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Xu & Rick

The Unmarried Certificate (especially for China)

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: China
Timeline

When I read that a member's fiancee had been denied a visa in Guangzhou because she did not present a notarial unmarried certificate, I did a little checking and discovered some inconsistencies in the forms and instruction checklists which can be confusing and might cause other couples to lose months waiting for a new appointment to be scheduled. This info refers to Guangzhou, China, but it could be applicable to other countries as well.

The I-129F lists four categories of marital status: Married, Single, Widowed, Divorced. The DS-230 and the DS-156 clarify the word Single by adding "(never married)". The confusion starts when the Guangzhou Consulate starts talking about "Unmarried persons". It turns out that this designation includes not only single persons but also divorced and widowed persons as well.

The required certificate also has different names. The consulates call it the "Certificate of Marriageability" when they issue it to a US Citizen. But they call it the "Unmarried Certificate" when the fiancee obtains it in China (weihun zheng). Guangzhou Form OF-171 refers to an "Unmarried Statement". And one Guangzhou website K-1 Checklist states "If you were married previously, obtain one Notarial Marriage Certificate and Divorce/Death Certificates". What is this Marriage Certificate? Since Marriage Certificates are not required, presumably they mean to say "Unmarried Certificate" here. But a single person who was never married would not need it, according to this (erroneous) checklist.

The sad thing about the Unmarried Certificate is that it does not and cannot prove that the holder of the certificate is unmarried, only that he or she swore that he or she was unmarried at some point in the past.

P.S.

As a sidelight on the bureaucracy of Unmarried Certificates, I would note that for non-Chinese who marry Chinese citizens in China, some provinces require the Certificate of Marriageablilty and some do not. An Austrian friend of mine planned to marry his Chinese fiancee in China so that her family could celebrate.

They gave up their plans to get married in China because her province required the Certificate of Marriageability from Vienna. Vienna would only issue this certificate if they had photocopies and German translations of the complete Chinese identity documents (passport, ID card, family tree book) and divorce certificate of the bride. These translations would have to be notarized in China, then the notarization would have to be notarized in the Chinese foreign ministry, then the notarization of the notarization would have to be notarized at the Austrian Embassy and forwarded by diplomatic courier to Vienna. After issuing the certificate, the certificate would have to be translated into Chinese, and both the certificate and the translation notarized in a Vienna district court, then all signatures of the notaries notarized in State court, then at the Vienna foreign ministry, and finally notarized at the Chinese Embassy in Vienna and sent by diplomatic courier to China. The resulting certificate would then prove that my friend had claimed to be unmarried. It would not prove that he had not recently married someone else somewhere, making the whole bureaucratic process somewhat worthless.

They decided to get married in California, where (in some counties) the only requirement is to present a valid passport and to state that you are not presently married. That's right, state. They actually believe you!

Out of 1000 marriage aspirants, maybe one is a bigamist. Instead of prosecuting bigamists when they are found out, the law makes all the rest of us go through the process of obtaining notarized certificates and translations (weeks of waiting, many dollars in notarization fees) in the hopes of deterring that one bigamist, who, if he really wants to commit bigamy, simply has to state that he is unmarried and sign a paper. In the end, the authorities will have to prosecute him anyway, when they catch him.

It is a legal mentality which assumes that we are all liars until we can prove otherwise. If Macy's operated like this, you could not enter the store to buy a pair of socks without presenting a police certificate that you had never been convicted of shoplifting. Immigration to the USA is like a big theater with thousands of people waiting to buy tickets at the box office. While we wait patiently in line for months, people are streaming in the unlocked back doors of the theater (the Rio Grande) and taking seats. That's life!

10-10-2006 Met in internet

12-09-2006 Personal meeting in Dalian

April, May More meetings in Shanghai

05-05-2007 Engaged in Shanghai

05-12-2007 Mailed I-129F from China, EMS

05-16-2007 Received in Nebraska Service Center

05-??-2007 Forwarded to California Service Center

06-04-2007 NOA1 allegedly mailed by California Service Center

06-06-2007 Check cashed

06-07-2007 touched

08-28-2007 touched

09-04-2007 NOA1 received that CSC mailed three months earlier

10-03-2007 NOA2 sent from CSC

10-31-2007 emailed NVC, asked if they had gotten our petition

11-07-2007 NVC said they had it (didn't say when they got it) and had assigned it the case number OH2.

I can't believe we have a case number this short. They must have reached ten million and are

starting over at zero.

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  • 2 years later...
Filed: K-1 Visa Country: China
Timeline

Just a personal experience note here:

Guangzhou has required my fiancee to provide notarized documentation of her "divorce", current unmarried status by her local government office (I do not know the correct name of the office), and now after two visits to the consulate, another document that is her statement that she is currently "not married".

Also, not all notarial documents from notarial offices are accepted at Guangzhou. Be sure to utilize the correct services.

One last semi-related notation, specifically for Changsha residents. The "official" notarial office in Changsha apparently has never processed documents for a K-1 visa before now. They will be of no help in assisting your SO in completing what is required. Your SO MUST describe in detail exactly what is to be done for her/him. They will notarize what you ask, but will not tell you that it is inaccurate, incomplete, the wrong format, or that you will need additional documents... (ask me how I know?)

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  • 1 year later...
Filed: K-1 Visa Country: China
Timeline

Roger this is Brent,

I just got a RFE for my Fiance in ChangSha stating that they need more proof of her divorce.

Marriage Termination: Submit a legible copy of the original language final divorce decree that shows proof of filing, or death certificate issued by the civil authorities, that terminated the prior marriage (s) between (Persons Name) and (other persons name).

----

We had a state agency Create, Translate, Certify (with embossed seal) all this information but I guess if is not good enough! Roger can you Suggest to me any advise? Please you stated "Ask me how I know" I do want to know for sure, please advise any helpful information so I can pursue the correct information for USCIS.

I will be back in ChangSha in one week so I can hand carry all things needed back ...

Thank you in advance!!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Filed: K-1 Visa Country: China
Timeline

Any update on this Brent? Good luck with everything!

Hello James,

I just sent the information requested in the RFE two days ago. I sent a certified and notary bound document of LiLi's divorce, Red Book, and un-married status with full translation (done in CN) and a supporting verification that the China documents - mandarin to English translation is correct (this was verified by a USA Gov. agency... Letter head, stamp, certified). I am a bit nervous, should not be as all the paperwork is accurate and reads correct.

I will keep you all posted on this! I should hear something this week or early next!

Thank you for checking in!

Take care!!

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