Marriageability Affidavit at the Beijing Embassy

[jwdoetsch]

Hey China folks!

 

I'm planning to marry my girlfriend next month in China to facilitate the filing of our DCF I-130, but I'm stumped on the Marriageability Affidavit. The Guangzhou Consulate has the Marriageability Affidavit form available from their website, but Beijing doesn't have a form available. The Guangzhou form has Guangzhou's address and stuff on it (you can see it here: http://photos.state....saffidavit.doc ) so I'm thinking "do they even do Marriageability Affidavit notarizations in Beijing?" If yes, what form would I use to do it?

 

Also, I've read that the Embassy and Consulate don't do translations... I'm going to need to go to the Chinese Notary that serves my girlfriends Hukou region, the same notary that's going to need to translate her birth record and police background history, right? They'll be able to translate my Marriageability Affidavit, right?

 

Who here has been through this process in Beijing? How did you go about it? Where did you get the Marriageability Affidavit translated?

 

Thanks a ton, guys and gals!

 

Peace,

Jake

 

edit: Did you have to "register your marriage" with the embassy or anything like that? When you finally arrived back in the US did you have to go to the state courthouse to register or get a state marriage license? I'm very confused on these points...

[Randy W]

The Marriageability Affidavit is simply a way for the U.S. Government to certify to the Chinese authorities that, by American standards, you ARE single. That is, you will simply "swear that I am now single and otherwise legally free to marry."

 

The document is usually accepted as is (in English), on the signature of the Consular Officer. We have heard of people who had to get it translated into Chinese, but this is usually not required. the white book format will NOT be required.

 

Prior to going to your appointment in Beijing, you may want to print out one of the forms and take it with you - but you will fill it out in front of the Consular Officer.

 

It's a relatively informal document, which simply needs the Consular Officer's signature and you're good to go.

 

Getting Married in China

To legally get married in China, you will gather the required documents and present them to the appropriate Chinese authorities. Any ceremony is optional.

Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. - Marriage Registration in China (includes a sample single affidavit)

The one from the Embassy doesn't seem to be there anymore - this is from the Houston consulate - http://houston.china...age/jh.htm#aoss

But Visa Express gives this example - http://www.visaexpre...inglestatus.htm

Your choice

The required documents may be certified in China by taking them to a consulate/Embassy. The documents may be ready in time to get married (register) that same day. In the states, it must be notarized then sent to your state's department of state for notarization...then sent to the Chinese consulate

Foreign-Related Marriage And Divorce In China

[jwdoetsch]

Thanks for the info! We're currently living together in China to do DCF, so that changes the process a bit. But the problem is that I can't find the Marriageability Affidavit on the Beijing Embassy's website, only on the Guangzhou website and the Guangzhou form is Guanzhou-specific. So I need to figure out how or where to get the proper Beijing Embassy form

[Randy W]

Thanks for the info! We're currently living together in China to do DCF, so that changes the process a bit. But the problem is that I can't find the Marriageability Affidavit on the Beijing Embassy's website, only on the Guangzhou website and the Guangzhou form is Guanzhou-specific. So I need to figure out how or where to get the proper Beijing Embassy form

 

 

I gave you 3 links there - pull out any one of the three you want! The Consular Official will serve as the "Notary" to make it an official form, and may very well provide their own form for you to fill out on the spot.

 

If you have a Microsoft Word document editor, you could change the name of the consulate/embassy yourself.

 

Yes, others have done this - the blank form that you use is not an issue. One of the links (now broken) I gave is for the form from the Chinese embassy in Washington.

 

It's NOT an official American document, certified for use in China - it's simply something that's generated on the fly in order to satisfy one of the requirements of getting married in China - that is, a statement from your Government that you are single. Your (U.S.) Government simply takes your word for it.

 

It's basically just a notarized statement that YOU make and have signed and sealed by the Consular official.

[Randy W]

From the Beijing Embassy's web site - Getting Married in China

The American will usually be asked to submit the following:

. . .

• An "affidavit of marriageability." You can get this document at the Embassy by swearing or affirming before a Consul that you are legally free to marry. You must make an appointment to get this affidavit and there is a $50 charge.
  
  

. . .

http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/acs_married.html

Edited December 24, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[msittig]

You don't have to fill it out beforehand, you will be given the form and fill it out at the embassy when you arrive for your appointment.

 

At least, that was my experience in Shanghai.

[dan1984]

You don't have to fill it out beforehand, you will be given the form and fill it out at the embassy when you arrive for your appointment.

 

At least, that was my experience in Shanghai.

 

Does anybody know if this is the same for the Embassy in Beijing? Bring your own document or will you fill out a form there?

 

I will be doing this in the next couple weeks and will report back either way.

[dnoblett]

Should be the same at all consulates, I suspect it is boiler plate, you are swearing you are not married, nothing that complex.

 

You could download this one full it out and bring to consulate.

 

http://z-visa.com/forms/affidavit_of_single_status.htm

[Randy W]

Yes - simply bring a form (any of the forms will do) with you - but use the one they give you if they have one there.

[dan1984]

Ok, got it, makes sense, thanks Randy and Dan!

[tsap seui]

Dan, I did this at the Shenyang consulate. I only took my divorce decrees...which no official ever looked at. They had me fill out their form, and then raise my right hand and state that what I had written was the truth and then they gave it their stamp. Then we took the form to the CaCa Hotel where the marriage bureau was located in Shenyang, and amidst what smelled like a million farts, we laughed our butts of and got married. This hotel had no traps on any of the plumbing drains....and it reeked. Every time someone lit a cigarette I cringed in fear of a methane explosion.

 

Hmmmm, it looks like a certain young man is going to make a move into the matrimony section. Or are you jest asking about this for a friend?

 

tsap seui

[dan1984]

Thanks for the info Tsapper!

 

And yes, it looks like we're probably going to 'finally' make this official after 4+ years. Hahaha. As I am obviously a foreigner, we'll have to get married in the city where her hukou is located, which is in Xi Chang in Sichuan. However, because Xi Chang doesn't have the means or whatever the case may be to process marriages involving foreigners, we have to do it in the provincial capital - Chengdu. SO, in returning back to Sichuan for the Chinese New Year in a couple months, we will probably fly from Beijing to Chengdu and while there take advantage of the opportunity to, ahem, make this official. Then from there it will be a 5-6 hour bus ride down to Xi Chang, or catching a ride with friends/family if there are people heading out at the same time.

Pretty exciting, but also kind of, well, stomach-turning! But, I'm ready for it, and can't wait.

Will be a great start to the Spring Festival, and after 10-12 days in Sichuan, we're flying from Chengdu to Bangkok for 18 days in Thailand!

In all my years here I've only ever had one visitor, my best buddy from back in the US and his wife (also one of my best friends). They visited me in 2011 and were ready to buy tickets for a second excursion into China. However, in thinking about it some more, taking all this time and effort and money to travel to the other side of the world for a couple weeks, why not try a new country. So, Thailand it is!

Going to be a month to remember come a number of decades in the future.

 

Happy holidays to you and yours there, and all the best!

[dan1984]

Dan, I did this at the Shenyang consulate. I only took my divorce decrees...which no official ever looked at. They had me fill out their form, and then raise my right hand and state that what I had written was the truth and then they gave it their stamp. Then we took the form to the CaCa Hotel where the marriage bureau was located in Shenyang, and amidst what smelled like a million farts, we laughed our butts of and got married. This hotel had no traps on any of the plumbing drains....and it reeked. Every time someone lit a cigarette I cringed in fear of a methane explosion.

 

Hmmmm, it looks like a certain young man is going to make a move into the matrimony section. Or are you jest asking about this for a friend?

 

tsap seui

 

Looking back at this thread for some info, and just realized I replied to you "without replying to you," hahaha :sweating_buckets: