Suzhou Expat - The expatriate portal in China

Hi John,

I'm a UK citizen married to a lady from ZhanJiang (February 2007).

I don't know what the Australian requirements are (for the UK it was horrendous) but for the Chinese authorities, I had to provide a notarised certificate from a solicitor, the solicitor had to be verified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the official therr had to be verified by the Chines Consulate in Manchester (my nearest consulate).

Because it was in English, the boss of the agency who introduced us was there to translate the statement of "singleness" (and put his "chop" on the translation).

There was no ceremony, no witnesses, no family just a lot of forms to sign. By the way you will need several passport sized photographs of you both (together) for the two certificate booklets and the Notarised certificate confirming your married status, which is translated.

You will have to pay a fee for both ceremony and notarisation.

After the ceremony (for want of a better word) we went shopping and a meal together in the evening. The following evenings however were filled with banquets and feasts for family and friends

Best wishes in your quest

Chris

e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

If you do write make sure that the subject is clear as I delete spam or things that look like spam without opening them