Replacement Marriage documents

[Moxylady2010]

HI, 

I ama Canadian Citizen who married a China lady.

We now want a divorce but I can not find my marriage book. 

How do I go about getting a certified replacement marriage document?

We were married in Nanning

[陳德聰]

Good luck with that. A client of mine had to go in person to the same office they registered at with the ID they used to register to get a new one.

[889]

When were you married? At least in Nanning, record-keeping before 2007 or so seems to have been surprisingly sloppy.

 

http://gx.sina.com.cn/news/gx/2014-01-19/11598745.html?from=wap

 

For use in a Canadian legal proceeding, the document, if you can get it, will presumably need to be legalised. Lots of work!

[Shelley]

18 hours ago, Moxylady2010 said:

but I can not find my marriage book. 

Just how much have you looked?

 

From what everyone seems to be saying its not going to be easy to get another one, maybe its worth one more turning out of every drawer, cupboard, suitcase, pocket and nook and cranny in your house/place/possessions/car and everywhere you think you have looked look again. Proceed slowly, thoroughly and methodically.

 

You never know it may turn up and save you a lot of grief.

[Moxylady2010]

We were married in 2008

 

[Lu]

There is literally a movie about this, 结婚证. In the movie, the couple eventually finds the certificate on the back of their framed wedding portrait, so don't forget to look there.

 

Are you llving in Canada now? If so, have you contacted your local Chinese embassy/consulate to ask their advice? If there is an easy way to get a replacement certificate, there would be the place to start. Did you have to register your marriage with the Canadian authorities when you moved there, and might that perhaps be enough to prove that you are married?

[889]

"We were married in 2008."

 

Then in terms of the existence and accessibility of the records in Nanning, you should be in luck:

 

"因为民政部门婚姻登记是2007年才联网的，之前的婚姻档案登记处也无法查到。"

 

Nanning may have its own rules, but apparently you usually can -- with the proper documents -- appoint a third party to obtain a replacement for you. Then, as I said, there's legalisation to consider.

[Moxylady2010]

I am a Canadian citizen, my wife had applied for her PR card, when it came to renewal time she decided to return to China. We want to get a divorce to move forward with our lives. I can file in Canada, however I need to prove the marriage first. 

[Moxylady2010]

I did find a photocopy of our marriage booklet, however now I am told because the marriage was not registered and we did not get a certificate, the marriage is not recognized in Canada.

My wife is eager to get the divorce, she is in China, and wants to move on with her life. 

Is it true that because we did not register and receive a certificate from Nanning, the marriage is not legal?

I was under the understanding that our marriage booklets was all that was needed. 

[Lu]

Yes, generally, if you get married in country A and then move to country B, you have to register the marriage with country B otherwise it is not valid. Not sure what the consequences are of a non-valid marriage, I suppose it can lead to issues with things like insurance and pensions, which you can usually share with your spouse. But apparently this has not been a problem for you two so far.

 

Glad to hear you found a copy of your marriage booklet. I think this is a good point to find a divorce lawyer who has some experience with international divorces. You'll need a lawyer anyway to get all the paperwork done, and they should know what to do. It will be enourmously helpful that your wife in in China and motivated to get everything taken care of.

 

Good luck.

[Moxylady2010]

Yes she is very motivated. I spoke to a lawyer here who said without a certificate registered even from Nanning, our marriage is not legal. However I am going to consult a international divorce lawyer. 

Thank you for your advice

[imron]

Does China issue marriage 'certificates'?

 

It's my understanding that the booklet is your certificate.

 

From the sounds of it you are legally married in China but you didn't register the marriage in Canada.  Therefore all you need to do is divorce in China.  If your wife is higly motivated to proceed with the divorce she can probably do most of the groundwork in handling things on the Chinese side.

[陳德聰]

I think they mean without the actual booklet itself. Kind of like how you can't use a copy of your passport to travel internationally because it's not actually your passport.

 

* In Canada, you can file a divorce for a marriage registered in other jurisdictions; in BC, you just need to submit the actual booklet itself along with a translation.