Authentication and Translation of Marriage License?

Legal Visa & Residency
1

I need to get my marriage license translated and authenticated so that my husband can get his dependent visa. However, I am having difficulty finding information on where to go/send it.

All the information I have found re: Taiwan, spouses, and visas is along the lines of “How do I get my Taiwanese wife a US/UK/Canada visa?” and that, obviously, is of no help to me.

I have heard that I can take it to some office in Taipei from some people, and from others, I have heard that I HAVE to send it back to the Houston TECO since we were married in Texas.

What do I do?

2

As far as I know the licence needs to be authenticated in your home country. The TECO office there will tell you the requirements.
It needs to be translated in TW by an appointed translator. There are usually many around the immigration offices or you can send to them and they will send the translation back.

3

[quote=“bigduke6”]As far as I know the licence needs to be authenticated in your home country. The TECO office there will tell you the requirements.
It needs to be translated in TW by an appointed translator. There are usually many around the immigration offices or you can send to them and they will send the translation back.[/quote]

Thank you! I will call Houston TECO tonight and ask my coworker to help me find a translator!

4

My wife and I recently went through the same process. We were married in NY.

What you need to do is send the marriage license WITHOUT TRANSLATION to the TECO closest to where your marriage license was issued, along with a photocopy. You need to include a ‘certified bank check’ with the marriage license (no personal check). The check should be made out to ‘TECO in Houston’. It must be the EXACT amount, or they will sit on your application. (We sent a check for $44, when the charge was $45. And had to send a $1 check.) You should verify the amount with the Houston office.

The exact amount should be calculated this way: $15 processing fee plus the US Post Office’s US Express Mail International charge. Verify with the US post office that this is the correct charge. The NY TECO told us the wrong information, which is how we got the $1 difference.

I cannot stress strongly enough the need to verify the information that the TECO gives you. A few minutes taken to verify can save you weeks (even months) of waiting and a Visa run (and Hong Kong lousy this time of year).

Now, let me explain about why you shouldn’t submit a translation of your Marriage Certificate. If you submit the translation with the license, and there are mistakes, they will send the whole package back to you (the slow way) and you will need to start over. (Amazing, right?)

You will also need to submit a US Government authenticated copy of your husband’s passport (from the AIT) along with the marriage license. If YOU hold a Taiwanese passport, submit a photocopy of that as well (which does not need to be certified).

NOTE: the English spelling of the names on the passports MUST match the names on the Marriage Certificate. Missing middle initials aren’t a real problem, but the English spellings of both first and last names (yours and his) must match exactly.

Here is the Authentication Services page for TECO Houston:

http://www.taiwanembassy.org/us/hou/ct.asp?xItem=12498&ctNode=2657&mp=37

Again, we strongly urge you to verify all of this directly with TECO Houston, and then verify what THEY tell you.

By the way, we also found that the foreigner’s hotline here was useful in helping us navigate Taiwanese bureaucracy. The number of bureaucratic hoops that we had to jump through was nothing short of amazing. And, for such a tiny country… :loco:

Foreigner’s Hotline: 0800-024-111

Does it seem like we had an ‘interesting’ time with this? :astonished:

EDIT: Oh and do not hesitate to PM me, if you have any other questions.

5

[quote=“Got To Be Kidding”]My wife and I recently went through the same process. We were married in NY.

What you need to do is send the marriage license WITHOUT TRANSLATION to the TECO closest to where your marriage license was issued, along with a photocopy. You need to include a ‘certified bank check’ with the marriage license (no personal check). The check should be made out to ‘TECO in Houston’. It must be the EXACT amount, or they will sit on your application. (We sent a check for $44, when the charge was $45. And had to send a $1 check.) You should verify the amount with the Houston office.

The exact amount should be calculated this way: $15 processing fee plus the US Post Office’s US Express Mail International charge. Verify with the US post office that this is the correct charge. The NY TECO told us the wrong information, which is how we got the $1 difference.

I cannot stress strongly enough the need to verify the information that the TECO gives you. A few minutes taken to verify can save you weeks (even months) of waiting and a Visa run (and Hong Kong lousy this time of year).

Now, let me explain about why you shouldn’t submit a translation of your Marriage Certificate. If you submit the translation with the license, and there are mistakes, they will send the whole package back to you (the slow way) and you will need to start over. (Amazing, right?)

You will also need to submit a US government authenticated copy of your husband’s passport (from the AIT) along with the marriage license. If YOU hold a Taiwanese passport, submit a photocopy of that as well (which does not need to be certified).

NOTE: the English spelling of the names on the passports MUST match the names on the Marriage Certificate. Missing middle initials aren’t a real problem, but the English spellings of both first and last names (yours and his) must match exactly.

Here is the Authentication Services page for TECO Houston:

http://www.taiwanembassy.org/us/hou/ct.asp?xItem=12498&ctNode=2657&mp=37

Again, we strongly urge you to verify all of this directly with TECO Houston, and then verify what THEY tell you.

By the way, we also found that the foreigner’s hotline here was useful in helping us navigate Taiwanese bureaucracy. The number of bureaucratic hoops that we had to jump through was nothing short of amazing. And, for such a tiny country… :loco:

Foreigner’s Hotline: 0800-024-111

Does it seem like we had an ‘interesting’ time with this? :astonished:

EDIT: Oh and do not hesitate to PM me, if you have any other questions.[/quote]

Wow! Thank you for all of that information! I will make sure to (try my hardest to) avoid the problems you encountered. It would probably be a lot easier if I had a Taiwanese passport. Or maybe it wouldn’t be!

To clarify, the AIT is in Taipei, right?

6

You’re welcome!

Since you do not have a Taiwanese Passport, you really need to contact the TECO in Houston and ask what they want.

Here’s the info about getting to and contacting the AIT:

http://acs.ait.org.tw/contact.html

Good luck!

EDIT: Sent you a PM