Is Certificate of No Impediment Required?

[ssetho]

I am from London and I will be marrying my girlfriend in China in a couple of months time. Can anyone please let me know whether I will need to get the Certificate of No Impediment from the local registrar (which will take 30 days to get) or I just need the Self Declaration letter  notarised by a Notary Public? I have asked the China Embassy and they suggested that I check with the local marriage registrar in China. Any help will be greatly appeciated.

[Hajo]

I have read the homepages of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark and of the Danish Embassy in Beijing. It said to bring Certificate of no Impediment. It has to be legalized, in my case by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then it needs to be stamped by the Chinese Embassy. It has to be translated into Chinese too. But I will have to do that in China, as I am not able to get it translated here before I have to send the visa application. I would not go without it. But try to see if the UK Embassy in China has stated anything about marriage in China on there homepage.

Congrats on the engagment!

[ssetho]

Thanks a lot Hajo for the info. I will check out the UK Embassy's website in China.

I have read the homepages of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark and of the Danish Embassy in Beijing. It said to bring Certificate of no Impediment. It has to be legalized, in my case by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then it needs to be stamped by the Chinese Embassy. It has to be translated into Chinese too. But I will have to do that in China, as I am not able to get it translated here before I have to send the visa application. I would not go without it. But try to see if the UK Embassy in China has stated anything about marriage in China on there homepage.

Congrats on the engagment!

[Willy The Londoner]

I am from London and I will be marrying my girlfriend in China in a couple of months time. Can anyone please let me know whether I will need to get the Certificate of No Impediment from the local registrar (which will take 30 days to get) or I just need the Self Declaration letter  notarised by a Notary Public? I have asked the China Embassy and they suggested that I check with the local marriage registrar in China. Any help will be greatly appeciated.

You willneed to get both of these. The one from your local registrars office takes 21 days and costs £30 and on day 22 you can collect it.  In the meantime take your statutory declaration of no impediment to marraige to a Notary - noty a commissioner of Oaths but a notary whop will charge you abot £50 for the pleasure.  Then talke them to the Forign Office at Milton Keynes for legalisation which will be done while you waith then go to the Chinese embassy with the documents  for their stamps - will cost a coupleof hundred quid in the end.
Willy

[Irishman]

Does it have to be translated to Chinese first?, i imagine a registry office in China doesn't accept English documents notarised or not?

[Rhonald]

Does it have to be translated to Chinese first?, i imagine a registry office in China doesn't accept English documents notarised or not?

I had mine notarised and also an offical seal put on by the Chinese consulate in Calgary. But when I went to Meizhou to register our marriage, they needed an offical notarised translation of the single status/notice of no impediment document. I made sure and asked the person at the consulate in Calgary if I needed the document translated into Chinese. He said 'No' and that I was good to go, but once in China, arguing with the governemt offical didn't help. Once they have their mind made - they are not going to change. My advice - get the translation before you go and save the hassle.

[Scottish_Rob]

Sorry guy's I think I'm getting confused here...
Is the single certificate...(the one that say's your divorced) to be noterised by a lawyer?... YES
And then translated into Mandarin?

Are these 2 documents:
Notice of no impediment' document
Single certificate

If so, does both have to be noterised and translated? :huh::blush:

[Rhonald]

Sorry guy's I think I'm getting confused here...
Is the single certificate...(the one that say's your divorced) to be noterised by a lawyer?... YES
And then translated into Mandarin?

Are these 2 documents:
Notice of no impediment' document
Single certificate

If so, does both have to be noterised and translated? :huh::blush:

Sorry Rob for the confusion. I brought both documents - the notarized affidavit of single status and my authenticated/notarized divorce certificate. Both of these in turn, in China, needed to be translated into Chinese and the translation needed to be notarized. We had a lawyer that did both for us in Meizhou and she charged us I believe 1550 RMB. I hope this helps.

[ssetho]

Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciated. I noticed people are getting confused with these 2 documents.
1. Self Declaration letter notarised by a Notary Public.
2. Certificate of No Impediment from the local registrar which takes 22 days to get in the UK / Known as Single Status Certificate in China

Both the above documents are different. According to Willy, I will need to get both documents legalised by the Foriegn Office at Milton Keynes and then to the Chinese embassy with the documents for their stamps. Like Willy said, it is going to cost me around £200 for the whole process. I believed I will need to get both documents translated into Chinese. I will follow Ronald's advice and get them done in  China. Hope this help.

[Rhonald]

 I will follow Ronald's advice and get them done in  China. Hope this help.

Martin took Chong's advice and found a person in Canada that did the translation and notarizing for him before he left on his trip. I believe that its best to be prepared before leaving on your trip - just like a good boy scout.

[ssetho]

Thanks Rhonald.

 I will follow Ronald's advice and get them done in  China. Hope this help.

Martin took Chong's advice and found a person in Canada that did the translation and notarizing for him before he left on his trip. I believe that its best to be prepared before leaving on your trip - just like a good boy scout.

[Irishman]

Are there two official forms that are needed or just one?
Damn, i'm a bit confused here too!
The Irish government wont recognise the marriage until i get a form of there's filled in and they will give me a Certificats de Coutume
But i 'm wondering to i also need to get some other forms filed in for the Chinese government too ?

[ssetho]

You will need both, the Self Declaration Letter notarised by a notary public and the Certifcate of No Impediment from your local registrar. I think besides the Divorce Absolute if you have one, that is it.

Are there two official forms that are needed or just one?
Damn, i'm a bit confused here too!
The Irish government wont recognise the marriage until i get a form of there's filled in and they will give me a Certificats de Coutume
But i 'm wondering to i also need to get some other forms filed in for the Chinese government too ?

[Neil]

Sorry Rob for the confusion. I brought both documents - the notarized affidavit of single status and my authenticated/notarized divorce certificate. Both of these in turn, in China, needed to be translated into Chinese and the translation needed to be notarized. We had a lawyer that did both for us in Meizhou and she charged us I believe 1550 RMB. I hope this helps.

Rhonald, since you're Canadian you're the guy for me to ask, did either of these documents take long to get?  My divorce is just being finalized now.

[Rhonald]

Rhonald, since you're Canadian you're the guy for me to ask, did either of these documents take long to get?  My divorce is just being finalized now.

http://calgary.china-consulate.org/eng/lsfw/gzrz/t225620.htm
http://calgary.china-consulate.org/eng/lsfw/gzrz/t225619.htm

Neil, once I recieved my divorce certificate, I took this with a filled out Affidavit of Single Stauts to a lawyer. I signed the Single Status document in front of him and he notarized it. (oh make sure your divorce certificate can be used for international purposes). I then sent the Affidavit and my divorce certificate to Edmonton for certification. The lawyer explained to me that Canada did not sign an international agreement about notarization. So any document notarized by a Canadian lawyer for international purposes, needs to be certified by the proper goverment authority.

What really happens is that the provincial authority compares the lawyers signature and seal used in the notarization with their copy on file. If it matches, then they certify the document. The certification is a fancy legal size paper that covers the original document. They have a candle wax seal (just like days of old) with a ribbon that ties the two papers together. The certification just states that the lawyer is registered with the Government and the signature matches.

For the Chinese consulate I filled out the requested form and submited a photocopy of my passport with the original and photocopy of the certified Affidavit of Single Status. Payed the fee, waited 4 days and picked up the documents. The consulate placed an embossed holographic seal on the back of the Single status document.

All told, it took about 10 days to meet the lawyer, send the documents rush to Edmonton, and submit the documents to the chinesse consulate. I will look for my documents and scan them and upload a picture here for you.