marriage in china?

[are]

My brother is studying in beijing and I sometimes go out there to stay with him. Thing is, I have fallen in love with the girl he is living with, and we are discussing marriage. I'm british, and have only ever gone to china with a holiday visa. After reading several sites I am still confused as to wether it would be possible to get married?

Do i need a permenent residence visa? or can i go on a holiday visa while we submit the required documents (such as a certificate of marriageability)?

[Moving_away]

It is possible to do that just on a tourist visa. Realize that you would have to go where her hukou (household registration) is located in order to get married. It is only possible there. And make sure you have really all the paperwork needed, as told by that specific office, including all official translations and chops (both British and Chinese where needed).

This being said, the above is plainly the answer to your question. But you should realize there is much more attached to a decision like this. Realize that, in addition to the normal joy and happiness brought by a marriage, there can also also be difficulties or obstacles involved with such a cross-cultural and cross-border marriage, for example: country of living, expectations regarding life and carreer (where, what,how), expectations towards parents, expectations of parents, etc. I can not know how long you are with this girl, and don't mean to sound predjudiced against it (I'm married to a Chinese myself :rolleyes: and very happily so) but don't rush into something too quickly. I believe it's better to wait a little longer and generate a good understanding and basis for a long term relationship (and thus a successful marriage) than to rush into something out of blind love without realizing the potential obstacles ahead. Again, I can not judge your situation at all, it's just my 2 cents and warning to make it successful for you in addition to the answer to your question. If you and the girl believe you are ready for this important step, go for it, and ofcourse I would wish you all the best.

[are]

We don't want to rush into the decesion, we are just discussing the possibilities for now.

[Neil_H]

I am also married to a Chinese lady and have been for 7 years. We live in the UK and have a daughter. I agree with the other poster, have you planed where you will live? Have you met her parents? Have you spent enough time with each other before committing?

We lived together for 2 years before getting married and after a year we went to China and lived with her parents for a few weeks.

It can be very rewarding and I am sure others and myself want it to be the same for you.

[baixue_vasiliki]

Hey!

I'm afraid there is no automatic green card for you once you marry a chinese. It is an extremely difficult thing to get and it requires more than 5 years of work and stay. My brother is also married to a chinese gal and he is staying on work visa. I think this is the most plausible one for you! Find some relative of hers who has a business and he can register you as his employee and then you just need to pay something like 7,000RMB per year and renew it once a year...Also remember that if you do not register with her in the british embassy as well, your marriage will be invalid in britain! Other than that marriage is pretty easy in China, just get all the papers ready and sign a signature at the council hall. I hear that divorce is also relatively easy but you should take some legal advice to see what her rights to your property are!

Best of luck!!

Also to answer your direct question, you can get married on a holiday visa, no problem!

[rezaf]

Moving-away is right. In my experience you have to know a lot about China and Chinese people before you marry a Chinese girl. There is a huge cultural gap even if you don't notice it at first. There is also a lot of expectations from the girl's family and loads of other troublesome customs. Normally Chinese girls are very loyal to their parents and if you marry them it's like you have married the whole family which means that you should build up a very close relationship with her family including 伯伯，叔叔，大姑，二姑，三姑，n姑...and in return they will consider you as their own and will help you a lot in your life.

However there is also a 崇洋媚外(worshipping foreigners) type of girls who want to get rid of troublesome traditions and many of them are willing to live abroad and completely accept the western culture. Some of them are like this because they are highly educated in western culture and prefer freedom and independence but some of them are very uneducated and just want to find a (preferably well-off) foreigner husband.

In all of these cases family and cultural differences will emerge at some point sooner or later so both of you have to educate yourselves into each other's culture.

[roddy]

My brother is also married to a chinese gal and he is staying on work visa. I think this is the most plausible one for you!

Once you're married long-term (1 year I think is usual) tourist visas should be obtainable easily enough. If you have a job you should probably get the visa through them, but it shouldn't be necessary to get a work visa just for the sake of staying in the country.