Possibly need to annul my HK marriage and do it over

I'm an American living on the Chinese mainland. For reasons that it's not necessary to get into right now I married my long-time Chinese girlfriend in Hong Kong this summer, rather than in her hometown. My city in China is a 5-6 hour bus ride from HK. When my wife and I arrived in HK to register our marriage I realized I'd forgotten to pack my divorce decree. We couldn't stomach the prospect of getting back on the bus and going all the way home to get it. We would have lost our appointment and my wife would have needed to take yet another day off from work, something that is difficult for her to do. So I made a, in introspect, stupid decision. I told the marriage registrar I'd never been married before. My reasoning at the time was that my new wife knew full well I'd been married before and there was no intent to deceive her in any way. Besides, a wedding license is the same no matter if the person was married before, right? Basically "no harm, no foul." What I was unaware of is that a HK marriage certificate has a line for "Marital Condition Before Marriage" and mine is listed as "Bachelor, " meaning I've never been married before. I'm now in the process of getting my wife her US visa and Green Card. I'm very worried that when her application is being reviewed the discrepancy will cause a problem and "fraud" might be suspected. I'm now wondering if there is a way to get my marriage certificate "corrected." Anyone who has any insight into this please provide any advice you might have.

I've been in touch with the HK folks. You're right. They reply pretty fast. Still waiting to see what advice they give me. I am hoping it's not too big of a hassle.

I have no plans to divorce, that's for sure. I have written to the HK marriage registrar and am still waiting for a reply. To answer your question it was during the first trip to HK, when we registered, that I realized I'd forgotten my divorce papers. I should have corrected it before we actually got married but, well, I didn't.

Someone here read my post and recommended a lawyer for me to speak with. He asked me for $10,000HK just to speak with him for an hour. I wasn't quite sure how to react to that other than to say, "You're insane."

Welcome to HK!

And I thought American lawyers were bloodsuckers!

Wow. Thanks!

Hi Pangmei,

Your case is definitely interesting and has piqued my interest as well. Could you update us to let us know how everything unfolded?

You might be charged of knowingly make a false declaration to marriage registry when u sworn on your Notice of Intended Marriage⋯
After production of your original divorce decree to marriage registry , it would be able to rectify the status
But the marriage itself is not necessarily null and void that needs annulment
The risk for you in this whole thing is the criminal charge , yet u might not need to go to jail if u hv clear record ..

Any further news on your case Pangme?