To marry or not in China, before apply for immig?

[Norse_Hordes]

Hi everyone,
My common law spouse and I have been living together in China for a couple years now and we are going to start the immigration process. We are also planning on getting married here soon. We can prove our being together during this time with pictures, housing contracts, and stuff but ive heard some people say not to get married in China. But to wait until she comes to Canada to get married.  What should I do here to get the best chance of the application to be successful?

I dont want to have to travel to Canada again until we get approval for her to come, so we are applying OUTLAND and we will work and wait in China till we get the green light to come to Canada. Its a complicated process and im a bit confused right now. So forgive me if im not clear enough in the description of our situation
thx
Jason

[CharlieD10]

There is no priority of one over the other and it is up to you to decide what's best for you both, but if you plan to marry soon, then you might as well go ahead and do so.  For one thing, if you don't marry and mention that you plan to, the IO might well wonder why you are delaying the marriage. 

If you don't mention getting married, and then you do, they might also wonder about that.  Chinese culture is also big on tradition, if the IO doesn't see the traditional wedding with all the trappings, he might wonder exactly how genuine your relationship is. 

I'm not saying get married because of immigration, I'm just saying if you plan to "soon" (as you say) then there is no reason to delay it, and several reasons why delaying it could actually make things harder for you when you are ready to immigrate. 

[steaky]

I made a search and found this:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/question-for-people-who-have-married-in-china-t14934.0.html

Chinese culture maybe big on tradition, but times are changing, more and more chinese people are living together instead of getting married and hold big weddings which are getting expensive especially in huge cities like Shanghai.  I don't think the IO will wonder how genuine are those relationships.  

Anyways, the OP need a certificate of eligibility from the Canadian consulate in order to get marry in China.

[toby]

I don't have proof of this, but I think that marrying goes one step further to show that you have a legitimate relationship. As Steaky says, you will have to get a Certificate of eligibility to marry ... from the embassy or consulate serving the region where your spouse's hukou (home town) is.  And you will have to have the marriage made official in the administrative office responsible for your spouse's hukou.  Then you must have the marriage certificate translated into English by a certified translator.

If all this seems mistifying, consider marrying in Canada.  But if you will be living in China, then investigate how to make the marriage oifficial there.


Good luck, and welcome to the world of international bureaucracy.

[Norse_Hordes]

Thx for the replies everyone. Right now we are delaying the marriage until my gets hired on at a hospital (shes a nurse) When shes hired we will get married. Chinese companies will not hire a woman who is 30 and married with no kids as she is a risk to go on maternity leave. My fiancee would like to work and make some extra money during the immig process.

We gotta go to Wuhan (not her hometown, but where she went to university) if someone attends university here and doesnt request the hukou not to be moved it will be transfered. In her case, from Ledong, hainan to Wuhan. We dont know anyone there, so it will be going to likely a dirty back alley office full of chain smoking white shirt, black pants govt workers. We will then visit her hometown in Hainan for a few days and drink 糯米酒 （glutinous rice wine) and have a dinner with the family under the coconut trees (about 30 people I estimate)

The reason for the delay in marriage is one of worker discrimination thats predominate in China, so I hope CIC will understand.

[aerogurl87]

I'm not from China, but I don't see how not getting married would hurt your application as long as you have solid evidence that your relationship is genuine and you and your girlfriend have been living together for at least a year. I have to agree with steaky, times are changing everywhere. Even in both my boyfriend and I's hometowns, where people are usually more conservative, people are starting to change their attitudes toward delaying marriage. I know for my boyfriend and I we're delaying marriage because neither one of us wants to be married and separated. Separated and engaged, maybe, but separated and married is a big no in our book and so we're putting off marriage for a bit because of that. Will it hurt our application, I doubt it. I don't see how choosing to live with someone without being bound to a contract, and combining your finances and personal lives for more than a year can be a huge red flag. If anything I'd think it may help boost your case, especially if you have tons of evidence.

[toby]

Thx for the replies everyone. Right now we are delaying the marriage until my gets hired on at a hospital (shes a nurse) When shes hired we will get married. Chinese companies will not hire a woman who is 30 and married with no kids as she is a risk to go on maternity leave. My fiancee would like to work and make some extra money during the immig process.

We gotta go to Wuhan (not her hometown, but where she went to university) if someone attends university here and doesnt request the hukou not to be moved it will be transfered. In her case, from Ledong, hainan to Wuhan. We dont know anyone there, so it will be going to likely a dirty back alley office full of chain smoking white shirt, black pants govt workers.

We married in Wuhan too.  Actually the marriage office is quite clean and respectable, and filled with mixed couples waiting to get married.  My complaint was that the affair is a bloodless one: it is impossible to know exactly when the marriage became official.  Papers are printed and stamped behind closed doors, so one never knows when to celebrate.   And no smoking that I could see.

We will then visit her hometown in Hainan for a few days and drink 糯米酒 （glutinous rice wine) and have   a dinner with the family under the coconut trees (about 30 people I estimate)

If you're drinking the powerful, sickly-sweet liquor that I remember from our wedding dinner, you need to know one word:  "pombei!!" (which means "one mouthful", or "cheers|, or something like it) rather than the ubiquitous "gambei!!" (which means "bottoms up" and leads to a vicious hangover the next morning).


The reason for the delay in marriage is one of worker discrimination thats predominate in China, so I hope CIC will understand.

[steaky]

To avoid the problem below, consider get marry in Canada (although she probably need a student visa/ visitor visa):

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t61736.0.html