What documents do I need to marry my gal IN China? She is a Chinese citizen.

[RandyW 149]

11 hours ago, Matt_Stevens said:

Wow, I wish I could edit posts. I am sorry about having to post again.... More information i have found:

 

I spoke to the visarite.com people and they said I need my marriage cert to be sent to the Nevada Secretary of State for "authentication of marriage certificate in China" but the issue is Googling this only returns results regarding "apostille" which is not valid in China. As I type this I am trying to navigate the Secretary of State phone menus, but holy cow, it's a muddy mess. 

 

 

The authentication is provided by the Chinese consulate in San Francisco (they have jurisdiction over Nevada), after first being certified with the notorial seal, and then THAT being certified by the Nevada Secretary of State. Yes, the VisaRite procedure is EXACTLY what you need.

 

You are certifying an AMERICAN (specifically Nevada) certificate for USE in China - you will NOT get a Chinese marriage certificate.

Edited August 16, 2017 by RandyW

[Matt_Stevens 5]

Thanks everyone for the help. Yesterday afternoon i mailed the marriage cert to the SOS office in nevada. I was able to get a person on the phone to help. Too about 40 minutes.  

 

I added rush service so that they can get it to me before the end of next week. I can then go to the DC embassy. I want to do this on my own rather than pay a company like visarite all that money to do it. 

 

I just hope the embassy doesn't tell me they want a newer copy. The turnaround time would be impossible to meet. We were married last Nov and I had two copies of the marriage cert made at that time.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Matt_Stevens

[RandyW 149]

Seems like you're skipping Step 3 here, unless you go to the consulate in San Francisco - they have jurisdiction over Nevada. http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/ywzn/lsyw/vpna/t907716.htm

 

Sorry I can't definitively say whether you can go to D.C. - my guess is that you need to go to San Francisco.

 

Or simply have VisaRite do it for you.

 

Quote

 

Step 2.

The document is be authenticated or certified by the Secretary of the State (Please click for the requirements by the relative States:Washington D.C. , Maryland, Virginia,West Virginia, Deleware, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana,Idaho,Wyoming and Utah)  in which the document is executed. (Some states require that the document should be certified by the County Clerk first.)

Step 3.

The document is to be authenticated by the Authentication Office of the Department of State.

Step 4.

The document is to be authenticated by the Chinese Embassy. (For the document to be authenticated by the Chinese Consulate-General, the Step 3 is not necessary. If you go through the Step 3, you will have to submit such a document to the Chinese Embassy in D.C. for authentication. Please click for consular jurisdiction of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates General)

 

 

[RandyW 149]

42 minutes ago, Matt_Stevens said:

Thanks everyone for the help. Yesterday afternoon i mailed the marriage cert to the SOS office in nevada. I was able to get a person on the phone to help. Too about 40 minutes.  

 

I added rush service so that they can get it to me before the end of next week. I can then go to the DC embassy. I want to do this on my own rather than pay a company like visarite all that money to do it. 

 

I just hope the embassy doesn't tell me they want a newer copy. The turnaround time would be impossible to meet. We were married last Nov and I had two copies of the marriage cert made at that time.

 

This is from the VisaRite instructions - your certificate is from Nevada

 

Quote

Marriage certificate issued in DC jurisdiction must be further authenticated by the US Department of State (Federal level) after authentication by your state's secretary office (state level). States under DC jurisdiction include Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming and Washington DC.

 

I am reading this as meaning that your certificate needs to go to the San Francisco consulate for authentication.

[Matt_Stevens 5]

That's not what the visarite people or Nevada SOS office told me. This is beyond confusing. Every single person I talk to tells me something different and I do not know what to do. 

 

I certainly cannot afford to fly to California! 

 

Next week and the week after I will be in the NYC. It would be very easy for me to go the Chinese consulate in NYC or drive to DC.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Matt_Stevens

[RandyW 149]

Well, you're doing the leg work - I hope it goes smoothly!

 

But the VisaRite people should be able to take it to California if it DOES turn out to need to go there.

 

What I'm thinking is that there is a fairly strict chain of authentication - but I don't claim to know that I'm right there. 

[Ryan H 3,791]

On 8/16/2017 at 7:55 AM, Matt_Stevens said:

That's not what the visarite people or Nevada SOS office told me. This is beyond confusing. Every single person I talk to tells me something different and I do not know what to do. 

 

I certainly cannot afford to fly to California! 

 

Next week and the week after I will be in the NYC. It would be very easy for me to go the Chinese consulate in NYC or drive to DC.

 

Since you have to play by PRC rules, it may not be as easy as you wish it to be (i.e. prepare yourself for being told by consulate personnel in DC or NY that they can't authenticate a document issued in the State of Nevada because they lack jurisdiction to do so).

 

If this is indeed what you are told (IMO, chances are greater than 50% you will be told this), then you don't have to worry.  You can mail the authentication application and the documents yourself to SF or send it to VisaRite and have them take care of it.  You will not need to fly to California yourself to take care of it.

[RandyW 149]

2 minutes ago, Ryan H said:

 

Since you have to play by PRC rules, it may not be as easy as you wish it to be (i.e. prepare yourself for being told by consulate personnel in DC or NY that they can't authenticate a document issued in the State of Nevada because they lack jurisdiction to do so).

 

If this is indeed what you are told (IMO, chances are greater than 50% you will be told this), then you don't have to worry.  You can mail the authentication application and the documents yourself to SF or send it to VisaRite and have them take care of it.  You will not need to fly to California yourself to take care of it.

 

Unfortunately, the authentication request must be submitted in person, either by yourself or an "authorized representative". I had a friend take ours to the Houston consulate since he was going there anyway.

 

The up side to all this is that it only need be done ONCE - you will need it fairly often - e.g., at the PSB for visa applications, and at the bank to change money, and occasionally at hotels - but they will only keep a copy.

[Ryan H 3,791]

48 minutes ago, RandyW said:

 

Unfortunately, the authentication request must be submitted in person, either by yourself or an "authorized representative". I had a friend take ours to the Houston consulate since he was going there anyway.

 

My bad, I should've checked to see if changes had been made from the time I had to go through the authentication process with the consulate in SF.

 

OP, VisaRite or another service of your choosing that handles theses items should be able to take care of that for you.

[Matt_Stevens 5]

If i can resurrect this... I now have the documents back from the Nevada SS. In talking to the folks at Visarite they are telling me I do NOT need to send to DC since this is the California jurisdiction. Now I would love to avoid paying Visarite $109 for their service fee, but am I correct that since I cannot travel to Cali myself I need to use a service? 

[RandyW 149]

36 minutes ago, Matt_Stevens said:

If i can resurrect this... I now have the documents back from the Nevada SS. In talking to the folks at Visarite they are telling me I do NOT need to send to DC since this is the California jurisdiction. Now I would love to avoid paying Visarite $109 for their service fee, but am I correct that since I cannot travel to Cali myself I need to use a service? 

 

 

You may CHOOSE to either take it there yourself, or to use an "authorized representative" such as VisaRite. 

 

Or a friend, acquaintance, or stranger.

 

On 8/19/2017 at 10:58 PM, RandyW said:

 

Unfortunately, the authentication request must be submitted in person, either by yourself or an "authorized representative". I had a friend take ours to the Houston consulate since he was going there anyway.

 

 . . ..