Marriage License

[jim_julian]

You cannot get a marriage license in the US. You are already married. The marriage license you got in China is equally valid here.

If I were you I would listen to Jim and Julian they know for sure.

( Opps, sorry, I mean Jim julian, I am trying Jim).

Mike

[mchina34]

I wonder if you can even apply for a license since you are ALREADY Married. Is not a marriage license for fiancee's to get married?

 

 

 

 

We have a Chinese license that, as you might have guessed, is in Chinese. If I ever needed to furnish proof of my marriage who is really going to take a look at my little red book serisouly? Nobody in the US can even read it, hence my desire to get an american license and ultimately the marriage certificate. I do have it translated, but of course it's a tacky lookin' document on standard printer paper that a 3 year old with a box of crayons could've done. I'm concerned sometime in the future someone will need such docs and be like, uh, what the hell is this?

 

It'd be great if they could look at my translated/notarized docs and issue me one with the original dates, etc. Don't think it's gonna happen, though. I'll have to call the courts on this one it looks like.

 

To be continued....if I find out anything interesting.

You needed to get a translation done by the notary office so that you could file for the visa, did you NOT make a copy and keep the original? You send the photo copy in with the I-130 when filing for the visa.

 

Typically the translation gets bound into the book with the marriage cert.

 

If your translation looks poor, I would just get another done here in the USA, have the translator do it on fancy paper, and have them certify it and perhaps have a notary, notarize the translator's signature.

 

Yeah, we had two originals, so that's not the problem. Of course i'm exaggerting how crappy the translation is....but still, it's not 'normal' looking.

 

The translation does not get boudn to the book. The book is a little red book (no, not a mao book) with some basic info (marriage date, ID numbers, DOB, etc)...some 4 inches tall I guess. The translation is a totally seperate document on normal printer paper (11.5*14? ish). One page will be in mandarin, the next in english for a total of, if I remember correctly, 4 pages. Again, totally seperate from the actual marriage book.

 

I'm just going to get a translation/notarized done here as you suggest in your last comment.

[mchina34]

Why not get it translated again here in the US and notarized. This should be doable, but where you can get it done I'm not sure.

 

 

That's what I said in one of my comments. Seems the only good way.

 

 

to everyone else(what's really going on, etc): What's really going on is exactly what I said in my initial posts. Period. I'll tell you why (not that I think I need to) I even thought of this. Fiscal year ended for my company just a ways back. My HR department sent out insurance policy information stating that if you want to add a spouse to your health insurance you would have to provide proof of marriage by showing a marriage license. My wife has INS from her own company, but I thought about the what if's. What if I did need to put her on mine and my HR dept. did not approvae of the red book (it's in chinese for anyone who hasn't seen one) or even the translated document (USCIS accepts of course). So, essentially, I am being proactive. Probably won't happen, but still it would be nice to not be challenged and I think if I get the book translated/notarized in the US I probably won't ever have any issues.

 

Initially we had both mistakenly thought that we could simply get a license here, thinking, or rather hoping, they have our info in their systems. Of course they wouldn't, but that didn't come clear until I created this thread.

[mchina34]

I am a K3, you are not alone here on CFL. I am just beginning to file for EAD now. Before my husband came to US, I was thinking if we need to be "re-married " again, since our marriage was not registered in US. After reading all the posts above, I think I will rest my mind. My parents were married in HK and immigrated to US years ago. NO one ever questioned their marriage, so I think I will be fine.

 

 

Well, I must respond to this last post....someone here actually is from Washington!!

 

I don't think one ever really has to proove his/her marriage, except for a few cases. One being the health INS issue, and even then, that's speculation. Donald Rumsfeld (dodging eggs) once said something that there are 'known knowns, unknown knowns, and known unkwons'. There may be unknown knowns for us as well as the one example I explained. Wheew, tongue twister...

[mikepellicore]

When Yizhen arrived here, I had no problem getting her signed up with my union health insurance, we went to the office right after work so she could sign in person. We did the union life insurance, annuity, and pension at the same time. Zhen received her coverage cards within one week. They did not even ask for the translated version, the insurance companies have seen these books and the are familiar with them, they just made a copy of the red book. (Blue Cross&Blue Shield)

"Mountain out of a mole hill", rest easy! you will have no problems.

If the US notarized translation makes you feel better, it is a simple and inexpensive to get a good nights rest. Mike&Zhen

[rogerinca]

When Yizhen arrived here, I had no problem getting her signed up with my union health insurance, we went to the office right after work so she could sign in person. We did the union life insurance, annuity, and pension at the same time. Zhen received her coverage cards within one week. They did not even ask for the translated version, the insurance companies have seen these books and the are familiar with them, they just made a copy of the red book. (Blue Cross&Blue Shield)

"Mountain out of a mole hill", rest easy! you will have no problems.

If the US notarized translation makes you feel better, it is a simple and inexpensive to get a good nights rest. Mike&Zhen

 

 

Same here !! As one of those few K-3 K-4 filers, I have only been asked for the marriage certificate (outside of the visa application process) when I signed them up for my agency Blue Cross insurance plan. I supplied a copy of one of the several China Notary translated versions of our marriage certificate. It was not questioned by my personnel office, just like the China Notarized birth certificate for my daughter was not questioned by the local middle school district.

 

I will also mention again, when I picked up their visas at GUZ, they were kind enough (without me asking) to return each of my original notarized documents submitted with the I-129F (marriage and birth cert's) in an envelope with their passports and US visas. B)