I’m trying to marry my Taiwanese fiancee, and when I tried to get my documents notarized at the Foreign Affairs Bureau (or whatever it’s called) they said I had the wrong document (a sworn legal statement from my mother); they said I needed a certificate of non-impediment and should go to the UK representative’s office for advice.
Fair enough, I thought (despite wasting 200 quid on the legal help with the statement), so off I trot to the UK visa office. The lady there told me that I need to be in the UK for 3 weeks to get the certificate and that it would, in fact, be easier and cheaper to get married in Hong Kong!
Now, I’m not averse to such a thing, and it would be nice as I could celebrate with some decent fish and chips and a glass of ribena, but I just want to check that this information is correct.
Has anyone done it? What do I need to do in order to do that? What else could I do.
Please be as detailed as possible; act like you’re explaining to a child! I don’t want to miss anything!
You’re getting the run-around from an ignorant know-nothing.
Yes, you need a certificate of non-impediment.
No, you don’t have to stay in UK for three weeks to get one.
Your mother simply goes to a notary public or her family solicitor, who draws up and notarizes a letter saying you’re not married. You send this to the Taiwan rep. office in London along with a tenner and a stamped addressed envelope to you here in Taiwan. The rep. office checks that the solicitor/notary public is real, places a stamp on the back of it and sends it on to you. This is your certificate of non-impediment by proxy and it is accepted by the authorities.
IT MUST be stamped by the London rep. office.
DO NOT TRUST the BTCO for accurate information.
Or you can get the GRO in the UK (General Register Office) to do a search to show you’re not married. Get this legalised by the F&CO (in the UK), the Taiwan Trade Office (in the UK), and the Bureau of Consular Affairs (in Taiwan).
You can order the GRO search over the phone (+ credit card) - and even get them to forward it to the F&CO, and get them to forward it to the Taiwan trade office.
[quote]You’re getting the run-around from an ignorant know-nothing.
Yes, you need a certificate of non-impediment.
No, you don’t have to stay in UK for three weeks to get one.
Your mother simply goes to a notary public or her family solicitor, who draws up and notarizes a letter saying you’re not married. You send this to the Taiwan rep. office in London along with a tenner and a stamped addressed envelope to you here in Taiwan. The rep. office checks that the solicitor/notary public is real, places a stamp on the back of it and sends it on to you. This is your certificate of non-impediment by proxy and it is accepted by the authorities.
IT MUST be stamped by the London rep. office.
DO NOT TRUST the BTCO for accurate information.[/quote]
Thanks, Sandman.
However, I did get the certificate of non-impediment by proxy as you described, and when I went to get it authorized at the MOFA, they sent me packing to the BTCO. They wouldn’t accept it - said it wasn’t a C.o.N.I. Should I just take it to the BTCO, then (MOFA kept it, but I’m sure I can get it back)?
[quote]Or you can get the GRO in the UK (General Register Office) to do a search to show you’re not married. Get this legalised by the F&CO (in the UK), the Taiwan Trade Office (in the UK), and the Bureau of Consular Affairs (in Taiwan).
You can order the GRO search over the phone (+ credit card) - and even get them to forward it to the F&CO, and get them to forward it to the Taiwan trade office.
But did you mother first send it to the Taiwan rep. office in London? MOFA won’t touch it unless it has the rep. office stamp on the back. If it does have the stamp, I’d complain and complain! This method worked for me and for several other people I know personally.
Yes, it’s got the stamp from the Taipei Rep. Office.
[/quote]
That is very strange. I wonder if they changed the rules? What’s the wording of the letter? Mine was very simple, along the lines of “… I solemnly swear that XXXX XXXXX XXXX is my son (passport number) and that he is not now, nor has he ever been married…”
I think what you have to do is make sure you’ve got the right documentation, and then submit it anyway. That is, when the girl behind the counter at MOFA says “this isn’t right”, tell her to submit it anyway. She’s not the one who makes the decision. See if that works anyway.
I wonder who the three idiots who voted “no” are? Don’t they know that by voting in this poll, they should now answer “yes” because they have just voted in a poll?
Damn, that’s bad luck. Still, it makes me wonder if I were to marry again, I could claim that my existing marriage was invalid because I don’t have an acceptable CNI…
[quote]try another document that would work as CCRD. Something from Scotland Yard perhaps?
[/quote]
That’s the clean criminal record you’re talking about Bri, he’s needing a non-impediment cert.
Perhaps an appeal through Hartzell would be worth a try.
I tried going through the UK GRO, but I would need to be in the UK for 3 weeks to get the C.o.N.I. They suggested finding out if the MOFA would accept a statement from them that they’d searched the records and I wasn’t married.
Apparently, it’s not officially official, but it’s worth a try. Costs 30 pounds to get it done in 3 weeks and about 40 to 50 pounds to get it done quicker.
How would I go about appealing, then, Hartzell? Is it expensive?
