marriage notarial translation

[david_dawei]

newbie post here

it seems there are two variations on the notarial theme for translating the marriage certificate.

1. Short version is only simple text saying so-and-so married so-and-so on so-and-so date, etc.

2. Copy of little red book with full page canned verbiage and acknowledgement of the marriage date, etc.

Does it really matter which one is used if it is done by the official notary?

[dnoblett]

newbie post here

 

it seems there are two variations on the notarial theme for translating the marriage certificate.

 

1. Short version is only simple text saying so-and-so married so-and-so on so-and-so date, etc.

 

2. Copy of little red book with full page canned verbiage and acknowledgement of the marriage date, etc.

 

Does it really matter which one is used if it is done by the official notary?

Probably go with #2 long form with attached notorial translation.

 

DOS makes no specific recommendation.

Marriage and Death Certificates

Available in the form of notarial marriage certificates (Jie Hun Gong Zheng [or Zheng Wing] Shu) or death certificates which are generally reliable.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/fees/fees_4881.html?cid=3537

 

 

 

[david_dawei]

anyone have experience with #1 ?

[concert500]

I have a copy of my recent Translation Documentation but it in a PDF....I tried scanning it in an it became a JPEG.... sorry. Contact me and I can send you an e-mail of what mine looks like.

[tsap seui]

newbie post here

 

it seems there are two variations on the notarial theme for translating the marriage certificate.

 

1. Short version is only simple text saying so-and-so married so-and-so on so-and-so date, etc.

 

2. Copy of little red book with full page canned verbiage and acknowledgement of the marriage date, etc.

 

Does it really matter which one is used if it is done by the official notary?

 

David, I am very familiar with number 1.

 

In our application I sent both 1 and 2. Plus, I labeled which red book was mine and which one was lil' rabbits.

 

We got 4 copies of the "white book" translation from the marriage office in Shenyang.

 

I see Fushun is giving your wife some grief about white books, because they had Shenyang red stamps. We have been fortunate that lil' rabbit's birth certificate, etc, was all from FUshun originally.

 

As a "newbie"I hope you will take time to read the FAQ's. A feller named DAvid Z took a lot of his time to compile them and post them. Many of us owe thanks to him.

 

tsap seui

Edited August 29, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

ok... chalk up my first newbie post as a bone head post. I simply read what VJ had and clearly they want a translation of the marriage certificate; ie: The red book... so there is little question in my mind now that #2 is sufficient.

 

Yes, Fushun seems to be one of those cities full of the opposite of bribery prone (yes, that exists, but they co-exists); if someone feels they might make a mistake the easy way out for them is to just not do anything at all.

 

They would not do a translation of the divorce decree since it had Shenyang Court stamps; they would not write a birth certificate since they have no understanding of how to do it... so they choose not to do it.

 

We provided what is used in Shenyang and they looked even more confused once seeing a birth certificate with actual information to fill out. Then they said, this is for Shenyang not Fushun... I guess what is good for the provincial capital is not good enough for the poor cities.

 

I told Lulu, which she knows too well, call some contacts until we get someone to fix this. I told her that the police can do this but we need someone willing. Her brother works at a prison under the police agency and so he was able to find someone willing. Our very good ex-mafia guy seems willing to do anything for us, he convinced someone of an offer they could not refuse. Then someone told Lulu to go to the housing authority since they have the ability to verify (fill out and stamp) someone's birth information. They gave the Fushun 'song and dance'... but they finally relented when she used one of the well known ploys; if you sense someone knows they can do this but refuses, then refuse to leave until they do it... they will do it just to get you out of their office.

 

So in the end, we got it done but had two backup plans. We took this to Shenyang to translate since we just don't trust anyone in Fushun at this point. The marriage office saw us on 5 occasions doing the pony express (via a bus) route trying to get translations... They said they would do the translations.

 

Here is my big lesson learned and I have to admit my instinct failed me; had I not been so fast to refuse the marriage office at the start we could of done all this in 2 trips instead of 6... yes, we have to go on tuesday again !

 

The reason I refused to let them do it in the beginning is that one girl kept telling us we didn't need certain things for a US visa application so I felt how could I trust them if they are not even aware of this as a notarial office. What I later realized is that this girl is too opinionated and should of just said "hao de" at anything we wanted but she decided to open her mouth too much. The girl we worked with next was a "hao de" type.

 

Here is why this girl thought we don't need certain papers for the visa application; because nobody goes to the marriage office to get these things; they go back to their hometown to do it. So this girl has not seen the request for these other things before and decided nobody needed them.

 

In the end, we have contributed more to the Fushun and Shenyang bus and restaurant industry than needed. But in exchange, I know all the girls at the marriage office quite well; even one girl worked through lunch to do our papers. I told Lulu that we should bring her lunch and she told the girl later that day which caused her to laugh and smile uncontrollably. The mere thought seemed enough reward for her efforts.

[tsap seui]

ok... chalk up my first newbie post as a bone head post. I simply read what VJ had and clearly they want a translation of the marriage certificate; ie: The red book... so there is little question in my mind now that #2 is sufficient.

 

Yes, Fushun seems to be one of those cities full of the opposite of bribery prone (yes, that exists, but they co-exists); if someone feels they might make a mistake the easy way out for them is to just not do anything at all.

 

They would not do a translation of the divorce decree since it had Shenyang Court stamps; they would not write a birth certificate since they have no understanding of how to do it... so they choose not to do it.

 

We provided what is used in Shenyang and they looked even more confused once seeing a birth certificate with actual information to fill out. Then they said, this is for Shenyang not Fushun... I guess what is good for the provincial capital is not good enough for the poor cities.

 

I told Lulu, which she knows too well, call some contacts until we get someone to fix this. I told her that the police can do this but we need someone willing. Her brother works at a prison under the police agency and so he was able to find someone willing. Our very good ex-mafia guy seems willing to do anything for us, he convinced someone of an offer they could not refuse. Then someone told Lulu to go to the housing authority since they have the ability to verify (fill out and stamp) someone's birth information. They gave the Fushun 'song and dance'... but they finally relented when she used one of the well known ploys; if you sense someone knows they can do this but refuses, then refuse to leave until they do it... they will do it just to get you out of their office.

 

So in the end, we got it done but had two backup plans. We took this to Shenyang to translate since we just don't trust anyone in Fushun at this point. The marriage office saw us on 5 occasions doing the pony express (via a bus) route trying to get translations... They said they would do the translations.

 

Here is my big lesson learned and I have to admit my instinct failed me; had I not been so fast to refuse the marriage office at the start we could of done all this in 2 trips instead of 6... yes, we have to go on tuesday again !

 

The reason I refused to let them do it in the beginning is that one girl kept telling us we didn't need certain things for a US visa application so I felt how could I trust them if they are not even aware of this as a notarial office. What I later realized is that this girl is too opinionated and should of just said "hao de" at anything we wanted but she decided to open her mouth too much. The girl we worked with next was a "hao de" type.

 

Here is why this girl thought we don't need certain papers for the visa application; because nobody goes to the marriage office to get these things; they go back to their hometown to do it. So this girl has not seen the request for these other things before and decided nobody needed them.

 

In the end, we have contributed more to the Fushun and Shenyang bus and restaurant industry than needed. But in exchange, I know all the girls at the marriage office quite well; even one girl worked through lunch to do our papers. I told Lulu that we should bring her lunch and she told the girl later that day which caused her to laugh and smile uncontrollably. The mere thought seemed enough reward for her efforts.

Sorry to see Fushun be so picky to your requests. One would think something stamped in the provincial capitol city would be good anywhere in the province...then again, is that an American thought?

 

I'll never forget the gals working in that marriage office in Shenyang, and our thinking we had been married on the first trip....now that WAS funny. When we went in the first time, there were 5 or 6 ladies behind the marble counter top, one of them was sleeping, curled up in her chair. She was the youngest one there and I actually thought she was waiting for her mom to get off work....well, we went to the woman who does the english speaking marrieds and she looked over our paperwork and sends us to another lady in the line. She looks it over and sends us to another lady in the line....who looks everything over and sends us back to the first lady...who looks over everything and sends us to yet another lady for a look see, by now I am laughing out loud at the hilarity and lil' rabbit elbows me in the side. All the while lil' young lady is asleep in her chair.

 

Well sir, the last lady who looked over the docs sends us over to the lady who was the second lady to look over everything....I am laughing and feeling like "Pinball WIzard" as we bounce around here in the CaCa Hotel, home of the "pinball marriage bureau" I told lil' rabbit, "I LOVE China and the way they do things, I'm getting dizzy but this is fun."

 

Okay, this current marriage officer sends us back to the first lady we had seen...it was about her turn to see us again, and I was sorta missing her anyhow.

 

Lo and behold, this lady sends us to the sleeping lady...I thought WHAT, she works here??? Turns out, she was the lady who takes your money!!!! She, somewhat with a temper takes our money, I mean, we HAD made her wake-up. We hand over the loot, and drumroll please, the nice lady who takes the photos takes us in hand and shows us where to stand. She asks me to take off my black riding leather and holds out her hand for it. I hand it to her and it immediately falls to the floor....oppps, that cowhide weighs at least 25 or 30 pounds. Nice photographer lady takes a few photos (turns out they were for the lil' red book, and she sends us back to "sleeping beauty" to fork over some more loot.

 

Lil' rabbit does some talking about translated and notorized copies of the docs, they tell her in two days to come back....alrighty now, we head back downstairs to our favorite Fushun "car man" who we use for excursions and have become friends with, and off we need back to Fushun for yet another night of extreme boom-boom as we are NOW married, and like we needed any reason to take our clothes off and get hot and sweaty, we go home to celebrate our honeymoon night (I had thought that was what we did on the first night of my first trip to Wonderland)....or so we thought we were married. No, we were still humping and bumping in sin, so to speak.

 

Well sir, in a couple of days we get into favorite car man's taxi and off we head to the CaCa Hotel, home of everyone's favorite Pinball Marriage Bureau.

 

Lil' rabbit goes in to get our documents and I stand outside the glass wall and burn one...lil' rabbit comes back out and takes me by the hand back inside. She is laughing so I know this isn't going to hurt none. We go back to nice smiling photo lady and she lines us up for some photos at the small podium they have there. Garsh, she even gives us two plastic coated papers that say in our respective languages how we should act in our marriages (for the life of me I can't remember a single word of how I am supposed to act in my marriage, not one single word on that paper stuck in my pea sized dinosauer brain.)

 

Smiling photo lady now hands lil' rabit some very dusty plastic flowers to hold as we stand behind the podium and another lady steps up to say some words to us, I think I say "yes" to something....all the while nice photo lady is snapping photos. I am so happy and full of mirth I take lil' rabbit in my arms and start to sashshay and dance around the room full of people (much to the delight of the worker ladys)....lil' rabbit stops me in mid-stride of the third step and laughs as she tells me "You no gooda man, my dear harband."

 

Puff, puff, we are sent up to the third floor to some more ooffices of the bouncing pinball marriage bureau. The fellow up there says he will work through lunch to get everything ready for us and we go sit down while the photo lady does her thing. Soon we are called back to look at our photos. Shucks, we pick out the ones for the redbook and marriage certificate and I buy the rest of the photos once someone wakes up sleeping beauty to take my Chairman Moes.

 

It suddenly dawns on me, as I walk back outside the glass wall into the friendly stench of the CaCa Hotel proper to burn another weed, that we JUST GOT MARRIED, JUST NOW!!!

 

Lil' rabbit is finalizing everything and out she comes, with a drop dead gorgeous young lady who I had seen in the marriage que with her boyfriend/husband.

 

Lil' rabbit walks up to me all giggly, and the beautiful young girl walks up to me too. She is blushing red and as she looks me in the eyes and in her soft little voice she tells me..."I want to tell you, you are very beautiful and pretty man"...Lord God, I look around to see if she is talking to someone else and think she is maybe talking to lil' rabbit....but no, she is still looking me straight in the eyes and she did say "man".

 

Lil' rabbit has a firm grip on my hand and I am yanked down the steps, as I tell the gorgeous lil' bunny, "Thank you very much ma'am, you are so nice...I hope you have a happy marriage."

 

Now dear reader, I am NOT beautiful and I certainly ain't purdy. That young bunny musta been blinded by the light, I tells ya.

 

Lil' rabbit pretends to give me a hard time but she can't stop laughing. We get into favorite car man's taxi and head back to Fushun to "cumsumate" our marriage, once again...we get into our door, lil' rabbit runs over to turn on Al Green's best hits disc, off come her clothes, and WHOOOPIE says me!!!!

 

That's my tale of wedded bliss and the story of our journey through the Pinball Marriage Bureau, located in the CaCa Hotel right there in downtown Shenyang, Chinertucky.

 

tsap seui

 

David, it is excitin' to hear your story and best of luck to you and wifey on your visa journey.

[shenzhen]

We had the white book that was like what you describe in number 1 except that it also have a passport size picture of the two of us included in the translation. When we applied for the IV we included a copy of the red book but no translations

[tsap seui]

We had the white book that was like what you describe in number 1 except that it also have a passport size picture of the two of us included in the translation. When we applied for the IV we included a copy of the red book but no translations

 

 

I sent in both, an original white book (one of four I bought) with our passport sized marriage photos pasted in it, and a copy of each of our redbooks.

 

tsap seui

 

Non-trusting anal retentive redneck

[david_dawei]

We had the white book that was like what you describe in number 1 except that it also have a passport size picture of the two of us included in the translation. When we applied for the IV we included a copy of the red book but no translations

I suspected that this was possibly accepted; A copy of the original red book and just a basic statement of the marriage but which may not be a word for word translation of the book info itself.

 

Based on the idea of providing a copy of the marriage 'certificate', I am going to stick to that explicit idea; it will be a copy of the red book and a translation of the red book as the office provides.