence permit. (Those are given to people with "Z" work or "X" student visas, right?) So, without a residence permit, am I ineligible to be married in China, and our only option be to do it in the US?

 

Thanks much!

You can get married no problem. You just cant do a direct consular filing with the consulate in Guangzhou. A DCF by passes the service centers in the US and cuts about 4 - 6 months off of the visa process. You must have a Z type visa to do this. You will have to file an I-130 through the service center designated for where you claim residency. You will also have to be able to show that you have made 125% of the federal poverty guidelines on income. If you have been living in China for some time I doubt you can show enough income. You will likely need a co-sponsor.

Good luck

[NY-Viking]

You don't need a resident permit to marry in China.

 

However, without a resident permit you probably won't be able to file for a greencard for your spouse directly in China (a "DCF") with the US embassy/consulate. You'll have to file through the US instead (I do have a friend who was finally, after several years of attempts in filing for his wife's greencard in China without a resident permit, but that's not the norm.)

[Corbin]

Hello everyone, this is a great forum and I have been reading through various posts, but I am unclear on one point which I would like to ask you other members about. I am currently "living" i Guangzhou for the last 4 months with my Chinese girlfriend whom I have known for a year now, and we are planning to marry. I had been deciding to go with marriage locally in this country, but I am not sure if I am eligible. I am staying here on an "L" class tourist visa, so I of course do not have a residence permit. (Those are given to people with "Z" work or "X" student visas, right?) So, without a residence permit, am I ineligible to be married in China, and our only option be to do it in the US?

 

Thanks much!

The good news is you can marry in China. You only need to meet certain eligibilities, age, single and have the paper work for that. You need an affidavit of single status, copy of passport and if you were married before either the divorce decree or death certificate that has been certified in the US. Other will be along to better tell you the steps.

[warpedbored]

I suggest you spend some time reading through the FAQ section on getting married in China.

http://candleforlove.com/FAQ/CFL_FAQ_Visas_Final1.htm#Q2_5

[BrandeX]

Ok great news, thanks for the replies everyone! We aren't necessarily in a hurry to to complete the marriage process, just get it underway and going soon. As for getting her into the US, we aren't even sure when or if (probably sometime in the future at least temporarily) we will be going there.

[Sadie]

Just to let you know that I was able to file DCF I-130 with only an L visa. It seems that the requirement for the Z visa or residence permit is either not as strict or the rules are changing. The requirement was that I had been in China for over 6 months. We also got married here and had no troubles.

 

Good Luck!

[Sebastian]

Heya BrandeX -

 

I think you and Sadie are in a unique category of having L visa.

Sadie has a residency permit too (obtained after she got married, I think? ) - but here's something I think you should pursue (yes, you'd be the guinea pig, the white lab rat)....

 

Get married in Guangzhou ASAP. Once you are married, go to the local district police office, FILE FOR A temporary residence permit (4 to 12 months in duration, I've no clue what's available there).

Then, as you hit your 6 month mark of LIVING in China (not the 6 month mark of being married, but the 6 month mark, from day 1, from your first landing date, yes even prior to the start date on that temporary residence permit), go the the US Consulate/Embassy in Guangzhou, file a DCF I-130/CR-1 for your spouse.

 

There was a list of 3 things required for DCF , lemme see - 1) residency permit, 2) work visa , 3) something else, but it was a list of "OR" and not "ALL".

Sadie had the residency permit AND an (L) visa.

 

You might also want to try the DCF within a week after getting the residency permit, hey - all they can say is NO ! come back later !

 

 

Anyway, that's my 2 EU on it - GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING !

 

PS -- Sadie - I am so envious of you !

Edited February 23, 2008 by Darnell (see edit history)

[BrandeX]

Bumping up the post a bit, but just wanted to add that I was married today, and the process was very simple and easy. I got the affadavit from the consulate, and was able to process the marriage in the local civil affairs office here in guangzhou. Thanks everyone for their previous replies once again!

[Sebastian]

Bumping up the post a bit, but just wanted to add that I was married today, and the process was very simple and easy. I got the affadavit from the consulate, and was able to process the marriage in the local civil affairs office here in guangzhou. Thanks everyone for their previous replies once again!

 

Congratulations on getting married !

 

Hey - are you buzzing round the police district office to get temporary residency permit ?

 

If you are serious about processing status for your wife - you'll need to get the marriage books translated into english/notarized, both of them, some people suggest 3 sets each. Time to find your Guangzhou English/Chinese/translation/notary office !!

Edited April 2, 2008 by Darnell (see edit history)

[Robert S.]

Bumping up the post a bit, but just wanted to add that I was married today, and the process was very simple and easy. I got the affadavit from the consulate, and was able to process the marriage in the local civil affairs office here in guangzhou. Thanks everyone for their previous replies once again!

Wow, congratulations!!! May you be happy together for all your life.

 

I get the feeling there is a very interesting story going on here and wish I knew more of it. Perhaps you have told but I was not paying attention. Anyway, good luck on your paperwork and I will be looking forward to hearing what is happening.

[Jordan J.]

Bumping up the post a bit, but just wanted to add that I was married today, and the process was very simple and easy. I got the affadavit from the consulate, and was able to process the marriage in the local civil affairs office here in guangzhou. Thanks everyone for their previous replies once again!

 

Wow, congratulations! I'm serious, I've seen you on like 4 different forums that I go to. I just got married as well....are you gonna file a DCF now?

[BrandeX]

Going to tack this on here again instead of opening a new thread, since its about the above comments. Could Darnell or anyone else tell me if this is the correct type of document I needed for the "residency permit", or if it is some other document I am looking for that I need to obtain for DCF? Thanks!

 

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/4459/page0001ig3.th.jpg

[shyaushu]

Going to tack this on here again instead of opening a new thread, since its about the above comments. Could Darnell or anyone else tell me if this is the correct type of document I needed for the "residency permit", or if it is some document I am looking for that I need to obtain for DCF? Thanks!

 

What an interesting document. If I were you I would delete or somehow obscure all the personal information on it before publishing it on the Internet. Unscrupulous people are good at misusing such information.

 

Just for argument's sake, my wife and I were able to do a DCF (file our I-130 directly at the US Embassy in Beijing) on August 29, 2007 with nothing more than my "Z" (work) visa. I was on my way to a teaching position in central China. All went well (and quickly) until the snag after the interview. My wife received a blue card because I had been married briefly to another Chinese woman and had successfully sponsored her green card. To make matters worse, I met my new wife while my divorce was on-going, and we were married only three months after it was finalized.

 

The point of all this is that even with the three month delay in working to "overturn" the blue card (in quotes because a blue card is a non-decision and there is nothing to actually overturn) and the serious complications in our case, we still got our visa (just a few days ago . . . hooray!) in nine months. That's the speed of light in visa terms. So, if you are impatient about things, filing directly at the Embassy or an appropriate Consulate will shave months off the visa process. And such in-China filings have maintained their 100% success rate, with the granting of our visa. So they are a pretty certain way, too.

 

Good luck.

 

By the way, there is a lot of interesting stuff lurking under the skeleton of your story and perhaps it will emerge over time.