Xian Marriage Bureau, anyone?

Hi

Can anyone tell me how quick/slow/bureaucratic is the whole legal marriage process (I mean, that Government office visit to sign the papers)? Has anyone had any interesting or worrying problems when arriving, presenting docs and getting everything stamped and done? How long/much did it take?

My fiancee lives in Xian so we have to fly up and back on a weekend (my non-teaching days), like maybe a Friday or Monday, and hope that all goes well... so I need to know, preferably about the Xian office, how easy or arduous the whole visit and process takes.

Cheers!!!

Make sure you have everything officially translated (by a place that can give you the official translation stamp), including your passport. That was the only snag we ran into. The passport seemed like a silly thing to need translated but the marriage bureau wanted it.

Is your fiancee's hukou from Xian, or does she just live there? She will need to get married in whatever city her hukou is from...

She can actually do a lot of the legwork without involving you, especially if she has more free time than you have. Your main jobs will be to get some documents, take a physical, show up to sign ze papers and get the stamps. Some of this must happen on a weekday since the places just aren't open on the weekends. You will also indeed need to get "official translations" of all your docs- just having a friend do it will not suffice- and this can run into some bucks.

Hi

Sorry for the slow reply. Been exceptionally busy with work and wedding prep stuff.

I read your post the other week and asked my fiancee to call the Xian office and find out. They said we need to get my passport translated at a translation office they approved (in the same area as their office - so that's someone getting extra dosh). So thanks for the translation heads-up, I might have missed that one.

So, all I can think of is: CNI (cert to say I'm not married), translated passport, and presumably, my FEC translated too (better safe than sorry). And some cash too.

I think that's it. Right? Yeah, her Hukou is Xian hence we have to fly there sharpish.

No mention of getting medical booklets translated at all. We'll see when we arrive though.

 

We didn't have any medical exam done when we were married either Dex. I think this used to be a requirement but it must be that they've done away with it by now. We were married in 2006.

You don't need your FEC book. I was on a work visa/residence permit when we got married but no one cared about that part. You can get married over here on a tourist visa, it doesn't matter what visa you're on or if you're working or not. Won't hurt to bring it but I doubt they'll ask for it.

Even if they did need your FEC (which given LD's comments I think they probably don't) it would not need to be translated because it is already in Chinese.