I am a US citizen living and working in mainland China, and I want to get married here. I was married before in America, and I never bothered to get a divorce. I was browsing through the other posts in the legal advice section, and before anyone decides to comment, YES, i am aware that getting married twice is illegal. What I want to know is, does the marriage bureau here actually check to see if you were married before in your home country, or do they just ask you and take your word for it?
I can't afford to go to america and file for divorce. It's not just the airfare and time, but it's also the fact that my ex would try to take everything I have. I honestly don't want to go back to america, EVER, so I don't see the american wife as posing any sort of problem here.
Also, does China have a "greencard" system like america has? If a foreigner gets married to a Chinese citizen and has a kid in China, does that make him eligible to apply for permanent residence?
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You better check first whether your wife in the US already filed for divorce, and granted in absentia. If yes, then you're free.
If you go through this short-cut, you might regret it in the end. It's always better to clear your plate before putting in new stuff.
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The Chinese probably don't check your American marriage status, but IF they find out, i would not want to be in your shoes.
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They will check your profile and if they found that you got married, you need to show them the certificater of divorce. For the more, China is a country whose people are only allowed to have one nationality, so that if you want to be a permanant citizen, whcih means you need to give up your US nationanlity.
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Moonbaby: What exactly do you mean by "check your profile"? When I came to China, I never claimed to be married. Also, how do I go about becoming a Chinese citizen? What steps must I take? I have no problems giving up my US nationality...
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I plan on staying in China permanently, so the american marriage will not pose a problem here. My Chinese fiancee knows my situation, she knows I will never return to America, and she is fine with it. As for the work situation, I have friends in several schools who would be more than happy to hire me full-time. The reason I don't want to file for divorce from my american wife is because I don't want her to figure out where I am. She suspects I am in Asia somewhere, but if I start filing divorce papers, that will give away my location right away. And no, LOL, it's not a mid-life crisis thing... I left my wife 3 years ago, came to China, and met someone I'm really in love with here. I know that marriage records in America are held at the local level of government, so actually checking every city, county and township in America to see if someone is married there is a monumental, if not impossible task. That's why I'm willing to run the ultra-low risk of just lying on the form and getting married here.
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As mentioned before, you can do whatever you like now but you better be ready for the consequences tomorrow. One question, does it say in your passport or driver's license whether you're married or not?
Is your purpose of marrying a local lady aside from love, to gain permanent residency?
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Oski
16 yrs ago
Chances are the Chinese marriage registration body will take your word for it, and issue you a marriage certificate.
However, doing so would be very short sighted. You will incur a life time of vulnerability.
If your estranged wife ever finds out. I think she will eventually, these things always come out. You will be at her mercy. Do you want to be in that situation?
Take a few weeks off, go back home, spend a few thousand dollars, and at least file for divorce. Even if it is not finalized, you can use this fact to show the authorities that you "thought" you were divorced. That maybe enough to get you off a felony bigamy charge.
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No, american passports don't state marriage status. I wanna marry the gal because I do genuinely love her. I just don't want to deal with the american court system. I'm an English teacher with a foreign expert card and all that good stuff, so I don't really need permanent residence to stay in China.
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Oski
16 yrs ago
If you have reasons to be "hidden" from the US justice system, and you really don't need a marriage certificate for anything other than love, then the best "legal" choice is not to bother with the marriage certificate at all. Have a family wedding without the registration. So in the eyes of your girlfriend's family, you are married, but in the eyes of the law you are just boyfriend/girlfriend.
Getting one you would break two laws in China, bigamy and perjury (you have to lie about your marriage status evidenced in writing.) If found out, you will likely be expelled. (the US justice system will be notified in such an event through the State Department.)
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