Marriage in China

[bullmastiff]

Hello ;

Thought I want to start a new thread here .

Got married recently in Chengdu , Sichuan province. I am an American citizen and she is Chinese. Very interesting process . Very different from in the US . I think the marriage laws are probably different from the US. Not to mention China is so overpopulated ....


First of all , foreigners need to register their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau ( Ming Zen Ju ) . For Sichuan province , it is in Chengdu. My feeling is there is only one office to do this for foreigners in each province . Let me know if I am wrong.
Foreigners need to bring in their passport and certificate of marriagability ( Dan Shen Min) that he/she obtains from the US Consulate having jurisdiction over that area . So, foreigners have to go to their Consulate to obtain this certificate prior to going to register their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau. For the Chinese citizens, she/he needs to bring their ORIGINAL Hukou and ID card. Then, pictures were taken, application was made. They asked both to fill out the form . Interesting that the form asked your job , your education , your ethnicity, etc....
Once this was all done, then , you were married !!! No need to say : you , so & so , will you take this beloved woman to be your wife, to cherish her in sickness and health ,etc..... raise your right hand,etc.... NONE !!! After that , they offered their translation /notarial service . This is the marriage certificate you will take to the US to file for immigration for your Chinese spouse.
Of course, money for the fees .... yes, business .... All in all, very pleasant experience,,,, very professional and courteous staffs . We were happy.

My wife told me that for Chinese marrying Chinese , the whole process takes much lesser time . Maybe 10 mins , because there are a lot of people . Chinese has no patience in waiting for too long . Here is foreginers getting married , so , a lot of nice chatting, looking more civil , and of course, the fee is also much higher.....everything is business, of course....



By the way, we also saw couple getting divorced . It is also in the same place.... Weird , huh ... No court .... but , usually they came with their attorneys who have prepared their case . So , they only need to sign papers in front of the Civil Affairs official.
My wife told me that divorce in China is very simple if both parties consent to it . I don't know how complicated it is if one party doesn't want it ???

I did see an American man getting divorce from his Chinese wife . They got one daughter. It looked like the daughter was given to his sister's custody while the wife only wanted his money /property. Is this very common ???


Anyway, very interesting , very interesting . I love it .
Now, I have that red book with our picture together attached to it.

[TLB]

Hello ;

 

Thought I want to start a new thread here .

 

Got married recently in Chengdu , Sichuan province. I am an American citizen and she is Chinese. Very interesting process . Very different from in the US . I think the marriage laws are probably different from the US. Not to mention China is so overpopulated ....

 

 

First of all , foreigners need to register their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau ( Ming Zen Ju ) . For Sichuan province , it is in Chengdu. My feeling is there is only one office to do this for foreigners in each province . Let me know if I am wrong.

Foreigners need to bring in their passport and certificate of marriagability ( Dan Shen Min) that he/she obtains from the US Consulate having jurisdiction over that area . So, foreigners have to go to their Consulate to obtain this certificate prior to going to register their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau. For the Chinese citizens, she/he needs to bring their ORIGINAL Hukou and ID card. Then, pictures were taken, application was made. They asked both to fill out the form . Interesting that the form asked your job , your education , your ethnicity, etc....

Once this was all done, then , you were married !!! No need to say : you , so & so , will you take this beloved woman to be your wife, to cherish her in sickness and health ,etc..... raise your right hand,etc.... NONE !!! After that , they offered their translation /notarial service . This is the marriage certificate you will take to the US to file for immigration for your Chinese spouse.

Of course, money for the fees .... yes, business .... All in all, very pleasant experience,,,, very professional and courteous staffs . We were happy.

 

My wife told me that for Chinese marrying Chinese , the whole process takes much lesser time . Maybe 10 mins , because there are a lot of people . Chinese has no patience in waiting for too long . Here is foreginers getting married , so , a lot of nice chatting, looking more civil , and of course, the fee is also much higher.....everything is business, of course....

 

 

 

By the way, we also saw couple getting divorced . It is also in the same place.... Weird , huh ... No court .... but , usually they came with their attorneys who have prepared their case . So , they only need to sign papers in front of the Civil Affairs official.

My wife told me that divorce in China is very simple if both parties consent to it . I don't know how complicated it is if one party doesn't want it ???

 

I did see an American man getting divorce from his Chinese wife . They got one daughter. It looked like the daughter was given to his sister's custody while the wife only wanted his money /property. Is this very common ???

 

 

Anyway, very interesting , very interesting . I love it .

Now, I have that red book with our picture together attached to it.

 

What were the fees (if you don't mind saying)?

[bullmastiff]

What were the fees (if you don't mind saying)?

 

 

 

About 200 rmb for the marriage registration ; another 200 for notarial/ translational services ; US consul 200 rmb for certificate of marriagability. total about 600 rmb ; a little less than 100 bucks .

 

{edit} quote tags restored

Edited June 23, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[TLB]

What were the fees (if you don't mind saying)?

 

 

 

About 200 rmb for the marriage registration ; another 200 for notarial/ translational services ; US consul 200 rmb for certificate of marriagability. total about 600 rmb ; a little less than 100 bucks .

 

{edit} quote tags restored

 

 

Cool; thanks. I'm getting married in Shenyang next week! B)

[dnoblett]

Cool; thanks. I'm getting married in Shenyang next week! B)

Hey my wife is there as of today.

[Yuanyang]

Yup. Marriage is a simple registration as such. Once the forms are filled out and stamped. Your married.

[Robert S.]

My wife and I got married in Dalian in 2001. It was more expensive there than what you mentioned, but everything is higher there.

 

When you make your fingerprint in red ink and press it over the top of your signature, THAT is when you are officially married.

 

Our little marriage-to-foreigner office lady then made a very moving speech to us saying China was happy for us and wished us the best and the hope that we would "stay married forever." It was so sweet and romantic. Then she took our picture. I just had to give her a kiss on the cheek which surprised her a great deal and she blushed.

 

I treasure that little red book.

 

Good luck to you.

[tsap seui]

Alright, nice story and what a happy day, eh!!! I hope you have a smooth process with the application through interview.

 

My wife and I married in Shenyang in March of 2009, I'll always cherish the whole process, for us it was touching, and hilarious. We had a ball, and still laugh about the Caca Hotel where the marriage office was located in...none of the plumbing had any traps and the whole place REEKED of dodo, it was so dear, and simply touching, I tell ya. As we were leaving a beautiful young Chinese girl came out from where she was sitting with her fiance and stopped lil' rabbit and I, she blushed and told me I was a very beautiful and pretty man...hell, I'm nothin' but a simple hick from the sticks.

 

Good luck to your future...and the same to soon to be wed Tim, may both of your dreams come true.

 

I really like stories like this.

 

tsap seui

[Kyle]

I don't remember what we paid, but it was considerably less in Wuhan.

[shenzhen]

I don't remember what we paid, but it was considerably less in Wuhan.

Yep Kyle your right. We were married in Wuhan also. I still have the marriage registration fee fai pao. It was 9.5 RMB. The funny thing was I had to go across the street to a bank seperate from the FAO to pay the fee.

 

However it cost us about 600 RMB for the marriage certificate white books so it seemed to even out with the OP fees.

[chilton747]

I don't remember what we paid, but it was considerably less in Wuhan.

Yep Kyle your right. We were married in Wuhan also. I still have the marriage registration fee fai pao. It was 9.5 RMB. The funny thing was I had to go across the street to a bank seperate from the FAO to pay the fee.

 

However it cost us about 600 RMB for the marriage certificate white books so it seemed to even out with the OP fees.

 

 

Yep you will pay one way or the other.

[Kyle]

I don't remember what we paid, but it was considerably less in Wuhan.

Yep Kyle your right. We were married in Wuhan also. I still have the marriage registration fee fai pao. It was 9.5 RMB. The funny thing was I had to go across the street to a bank seperate from the FAO to pay the fee.

 

However it cost us about 600 RMB for the marriage certificate white books so it seemed to even out with the OP fees.

Yeah, I just asked my wife, she said it was around 9 RMB to get the red books. Pretty cheap! Although China doesn't "need" you to say the things listed above in bold, my wife wanted it before we were truly married (her opinion). So we paid around 20,000 RMB for a Christian ceremony and Chinese wedding banquet (which is still much cheaper than you'd pay in the US). Then, she let me move her in. She refuses to use the date listed on the red book as our anniversary date, but rather the date we had our ceremonies. Different strokes for different folks. . .

Edited June 24, 2010 by Kyle (see edit history)

[bullmastiff]

Yeah , one more thing I want to share. Now, I am married. I can tell Mr. Tax man that my tax rate is much lower . So, I went to the local IRS to file for W-7 "application for Individual Tax Payer ID ". Mr. Tax Man told me to wait til next year because this form has to be filed together with my annual return ( 1040 ). The rule has changed. In the past , we could file W-7 and obtain Tax ID at any time. Now, unless , one falls in the category of claiming some sort of tax treaty , it has to be done at the same time when filing 1040 . The 1040 then to be mailed to the following address together with W-7 and accompanying document such as notarized copy of her passport :

Internal Revenue Service

ITIN Operations

P.O. Box 149342

Austin, TX 78714-9342

 

For more detail info, one can read IRS publication titled Individual Tax Payer ID.

 

Please note that your spouse applies for ITN only if she is not eligible to get social security number.

[Robert S.]

My wife might have been adding a surcharge of her own to the fees I paid.

 

The most expensive part was getting the official documents from the city records office with the official translation, whew, those white books were costly.

 

Bullmastiff, you should read Tsap's story about when he got married over there, it was hilarious. What I remember most about my time was the way we had to go to 3-4 different places and get some kind of permission slip from these different small offices. I felt like I was in a Chinese fire drill. But it was a lot of fun.

 

BTW, do you have one of those big dogs?

[bullmastiff]

My wife might have been adding a surcharge of her own to the fees I paid.

 

The most expensive part was getting the official documents from the city records office with the official translation, whew, those white books were costly.

 

Bullmastiff, you should read Tsap's story about when he got married over there, it was hilarious. What I remember most about my time was the way we had to go to 3-4 different places and get some kind of permission slip from these different small offices. I felt like I was in a Chinese fire drill. But it was a lot of fun.

 

BTW, do you have one of those big dogs?

 

Yep, I do , can't wait to see how my big boy will get along with my wife. She can't speak English and he doesn't understand Chinese.