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I’ve just proposed to my girlfriend, and we’ll be getting married this autumn, then going to the UK to live (she’s from Chengdu, and we’ve been having a ridiculously long distance relationship). If anyone has any advice or tips I’d greatly appreciate it as this is all happening so fast, so we’re rapidly looking at what we need to do to make the wedding official? what UK visa requirements are? what’s the Chinese government approach to me coming there to get married? etc…
Not to mention the usual stuff of find a venue, book a photographer etc…Congratulation man! just yesterday I celebrated the fifth anniversary… now I don’t remeber exactly what do you need, but here you can find some information or you can ask to England embassy…
Some info:
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/adr/
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa/marriage-registration.htm
See you!
On 1st July the UK made it even more difficult for Chinese wives or any spouse to live in the UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/09/uk-australia-spouse-visa
They would most likely reject your first application based on how long you have been married.
Sorry dude, but this is harsh reality that is facing most Brits.
If you are getting married in Chengdu. You need to get a certificate of none inpediment from the British consulate in Chongqing. You have to be resident in China 21 days before you can apply. You will also need your birth certificate and passport.. Your fiance will need to show her house registration book and Chinese ID. Then notice will be posted on the consulate board for 30 days. After 30 days you have to go and collect in person. It cost over 2000rmb
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/china-consular-fees
https://www.clickbook.net/dev/bc.nsf/sub/BritConChongqingGetting married in China is as romantic as visiting the Post Office and getting a stamp on your application. The wedding photos are fun – nothing to do with the wedding and may take place before or after you get married. The big event is a party in a restaurant. Dressing up is compulsory if she hasn’t been married before but tradition and guest numbers tend to slide if it’s her second time around.
The UK government does not like immigrants. It only takes a few days to get a response but all the visa applications get couriered to Beijing. Read up all the advice on the UK Border Agency website and work on the basis that they will turn her down if they possibly can. So do your paperwork before you come with, for example, a letter from your employer with information on your ability to provide for her. They may well try and trip her up by asking ‘what guarantee can she provide them with that she will return to China if the marriage fails’. I provided a certified translation of the deeds to a property in Chengdu and that worked. You will almost certainly get to be interviewed as part of her application. They conduct separate interviews with no consultation so get your story straight and make sure that you both understand each other’s background. Her command of English language and English culture is going to have to be up to speed – check out the requirements or you are going to be living in Chengdu for the rest of your married life.
Be prepared for a turbulent couple of years – Chengdu girls like to wear the trousers and she will happily spend vast sums of money on things that she considers essential without consulting you simply because it would never have occurred to her that you would want to participate. Make sure that she has an affordable method of chatting to her mates and relatives back in Chengdu.
Find out where your local branch of Wing Yip is in the UK and make sure she can get access to her idea of food because she will almost certainly consider UK Chinese restaurants to be rubbish.
Ahahahahahah Merior you are right! Sichuan girls like to wear the trousers, really!
…about money, depend from every people, my wife is a better “economist” than me…
The getting married part is pretty easy here, but I would not recommend applying for a visa to go to the UK as soon as you’re hitched. Regardless of the detailed procedure that very act sends out the wrong signals to the UK authorities if you do it too soon. These days our UK authorities don’t want new faces to come back I’m afraid, unless they can show absolutely that it is a genuine bona fide marriage.
If you want more detailed information on how to prepare for the Chinese formalities send me a pm and I can help. I’m the British Consular Warden for Chengdu so I can pass on any specific questions on details directly – like posting the bans for 30 days.
As others have said there is nothing wonderful about going to the marriage office here. It takes about 15 minutes (after queuing), and if you pay a little extra you get photos on your marriage book that you can actually see. Total cost less than 100RMB for that visit itself. The following wedding party location is your own choice, pick a hotel or a restaurant or other venue that you like and negotiate a deal, but your new wife should be able to help with that.
Too much stuff to write it all down here – as I say if you want more info send me a pm.
Thanks.
I forgot to add. The Chinese gov will not accept a CNI from the UK. So will have to follow the steps I listed above
Here is another useful link from the UK Embassy for Brits coming here to get married: https://www.gov.uk/marriage-in-china You can bring your Certificate Of Non Impediment from the UK but you will have to exchange it for a local one: “If you live in the UK, you should submit the Notice of Marriage in the UK. Once you have obtained a Certificate of No Impediment you should then bring this to the Embassy or Consulate General covering the area for the proposed marriage. The CNI will then be exchanged for a local version.”
You may be lucky and simply have your UK CNI translated and notarised locally without going to the Consulate, but that may depend on the mood of the official in the local registrar when you go. Also, as it says in the link, watch out for your fiancee’s hukou (family register) area. You will need to synchronise that with the local CNI. If she’s from Chengdu with a local hukou then Chongqing is the right place, and you guys can get married here. If she’s from Heilongjiang and her hukou is still registered there then you have to go there. My wife of 3 and a half years is local, but I have another friend here who indeed had to go to Heilongjiang to finalise his marriage!!!
The local registrar will not accept a UK translated CNI. It has to be done in Chongqing and it will still have to go on the board for 21 working days. I tried this and it does not work. So please don’t bother with getting the CNI in the UK.
The local registrar will not accept a UK translated CNI. It has to be done in Chongqing and it will still have to go on the board for 21 working days.
From the gov.uk link, published 15 April 2013, that Graham posted:
“If you live in the UK, you should submit the Notice of Marriage in the UK. Once you have obtained a CNI you should then bring this to the Embassy or Consulate General covering the area for the proposed marriage. The CNI will then be exchanged for a local version.”
I did not require a birth certificate when I did my CNI in 2010.
The consulate forwarded on the CNI to Chengdu for a small fee. I did not have to collect it in person.
The CNI will not be exchanged. They just make a new one which you have to pay for again. Also you must collect in person. They will not send CNI’s out anymore.
You still have to get the notice of marriage in Chongqing because you and your fiance will have to take the oath with Simon Lever (nice guy) consulate general. When I picked up my CNI Mr Lever gave me the documents directly. The CNI was pretty impressive compared to the piece of blue A5 CNI I got in the UK.
Guys – your help is absolutely awesome! Basically I’ve always lived in the UK, but when I met her last year I spent 4 months in Chengdu getting to know her (with some extensions and visa runs inbetween). We intended on breaking up when I left, but made a go of things long distance and it worked out. She’s spent 2 months checking out the UK.
From what people have put above, I need to decide if I’m better to do the legal ceremony in China, or do the legal ceremony in the UK (the big family celebration ceremony will be in China).
I do have a day job, so will need to read through all the posts, but really many thanks for your answers and help and I’ll come back with questions once I’ve digested it all. Thanks loads 🙂 I’ll owe any of you beers next time I’m around.
Just to further clarify the current situation at the British Consulate for getting married in China, I have just been in touch with the consular officers there about the procedure for providing a CNI. Here is the reply in detail for everyone’s information. There are specific documents to be provided, but, assuming you can fulfil those requirements the required time at the Consulate will be much reduced. Otherwise the time will go up to the usual 21 days. Here you go, quote:
“Yes, as our website says, we can exchange the UK style CNI to a Chinese local version as long as it was issued by the local General Register Office in the UK. It only takes one or two hours based on appointment. Please ask the applicant to take the following supporting documents.
1) The UK style CNI
2) The British customer’s British passport
3) The British customer’s divorce paper or ex-wife/ex-husband’s death certificate (if applicable)
4) Chinese partner’s ID card and Hukou (ie. Household registration book)
5) The Chinese partner’s divorce paper or ex-wife/ex-husband’s death certificate (if applicable)
To make sure we have Consular officer to sign for the customer then, please make an online appointment before coming https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/information-for-british-nationals-living-in-china ” unquote
If you wish the direct contact consular email address, please send me a pm. Hope this helps a bit more.
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