Need marriage advice

Hello everybody,


I have been reading the asiaxpat forums for quite awhile now, but this is my first post.


I have done quite a bit of reading online, but have not found the answers/advice I am looking for, so I hope the people here can help.


Here is my situation in a nutshell: I am an Americain citizen, divirced, living and working in Hong Kong, with a valid work visa. My Fiancee is a Chinese citizen, originially from Laioning province (way up North), but now living and working in Zhuhai. She has a vaild Chinese passport, but has never left China. We would like to get married this spring and she move to Hong Kong with me, then eventually in a few years or more, move to the US.


So, my first question is: What is the best way to go about this? Reading online, it seems diffacult to get married in China. We would have to make several trips to Northern China to register, get the approvals, etc... Would it be better to just get a "Fiancee visa" to the US for her, fly to Las Vegas or somewhere similar, get married, then come back to Hong Kong? (She is OK with this, we could just have a small celabration dinner for friends and familiy either before or after we go to the US for the actuall marrage.)


Second question: Will China/HK recognize this marrage?


Third question: Will Hong Kong let her move here as my dependant on my work visa?


Fourth question: What is required by china to let her marry outside of China, and then move to HK and eventually the US? I can't seem to find much about this online.


One last note (I do not know if this is relevent or not): We have applied for a tourist visa for her to come to the US for Christmas to meet my family. She has her interview scheduled at the US Embassy in Guangzhou next week. We did not go for the Fiance visa, as we do not want to get married on this trip, but wait until spring.


Any other advice/information/suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.

HI,

IT'S BETTER FOR YOU TO GET MARRIED IN U.S.IT'S VERY DIFFICILE TO GET MARRIED IN CHINA.AND THEN YOU CAN GO TO CHINESE EMBASSADE IN U.S TO CERTIFIE YOUR MARRIAGE,IT'S EASY.THEN IT'S OK FOR YOU.

It is joke to hear that it is very difficult to get married in China. I married a Chinese many years back where the system is not so open. Yet, I never find it troublesome at all.


OK. The way to do it is very very very very simple. Send someone in Liaoning to the city she is from. Go to the city level 民政局 and ask for the documents required for you two to marry there. Ask your wife to make a trip to Liaoning to collect her end of the documents. As for you, you need to have your divorce judgement notarized and certified by the Chinese embassy in your own country. Any one can do that for you, you do not need to do it yourself. You need to make just one visit.


The problem of getting a Las Vegas marriage is your girlfriend's tourist visa may have a marriage restriction clause. Any violation to this clause will mean breaking US migration laws.

Thanks for the advice so far. douglaskoh: can I ask if you lived in China when you got married there? Yoy may think it is not difficult, but it does seem to be much eaisier to get married in the US. I know it took my fiancee two trips back home, alot of phone calls , and alot of leg-work by her Mother just to get a Chinese passport, I can only guess getting all the marrige stuff settled will be more work. Plus I am also trying to find out what will make it eaiser for her to move to Hong Kong after we are married.


No worries about getting married on the tourist visa to the US, that is not the plan. The tourist visa is only for the trip this Christmas to meet my family. We will get a Fiancee visa in the spring if we decide to marry in the US.

Q3. Your fiancee/wife will be granted a Dependant's Visa (linked to your employment visa), but only after you are married. If you are getting married in HK (and can prove it by the registration details etc - marriages are administered also by the Immigration Dept) and the mwedding is imminent I guess they might grant the DV in advance of the wedding but I doubt it. Good luck with everything.

Thanks TC, no plan to marry in HK, basically she cannot get into HK now. So, after we marry (in the US), I just take the marigige certificate to the HK immagration department, along with all my documentation, her documentation (passport, etc...) and they should grant her a dependant visa, based on my work visa? The reason I ask is I have heard of some couples waiting a long time (years?) for the other half to get a visa for HK, however I think these are Chinese couples (one HK-Chinese, the other mainland Chinese) Is (or why) is our situation different then theirs?

Getting married in CHINA isn't that hard - the actual registration of you as a wed couple is nothing but a formality that takes up to two hours of hand-writing...

Then you get a marriage cert in duplicate, bilingual, with your pcis. That's it.

You can - or even should - celebrate that occasion appropriately, but in this regard your fiancee can give you far better advice than I do. Just so much: it need not bankrupt you! Your guests can legitimately be expected to fork out their fair share in the costs.


It's the steps leading to the marriage registrar that are formidable: get the required proof stating that you are divorced/a bachelor (whichever is applicable), have it translated and authenticated, then submit them to the marriage registrar.


I had to fly to my old country to get some of those steps done with the help of a translator, a notary public and the Chinese embassy.


I don't think your wife can go to live and work in HK being your wife unless she gets a foreign passport! As a Mainlander, she will only be eligible for a tourist visa! Sorry about that - but that's reality!

Differing advice. I suggest you contact the Immigration Department if you cannot find the answer on its website. I've always found them to be very helpful (and prompt) in answering queries.

http://www.immd.gov.hk

Seneca: So you think a dependant visa for HK depends on where the dependant is from, or what passport they hold? In other words, I can have a dependant, as long as it is not a Chinese dependant? I cannot find anything about that on the immd.gov.hk website.