Getting married and applying for JFRV

The MOFO bureaucrazy is one thing iv always hated about TAiwan. We can thank the ROC for that. OR were the Japos even worse?

[quote=ā€œbismarckā€]Luckyā€¦I need all that and a marriage registration (authenticated by the Taiwanese Liaison office) from back home. This fucks up the timing, because if it was just the criminal record checkā€¦no problem. When it arrives you get going. Needing both requires timing it so that the criminal record isnā€™t older than 90 days when you applyā€¦

Pisses me off no end, 'cos I really canā€™t see why I need a marriage certificate from back home when I was married here.[/quote]

Make sure to confirm suspicious details with other staff members or phone other countiesā€™ offices, I think Taipei is quite well organized and you can keep asking all the way up the chain until you get the expected answer. Lists on the official websites were also pretty good as a reference at the time (although hard to find quite often). All the stuff I ever needed was listed on various government websites.

Quite often the person at the desk doesnā€™t know what is needed or is not familiar with the specific laws. Ask for a second opinion.

Technically, there is no marriage certificate from ZA if youā€™re married here, the certificate is from TW and what you get from ZA is a confirmation that the marriage is recognized and has been entered into the registry. ZA recognizes the certificates from TW, so will accept them as proof of marriage. This does not happen with the Brits as their government does not recognize a TW marriage certificate.

Quite a mess it is, but Iā€™d hate to do anything like this at home affairs in ZA.

As long as you go it sorted out in the end.

hi

a mate of mine whoā€™d married a local bird was telling me (over a few beers, hence my blurred memory of specific details) that it made things a lot easier, in terms of visas and what not, to get married (and this is where memory fails me) ā€¦ in taiwan/overseas???

whatā€™s the difference?

i had another friend who had married a taiwanese girl but still had to do visa runs???

Are these steps still the same? It seems that you can now download the forms and sign them with 2 witnesses and you are officially married at that point. Although you still need to go to registration office to do paperwork. But no need to go to any court anymore. This is way I understand now. Can anybody verify?

Andā€¦for criminal reocord check. I remember how I got one when I first came here. After the courier picked it up from the police station, they took it to the ROC office there, and waited for it to be stamped and brought it back. Now applying for new one, the ROC office says that they have NEVER done it this way (must just be my vivid imagination). It now has to be left there for a few days while its checked by lawyers etc. I wonder what incentives Hess gives for bypassing these procedures.

[quote=ā€œEquilibriumā€]Are these steps still the same? It seems that you can now download the forms and sign them with 2 witnesses and you are officially married at that point. Although you still need to go to registration office to do paperwork. But no need to go to any court anymore. This is way I understand now. Can anybody verify?

[/quote]

Thatā€™s how I did it about 9 months ago. Just a paper and sign it with witnesses. Ohā€¦and I needed a form saying that I wasnā€™t already married in Canada. Donā€™t forget that.

And then laterā€¦when you apply for a visa using the marriageā€¦thatā€™s when you need the criminal check.

[/quote]

Thatā€™s how I did it about 9 months agoā€¦[/quote]

Wow, 9 months already. Seems short time since I read on your youtube that you gettig married.

Thanks. I love this process! I was saying to my mom just before this that I would gladly skip all the ceremonial bs and get married by e-mail if I could. This is about as close at it gets.

Bismarck, this marriage registration from South Africa is very bad news. My criminal record papers are on the way. I already had mine expire the first time. Now itā€™s probably going to expire again if I need to get more stuff from South Africa.
Darn it.

Can anyone confirm whether it is now possible to get the JFRV at the Foreign Affairs P, and not at MOFA? A friend said that she did not have to leave the country, and just had everything done at this magical place called Immigration. How is it possible that I can not get a single one answer about where to go or what to take or what to do anywhere? I feel like Iā€™m stuck in the Twilight Zone.

We are in the Twilight Zone.

[quote=ā€œtwonavelsā€]Bismarck, this marriage registration from South Africa is very bad news. My criminal record papers are on the way. I already had mine expire the first time. Now itā€™s probably going to expire again if I need to get more stuff from South Africa.
Darn it.

Can anyone confirm whether it is now possible to get the JFRV at the Foreign Affairs P, and not at MOFA? A friend said that she did not have to leave the country, and just had everything done at this magical place called Immigration. How is it possible that I can not get a single one answer about where to go or what to take or what to do anywhere? I feel like Iā€™m stuck in the Twilight Zone.[/quote]
I suspect they have some different rules for Saffas. It also seems to depend on where you live. The MOFA and NIA people up in Taipei donā€™t seem to rewuire your leaving the country. In Tainan they do.

btw - Whereā€™d my posts go?

I should be getting my Criminal Record Check back from the states any day now, and when I do Iā€™ll be applying for the JFRV. I called Immigration today just to make sure I didnā€™t miss any steps, and they told me I donā€™t even need a new visa, since I already have a residence visa from work. I just go to Immigration and they will change my ARC into one based on marriage. Has anyone heard of these changes, or received their JFRV this way? Or have I been ignorant and this is how itā€™s been done for a while?

I guess I have to get a local criminal record check (easy) and have my US record check translated as well. Iā€™ll probably call Immigration again tomorrow to see if they tell me the same thingā€¦

Just called Immigration again, got the same information from a different person, although he forgot about the local criminal record and the translation of the US criminal record until I asked him about it. First thing he said was I didnā€™t need to get a new visa though. Well, hopefully itā€™s the right info, itā€™ll save me NT$5000!

Well, 1.5 years ago we had to do the marriage-based visa application at MOFA, and then within 5 days or so had to apply to change my ARC to one based on this visa; only the latter step was done at ā€œImmigrationā€, which is the office which has taken over what the Foreign Affairs Police used to do. Itā€™s at a different location too, although not far away.

I presume heā€™s on a Taiwan passport and has a local household registration ā€“ otherwise you wouldnā€™t be talking JFRV ā€“ right?

Yes, he has a Taiwan passport and Iā€™m already in the book.
The post above also says what somebody else told meā€¦that you can just go to immigration. Does that mean you no longer need to go to MOFA? Or is MOFA the same as immigration?

Do I need a local (Taiwan) criminal police record as well?

I just went to Immigration yesterday and was successful in getting my new ARC. It takes them a week to process.

If you already have a resident visa through work, then you donā€™t need to go to MOFA. You can go directly to Immigration. However, they told me your work ARC needs to have at least a month on it before it expires for you to apply.

They asked me for:

  1. ARC and passport (they take a copy and look at the original)
  2. Health Check
  3. US Criminal Record (needs to be translated into Chinese and notarized)
  4. Local Criminal Record
  5. Household Registration
  6. Lease (they take a copy and look at the original)
    (Iā€™m assuming you only need this if you donā€™t live at the address thatā€™s on your household registration)
  7. Spouse and Spouseā€™s ID
  8. Application form with a photo

They were a little concerned with my photo; I gave them the normal ā€˜Taiwaneseā€™ size, which seemed to be too small for their application form. They measured it next to their demo photo, then just seemed to let it go. Guess I got lucky. They have the measurements on the application form if you want to get the exact size though.

Good luck!

[quote=ā€œgusbologna2000ā€]I just went to Immigration yesterday and was successful in getting my new ARC. It takes them a week to process.

  1. Household Registration
  2. Lease (they take a copy and look at the original)
    (Iā€™m assuming you only need this if you donā€™t live at the address thatā€™s on your household registration)
    [/quote]

So is it OK to live at a place that is not your registered household? My household registration location is not where Iā€™m living. I thought I would have to lie about it.
And it seems you didnā€™t need any proof of registration of marriage in your home country?
If those were all the things you needed and by some miracle of nature that process stays valid for more than a week, I might just be getting my ARC soon, too. Yeah!

Foreigners donā€™t have household registration, although we are listed on our spouseā€™s. It doesnā€™t matter if your residence is different from your spouseā€™s household registration.

So the no.5 in the above post means that you only need to take your husbandā€™s household registration book with you? You canā€™t get any other paper print-outs with your name on it? Thanks for the quick reply!

I think youā€™re confusing two things. One is the address which youā€™ve given to the Foreign Affairs Police (now Immigration) stating where you reside. In theory, youā€™re supposed to notify them if you move, and they will update this on your ARC. In theory, you can get in big trouble if you fail to notify them. I do not know whether in practice this is a serious issue.

The second is the ā€œhousehold registrationā€ to which Maoman refers. Only Taiwanese citizens have them, so this is not relevant to foreigners on ARCā€™s. When you marry and you report this marriage, you will be added to your spouseā€™s household registry. If your spouse establishes a separate household registry from that of his or her parents, your spouse will be listed as head of household (regardless of gender), and you will be listed as ā€˜spouseā€™ on it. When you go to process your JFRV and the ARC based thereupon, you will ask for a copy of the ā€œhu4ji2 teng2ben3ā€, which is an [color=#0000BF]official printout from the household registry office, based on the household registry[/color] of your husband (and not just his copy of the registry). You will take that with you to complete the JFRV and ARC paperwork.

Yes, thatā€™s right.

OK, I always knew they were two different things. But I thought that once you had a household registration you were supposed to live with the family that you were registered to. Silly me. :slight_smile: