Certificate of marriagability

[Justjake 23]

22 minutes ago, RandyW said:

From someone's post above

 

China requires certification (known as "single certification") that the intending parties are free to marry. For Chinese citizens, this entails certification from the public records that they ARE indeed single.

 

For foreigners, the intending spouse's government must certify that they are single. Under U.S. law, if you "swear or affirm" that you are legally free to marry, by golly - you ARE.

That's literally all that's involved here. You may wish to bring your divorce papers in case you are asked for them.

 

A sample AFFIDAVIT OF SINGLE STATUS may be found at http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/fhjh/t84256.htm

Thank you. I came to the same conclusion as well, and I'm glad that you confirmed it for me. 

[seganku 53]

On 11/11/2018 at 6:20 PM, Justjake said:

I will be flying into Hong Kong next year.  I'm getting married to my fiancee in Shenzhen.  

Should I try to get an appointment at the Hong Kong US consulate on the day I arrive or do it another day in Guangzhou?

I need the certificate to get married, and I will be bringing a copy of my divorce decree with me for them to notarize as well.

Is there anything else I should be aware of regardless of which location I go to?

I'd suggest getting the Affidavit of Marriageability in Guangzhou, rather than HK.  As a Special Administrative Region of China, many things are quite different and separate than mainland China.  The US Consulate for HK/Macau would be familiar with providing forms for US Citizens to marry in HK/Macau, but may or may not have the proper forms/familiarity for marriage in mainland China.

I got this form at the Guangzhou Consulate in March 2018.  It was not difficult.  There can be long lines at the security checkpoint in front of the building.  The entrance on the left is for US Citizens (very short line), and the entrance on the right is for non-Citizens (very long line).  My fiancée was not able to go in to the Consulate with me and had to wait outside.  I was not able to take my cellphone with me, had to leave it in security, and was unable to provide her with progress updates.  I was in there for about an hour, but I imagine it would have been quite frustrating for her if I'd vanished for many hours.  (Haha!)

[Darnell 8,478]

hey - I got that thing done in BeiJing, had to set an appointment prior. 

 

I THINK it's doable in Guangzhou as well. 

 

But don't try it in HKG, to use in Shenzhen... no no no. 

[RandyW 149]

13 hours ago, Darnell said:

hey - I got that thing done in BeiJing, had to set an appointment prior. 

 

I THINK it's doable in Guangzhou as well. 

 

But don't try it in HKG, to use in Shenzhen... no no no. 

 

 

It's doable at ANY of the Consulates - but yes, there are jurisdictional and authentication issues. It's not clear how you would authenticate a document from Hong Kong, but that would definitely be possible.

 

For one done in the U.S., you would need it notarized, that signature authenticated by your state's Secretary of State, and then THAT authentication authenticated by your Chinese consulate.

 

Definitely easier if you can make it by one of the  the U.S. Consulates in Mainland China - authentication is not needed, beyond the notary seal.

[Justjake 23]

Thanks for all the replies.

We go married successfully.

The only issue was when I took a form I found from another site that was recommmended, the Consulate did not use that, and instead gave me another form to use.  The form the consulate gave me was not available on their website, which was annoying, but overall, including refilling out the form and re-queuing, i was done in 90 minutes.