Getting Married in Taiwan

Legal Legal - Marriage
1

Here’s a little FAQ on how, as a foreigner, to get married in Taiwan, to a Taiwanese, without going back to your home country, how to obtain a Joining Family Resident’s Visa and an Open Work Permit.

There are a lot of threads around dealing with different aspects of Taiwanese marriage. There was a huge thread on Oriented called ‘Marriage in Taiwan’, but it seems to have disappeared with the move to Segue. You can still see it here:

oriented.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb. … 6&t=000014

[color=green]ADMIN EDIT: You can find it here [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/marriage-in-taiwan/1710/1

I want to summarise my recent experience, so you can have a first hand account of what to expect now. I want to stress one major change. People keep saying “it’s much better to get married in your home country”. This was because of requirements to prove that your marriage was registered in your home country. It seems that MOFA are handling this differently so it might not be a problem anymore.

I am a New Zealand citizen who married a Taiwanese woman in Taipei City. If you are getting married in your home country, you’ll have to do things slightly differently, so you should see Jeff’s page here:

taiwanstuff.tripod.com/Marriage.htm

First, get ready

You’ll need to prepare a few documents in advance of your wedding. The most important is the Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage (Single Certificate), without which you can not legally marry. It is to prove that you are still single. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived in Taiwan (or elsewhere), the authorities here want to see that you’re unmarried in your home country.

In New Zealand you can check the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages here:
bdm.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/w … enDocument
and download a form. I faxed them the form with my credit card number. In NZ it takes at least 14 days.

You have to ask them to forward it to Taiwan’s defacto embassy (trade office) in your country. In NZ, they provide this service, but charge extra. In some other countries you may have to send it back yourself or get someone there to coordinate it for you. The ‘embassy’ have to put their stamp on it.

You also need to provide a translation of this. I didn’t have one, and when we went to the Jilong District Court (my wife is from Jilong) they told us we needed a translation. When we said we didn’t have one, they said “Well you can both speak English and Chinese - translate it”. So we did. That was acceptable.

As it may take some time to get this done, but the certificate is only valid for 3 months (I think), I advise applying about 2 months before your wedding.

The next thing you need to get ready is a Clean Criminal Record Document (CCRD). This is some proof that you don’t have a criminal record in your home country (for the last 5 years). Again it is unimportant that you may not have been home in that time. You don’t need this to get married, but you need it to apply for the Joining Family Resident Visa.

In New Zealand check the Department of Courts here
courts.govt.nz/publications/ … 0clearance
and download their form. You need to get someone at home to fill some things out for you, so send it to them and get them to fill it out and send it on.

Some people have talked about problems with their country not being able to issue a CCRD. Notice that in NZ the Department of Courts also states clearly that in NZ no such document exists. Instead they provide a printout of your criminal record. This is acceptable in Taiwan, so they are to some extent lenient about what qualifies as a CCRD.

The important thing is to get it (the CCRD) forwarded to the Taiwanese ‘embassy’ in your home country, to put the stamp on. I messed this one up and had to hurriedly courier it to a friend who took it there and gave them some money to courier it back, I suggest getting someone to take it in, pick it up, and send it back to you.

Again, I recommend applying for this about 2 months before you get married (or in this case before you apply for the JFRV).

Finally you need a Health Certificate to get your JFRV. You no longer have to poo in a cup. The test is now the same as the test for a regular “teacher’s” ARC. However, some hospitals may not know this, or just give the same test for everyone, so your best bet (if you live in Taipei) is to go to Renai Hospital on Renai Road on the corner of Da An Road. They are all set up for it, and you have the advantage of not having to traipse around all four corners of the hospital visiting the various departments. But you still have to wait a week to pick up the certificate, and you may be pretty busy right before your wedding day, which is why I suggest doing it a month or so before your wedding.

Getting Married
Getting married (from a legal point of view) is actually pretty easy. I got married in a restaurant and you don’t have to do anything then. I didn’t do anything “official” until ten days later. Then we got our two marriage certificates (our wedding shop gave them to us, but as Rian has pointed out you can buy them in a 7-11 or stationery store), went to my wife’s father’s house and got three of her family to fill in the form and sign it. We had to sign too of course. We filled in the date of our ceremony ten days earlier, and the place as the restaurant we were married in. We could have just as easily written that date and her Dad’s dining room.

We then took my wife’s household registration book along with her father’s and mother’s books, and all of their name chops to get the marriage registered. We first went to the District Court (becuase my wife is registered in Jilong we went to the Jilong district court) and got my Single Certificate notarised by them. Then we took everything to the Jilong Household Registration Office. At this point you probably need a Chinese name and a chop. Your Chinese name becomes “official” and you can’t change it without going through the legal process after that, so make sure you have one you like. You get registered and your spouse gets a new (or updated) ID card with your name on the back.

Getting a JFRV and ARC

Keep the marriage certificates, household registration transcript copies and copies of the marriage record from the Household Registration Office with you and go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), which in Taipei is on Zhi Nan Road, near the NTU Tai Da hospital. You can now get the Joining Family Resident’s Visa (JFRV) which is a visa based on your marriage rather than work, or studies etc.

Give them the CCRD, Health Certificate, your current ARC and Passport (with photocopies), and all the household registration stuff.

Then you are supposed to provide either a certificate of marriage from your home country or proof that your marriage is registered in your home country. In the past this seemed to cause huge problems becuase countries such as NZ have no way of registering your marriage (in NZ you can only register an overseas marriage if it is witnessed by staff from a local embassy and NZ has no embassy in Taiwan, and they wouldn’t budge on that rule when I made enquiries). However, now it shouldn’t be a problem. The new requirement asks for:
The original and a copy of the certificate of marriage registration issued by the applicant’s government and authenticated by an ROC mission abroad. (For applicants from a country that does not have a marriage registration system, the certificate of marriage shall be submitted.)
Note the bit in brackets. So I stress: my Taiwanese Marriage Certificate was fine. Also I believe that the women behind the counter probably don’t have a wide knowledge of which countries have registration systems and which don’t.

Wait a week (or perhaps just over) and come back and pick up your passport with a new visa stamp in it.

You now have to take your passport to the Police Station (in Taipei on the corner of Zhong Hua Rd and Wu Chang St) to get your marriage-based ARC and re-entry stamp. This is very important and the MOFA in Taipei now give you a slip of paper to remind you, and draw your attention to it. If you don’t do it quickly (within 15 days), you may end up getting sent back to your home-country for 18 months. The police update the back of your ARC and put a re-entry stamp in your passport. The new expiry date for your ARC will be for 1 year, but the next time you renew it you should get 3 years.

Getting an Open Work Permit

As of early 2002, if you have a JFRV you can also get an Open Work Permit (OWP) also known as an “Article 51 Work Permit” or “Personal Work Permit”, which means you can do any job that a Taiwanese can do basically, and work for more than one employer, which is pretty handy.

Take all your papers down to the Council of Labor Affairs in Taipei at No. 83 Yen Ping North Road, Sec. 2. They told me I needed my chop or my wife’s chop or both, but seeing as I didn’t have them they said they’d “try anyway” and it wasn’t a problem. (In the worst case scenario, you can use a thumbprint.) Fill in a form and a week later you can pick up your OWP (or have it mailed to you) and you’re sorted! Make some copies and give one to your boss so he/she can apply for your health insurance.

More discussion of the OWP here segue.com.tw/viewtopic.php?t=3710

I got married on July 27 and picked up my work permit on Sep 10, so the whole thing took about 7 weeks, but if I’d been in more of a hurry and been a little more organised, I think I could have done it in 3-4 weeks.

Any feedback, corrections to this FAQ welcome and I’ll try and edit it later when I have time.

Brian

2

I would be interested in confirmation from other knowledgeable individuals that “proof that the marriage is registered in the foreigner’s home country” is no longer required as of September, 2002.

3

Thanks Richard, for editing my post and putting a little extra information (addresses etc) in there.

My only ‘proof’ that registration is no longer necessary is that paragraph that MOFA wrote on their list of requirements

“The original and a copy of the certificate of marriage registration issued by the applicant’s government and authenticated by an ROC mission abroad. (For applicants from a country that does not have a marriage registration system, the certificate of marriage shall be submitted.)”

and the fact that it was no problem for me. the woman at the counter didn’t even ask.

Brian

4

In response to Hartzell.
Though still waiting for documents to proceed, I have been assured by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that I don’t need to register my marriage in my home country as I’m registered here. What’s more, I can’t register in my home country as I’m registered In Taiwan and should I attempt to register elsewhere I’d be guilty of bigamy - same applies to most countries I’m told. The clerk at the visa application desk was well aware of this catch 22 when I pointed it out and hastily told me that it wasn’t necessary - she also mentioned that it would amount to bigamy in most countries. I like to think she enjoyed the thought of other countries having crazier bureaucratic cultures than her own.

By the way my nationality is ______ .

HG

5

For Chrissakes, Huang,

Wait sharing your info untill the case has been passed. You have arrived back at the office spreading misinformation about how easy it was more than once.

However, if you are right this time, it’ll signify a major change from the previous requirements.

6

Maybe you should register with the same wife … :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

7

I wish you posted this a week ago.

I went to NTU hospital. I had to run around from floor to floor and :frowning: poo in a cup.

Thanks for a very informative post.

Casey

8

Can somebody tell me whether the marriage certificate and ccrd need to be notarised or not (for somebody getting married in their home country). There seems to be conflicting sides to this one. And the mofa webside, on one of their webpages, doesn’t mention the need for notarising at all for requirements in applying for a spouse based visa. Yet one line, on other webpage mentions sending documents into their office need to be notarised. Completely confused. Anyone who’s done it recently, can you tell me whether or not you had your docs notarised. Thanks, Amos.

9

I’m not sure exactly what notarising is. Is that getting it stamped (authenticated perhaps) by the Taiwanese ‘embassy’ in your home country, or is it something involving the court.

The CCRD just needs to be ‘stamped’ by the Taiwan ‘embassy’ in your home country. This would be the same if you are marrying in Taiwan or at home.

As for the marriage certificate, if marrying in Taiwan, you don’t have to do anything to it. If amrrying at home, I am not sure.

If marrying in Taiwan the Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage (Single Certificate) has to be taken to the District Court (which may be notarisation) before you can register your marriage.

Brian

10

Is this Sir Donald Bradman the same person as “Bri”, aka Bu Lai En?

If so, welcome back. If not, then it’s a helluva coincidence that you are both Kiwi’s and recently married.

If this has been pointed out before, I apologize. I can be a bit slow at times. :wink:

11

What up Amos,

Did you forget my CCRD thread? They told me I needed it noterized when I called and their webpage said it needed to be noterized. When you go get the document you what certified (marraige cert. or ccrd) ask them if they can notarize it. If they can it’s all good. If they can’t just take it to the tawanese exmbassy and tell them you can’t get it certified. When I did that the girl said she’d check with her suppervisor but thought she wouldn’t certify it. When I came back everything was cerified and good to go.

Casey

12

Notarizing is something that a public notary does to make a document “official”. An example of getting something notarized would be when you write up a contract and have someone sign it, the person would show the notary some id to prove they are who they say they are and sign it in front of them. Then the notary would notarize it (put a raised stamp on it and sign it).

It’s stupid for documents from your city governmet though, because they come with a raised stamp, which (I asked a notary) makes it as official as it needs to be. I had problems getting my ccrd notarized, but the TECO certified it for me anyway.

Casey

13

Notarising it means authenticating it, meaning that when the Taiwan office puts their stamp on it, they are saying that they have checked with the relevant person who initially signed or stamped the document, that this person who holds this certain position that gives him/her the right to sign this or that did actually sign or stamp it. Regards the contents of the document , they cannot check this or notarise this.

Aposilating or is it apposilizing ( can’t remember the exact word or spelling) the document means making the document an offical document that can be used for legal matters etc etc

Take a case where I get a certificate from Taiwan and take it home to Ireland. If I get this document apposilized in Ireland, then it can be used a a legal document

14

From the information I was given by MOFA and the Australian TECO (as I was married in Australia), you need to have the Marriage Certificate translated into Chinese. They then both need to be sent back to the Taiwanese overseas mission of the place of your marriage. You will need to contact your overseas mission so that they will send you a marriage certification application form. Once they send that and you fill it out, you make copies of both your passports and send all these documents to them. In Australia they charge AU$86.00 for them to certify it.

At present I am awaiting their reply. I hope this information was useful, because I know what a headache it is in getting the marriage registered here in Taiwan, & all the other related things like JFRV, ARC, OWP, name in the household registration record, etc.

15

Hi Richard,

I too can confirm not needing proof of marriage in my home country (England), got my JFRV this week :wink: . I’m not sure if being British made any difference, as i am not sure if whether we can register it there.

We were also told that as long as the marriage/Taiwan marriage license is performed in the court (ie: rather than going to the local 7-11 or your own living room) it is acceptable as legal. Not sure if this part has anything to do with notarizing, etc.

Anyway, once i get my act together i will post some info for other Brits to follow, no guarantee’s it will work but it did for me :smiling_imp:

tpetourist

16

Richard, I too can confirm that I wasn’t required to show evidence of having registered my marriage in the country indicated on my passport (Australia). I picked up my JFRV last week and there was no mention of it. In a previous thread I pointed out that it was impossible for me to do this anyway.

Note that I was married in Taiwan and already had an ARC. The latter may be significant.

The foreign affairs cops did do something weird though. They put my previous Chinese name on my ARC, which sucks as I’ve since changed it and have a host of other documents (household registration, wedding cert. drivers licence and references) all in a different Chinese name. I can see what’s ahead when I apply for the open work permit!

17

It is so simple:
If your country has a registration system than it is mandatory, if your country does not, you are exempt. It is simply patching the crazy law to the real situation. They could of course have decided to exempt everybody given that the law now is totally useless but no they chose to use some tape and patch the hole. Of course this is not a law worthy of a press-conference so why bother.

18

A couple weeks ago I received an official letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated October 9, 2002, with extensive attachments concerning this “registration of marriage in home country” issue.

In the past this has been a real headache for foreigners who married Taiwan nationals in Taiwan.

Apparently the principle of international reciprocity is being recognized here at last. So, if there is no formal procedure for making registration of the marriage in your home country, you now are not being forced to prove (in some way) that your marriage is in fact registered in your home country.

(In the past, for countries without any procedure for “marriage registration”, the only viable way to produce such proof of registration was by actually getting married in the foreign spouse’s home country. For many people, this was a huge inconvenience.)

The attachments are in the Chinese language of course, and include details on procedures available for handling the “registration of marriages” and in particular the “registration of overseas marriages” in different areas of the world, including:
AFRICA: 29 countries
AUSTRALIA, ASIA, & OCEANIA: 25 countries
CENTRAL AMERICA & CARRIBEAN: 27 countries
EUROPE: 30 countries
NORTH AMERICA: 2 countries
MIDDLE EAST: 21 countries

If you need a copy of this data for a particular country or two, send me an email with your snailmail mailing address in the Taiwan area, and mention what data you want. (Please do some explanatory comments about how to write the characters in your Chinese address.)

This FREE OFFER is being limited to mailing addresses in the Taiwan area.

19

Hello I am searching high and low for anyone who is a foreigner with an ARC married to a foreigner (from another country other than mine) and wants to get him here on a spousal visa. Any information on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. My first question is should he apply for a JFRV visa or a tourist visa at the Taiwanese embassy in his country.
Thank you

20

According to what I have read on this website, the overseas Taiwanese “representative offices” do not issue JFRVs. That all has to be done in Taipei . . . . . . or in some city in Taiwan which has a MOFA BOCA office . . . . . .

Hence, the spouse normally comes in on a tourist visa. (And if the other spouse has not completed all necessary paperwork for obtaining the resident visa, he/she may also come in on a tourist visa. Of course, a tourist visa is the most commonly seen type of short-term visa.)

You have to remember that in Taiwan there is no strict separation of visa categories into “immigrant” and “non-immigrant”. In fact, in Taiwan, the attaining of “permanent residency” status is not considered to be a pre-requisite to obtaining citizenship.

So . . . . . in terms of foreigners . . . . . what you basically have are long term foreigners and short term foreigners. For those who arrive with short-term visas, many of them do later upgrade their status to long term, by getting a resident visa. With a long term visa (i.e. resident visa), you must apply for an ARC within 15 days.

The categories for resident visa are (1) investment, (2) employment, (3) full time student, (4) missionary activities, and (5) joining family. Of course, all of these have to be fully legitimate, and approved by the relevant authorities.