Obtaining police certificate *AS A CHINESE CITIZEN*

[Hemutian 68]

Hi everyone

 

Now that my fiancee and I have been to her hometown to obtain this certificate and back, I wanted to write this follow-up report to share our experience and bring some conclusion to this thread I started a month ago, and hopefully provide some information that may be of use to others in similar circumstances.

 

So we traveled back to her hometown together with two goals: 

1) to obtain her police certificate (i.e. certificate of no criminal record), AND

2) to obtain her birth certificate (or rather, her notarial certificate of birth, since she has not actual birth certificate since she was born in a rural village in the 1990s and not in a hospital). 

 

We were under the impression, based on things we had read, that it was the police certificate that would be the more challenging of the two certificates to obtain. We were wrong. As it turns out, the police certificate was quite easy. It turns out, it's the birth certificate that's a lot more 麻烦 （trouble）.

Of course, it's probably worth noting that the exact process may differ based on each individual's circumstances, and their location in China. My fiancee is from a rural area in northern Guangdong province, and she says the officials in this area are notorious for being lazy and unhelpful. 

 

So first, we took a five hour bus from Guangzhou where we live to the county seat of the county where her hometown is located. The next morning we went to the local notary office in that county seat. There, the notary officer informed us that none of the certificates we needed could be obtained here. Instead, we would need to travel to the prefectural seat of the prefecture city in which the county is located (another 2 hours away). However, before we do that, we would need to travel back to her actual hometown (1 hour), the village in her county where she was born, and obtain documents from the local PSB (公安局/police/public security bureau) and Cunweihui (村委会/Village party committee headquarters). 

 

So that same day we traveled back to the village.

First stop was the PSB to get the police certificate. They informed her that in order to get this certificate she would need to file a formal request through a WeChat app which they helped her install. As part of this formal request she would need to upload a formal document from the body requesting the certificate (i.e. the US Consulate in Guangzhou). We had the "Prepare documents" page from UStraveldocs.com which states the requirement for the police certificate in English. We were a bit worried that since we didn't have an official Chinese translation of this page, it might be a problem, but we uploaded it and filed the request anyway. The PSB officers told her she should get a response within a half hour. A half hour came and went and no response. She went back to the PSB to inquire what to do, and lo and behold, they said "Okay, don't worry about it" and simply gave her the document she needed, a form letter with her name and ID number, stating that she had no criminal record, stamped with the PSB seal, which we would later take to the notary office in the prefectural seat. It turns out the police certificate was that easy! Got it within one hour. We were surprised, and relieved. 

 

Next stop was the Cunweihui (村委会/Village party committee headquarters) to request the needed documentation in order to get a notarial certificate of birth. At first, the Cunweihui officials were unhelpful, giving her the old "sorry, we don't do that" line. Then, lo and behold, when my fiancee produced her father's ID card, the village official recognized the name. Turns out he's a relative of my fiancee's father. With that new information, suddenly the document became possible. I was called in to meet the village official and thank him in person (I'd been waiting outside, for fear of attracting unnecessary attention). The relative/village official made a quip to my fiancee along the lines of "Are you sure you want to go to the US? You know they're prejudiced against us Chinese, don't you?". But he gave her a handwritten document stating the circumstances of her birth with the village committee seal. We then took that to the local Town government office (镇政府) for another seal. We'd now gotten everything we needed from her village.

 

The next day, we traveled 1 hour back to the county seat, then 2 hours to the prefecture seat, then went to the notary public office. 

They took all the documents she'd obtained from the village, plus her ID and her mother and father's ID, plus he family's hukou book, plus her parents' marriage certificate. They said they'd be able to produce notarial certificates of birth and no criminal record within one week, with English translations (3 copies each), for a price of 640 yuan (just under $100). However, there was a catch. Apparently, they claimed, the handwritten and sealed letter from the Cunweihui, the 3 IDs, and the hukou ben were "weak evidence" of her birth. In order to verify her birth, we would have to take one more additional step. They gave us two choices for how to go about doing this:

 

1) Launch an investigation (核实)， in which a notary official would need to travel to her village to verify the Cunweihui's letter in person. This would cost money, and take 1-2 months, they said.

2) One of my fiancee's family members could come to the notary office in person to verify the circumstances of my fiancee's birth.

 

Our P4 arrived yesterday, so we want to be interviewing within a month or so. Definitely don't want to be stuck still waiting for this "investigation" 2 months from now, so we're going to get her family member to travel to the prefecture capital notary office in person. The notary office says it has to be either her brother or her father. Both her brother and father work, and it's difficult for them to get time off. Her mother doesn't work, but they say her mother is unacceptable (institutionalized sexism?). This notarial certificate of birth is proving to be a lot more 麻烦 (trouble) than we were expecting. However, we feel lucky because at least it's doable. We just need to get her brother or father to take time off work and make the trip to the prefecture capital. Spend more money on transportation, hotels, and meals, and reimbursing brother/father for their time lost at work. It's just money. At least, we the document is obtainable. Looking at some of the other stories on here, we feel lucky. If her father was no longer around, or if she and her father were estranged, or if she were already in the US, this could be a lot more complicated. 

 

I don't know if the "male family member must accompany applicant to the notary office" rule is applied across China or if it's specific to this one area. I just want to share this experience on VJ so that others following in our footsteps know what to expect and are prepared. 

[RandyW 149]

It's not specific to anything, anywhere, or any tier - you simply do what they tell you to do.

 

Like I've said, the family's hukou ben (and any ID's they ask for) is generally enough.

[samnrong 52]

One thing to consider, given how difficult this process has been for you: you will need additional copies of the "white book" PSB and Birth Certificate reports. Best to get them now instead of trying to arrange once you've immigrated to America (needed for AOS).

[Hemutian 68]

1 hour ago, samnrong said:

One thing to consider, given how difficult this process has been for you: you will need additional copies of the "white book" PSB and Birth Certificate reports. Best to get them now instead of trying to arrange once you've immigrated to America (needed for AOS).

Yes, yes, thanks for the reminder.

My fiancee was the one to inform me of this when we were at the notary office. Her understanding is that we need 3 copies, so that's what we're getting.