China builds national network for marriage registration

[Fu Lai]

Well this was supposed to be finished in places by now, anyone know if it's up and running?

China builds national network for marriage registration
(Xinhua)

Chinese authorities ended the practice of requiring manual marriage registration around the end of June this year by setting up a national network and database for marriage registration covering all of the country's 31 provincial regions.

A provincial marriage network and database has also been set up in each provincial region to allow local agencies to offer online marriage registration and verify individuals' marital status based on national data, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

"The national database will help to effectively prevent bigamy and improve the services offered by marriage registration agencies," said Yu Jianliang, director of the ministry's social affairs bureau.

Civil affairs bureaus are now working to update data for the national network, the ministry said.

The Beijing municipal civil affairs bureau has signed an agreement with the municipal archives bureau to share information regarding historical information on marriage registration.

The Beijing municipal civil affairs bureau plans to finish data regarding marriage registrations that took place after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 by the end of this year.

The ministry plans to exchange and share marital information with foreign affairs departments and relevant agencies in Hongkong, Macao and Taiwan in the future in order to set up a national marital status database for all of the country's citizens, according to Yu.

Related:

China vows to establish national database to prevent fraudulent marriages

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has urged its local organs to speed up the establishment of a standardized digital marriage registration system in each of the country's provinces, aiming to form a national database by end of this year to help prevent fraudulent multiple marriages.

Addressing a meeting regarding the establishment of the registration system in east China's city of Huangshan, Zhang Mingliang, director of the ministry's social affairs department, called for comprehensive efforts to connect provincial marriage databases with the ministry's national system.
http://english.sina.com/china/2012/0724/489222.html

 

[Doug]

Fen was reminded from the province a couple of weeks ago, but not urgent, that she had not changed her status, and so she went to the police station to do that I think, locally. So we got married in August in the province but she needed to go change her status with her card ID??

 

I wondered about this because of one line on the US Chinese consulate website saying if you got a USA divorce from a Chinese you should file this with the court in China, with no other explanation. What court???? Anyway, I had all the right paperwork showing I was single from the Houston consulate so the marriage worked anyway.

[Randy W]

Probably the PSB - it's an American legal document (the divorce decree), so you may need to take it through the certification procedure. We don't hear much of anything about that, except from your case. For example, If your ex were to decide to remarry in China, she would probably need to do this. I think your thinking was correct when you got the single certificate in the U.S.

 

But I expect that it's fairly easy to commit bigamy, especially in the U.S. - if you say you're single, then by golly you are for the most part.

[Doug]

You know my divorce from Weiyan WAS county embossed certified, Secretary of state certified, and certified at the Houston Consulate. I took that with me to China, incase Fen's province questioned anything. But I had no time that trip, nor did I know where to go in Beijing to file the thing with a court, like the website mentions. So I just don't worry about it. If I ever see that I will get to Beijing then maybe I will bring it with me to file with someone.

[Randy W]

You know my divorce from Weiyan WAS county embossed certified, Secretary of state certified, and certified at the Houston Consulate. I took that with me to China, incase Fen's province questioned anything. But I had no time that trip, nor did I know where to go in Beijing to file the thing with a court, like the website mentions. So I just don't worry about it. If I ever see that I will get to Beijing then maybe I will bring it with me to file with someone.

 

 

I don't think you'll be able to find anyone to file it with for yourself, but your ex may need to file it with her hukou. I'd say give her that signed sealed and certified copy, in case she might have a use for it.