Marriage license ID number not same as Passport number. Anyone experienced this?

[doumeizhen]

So, I recently got married and the marriagability licese was issued from the American Embassy with my American passport number. My visa, however, is in my German passport, so it's a different number.

I am going to be heading to the Churujing to get my "tanqing" family visa, but when I asked them if this was ok, they simply said: Well, you can try.

Anyone been through this? My current visa is up in soon and they are making me leave the country to re-do a tourist visa (because the last one was issued through Shenzhen, and they told me that it "doesn't count"), so I need to know if I should switch to my American passport (and pay an extra couple of hundred in visa fees....)

[langxia]

I can only tell you from a friends experience :

He and his wife got married before coming to china, but as he went to University in Beijing he got a Visa from the Univeristy. When he tried to convert it to a spouse visa later on they told him he needs to leave the country and come back with a tourist visa. So what they did was to go to Hongkong and get a tourist visa there and then went back to Beijing.

As it seems they will only convert tourist visa to a spouse visa.

[roddy]

Congratulations either way

At a guess though - if you're now married, the eligibility thing from the US embassy is irrelevant, no? If it was going to be a problem, it would have been when getting married, not later on. Assuming you've got the right number of your actual marriage certificate, I wouldn't expect a problem.

[doumeizhen]

To be honest, I'd like to save the 800 kuai and get a visa in my German passport, so the numbers would be different. When I got married I simply had to submit a statement explaining why I have two numbers, but that was in a friendly small town, not in Beijing...

Any other thoughts?

[fanglu]

When I used to work processing Chinese visas, we never checked the number on the marriage certificate. The fact that the nationality is different on your marriage certificate from the passport you'll be using to apply might raise questions, but only if the clerk is super diligent. I'd say give it a go.