I am British, my wife is Taiwanese…we want to marry (not in Taiwan for obvious reasons) so does anyone know what options are open…i heard that Thailand or Guam could be possible, but without the bastard certificate of no impediment it may all be too complicated. Any info appreciated
Hong Kong is the way to go.
What are the obvious reasons?
Well, the whole trying to get a divorce and crime of adultery thing, for one.
That’s two, Jimi. 
The UK doesn’t recognize Taiwanese marriages.
But this can be resolved by having another ceremony at a later date.
The UK doesn’t recognize Taiwanese marriages.
But this can be resolved by having another ceremony at a later date.[/quote]
-
Not exactly, they do not guarantee recoginition of TW marriages
-
For visa reasons I have heard instead of the “spouse visa” you can use the “civil partnership visa (2-years living together)”
-
polygamy is legal in indonesia…
Can this be for real? On what grounds does it not recognize them? My ex-wife applied for visitor visas on the grounds of visiting husband’s family, and though we never tried to get a residence permit I am under the impression that the UK immigration authorities even consider cohabitation as equivalent to marriage.
How come no-one’s taken this up at a higher level? Can anyone provide links to the relevant information so that I can attempt to do something myself?
Well, they’re usually intertwined. 
Getting married in HK is cheap, convenient, and well-organised. You don’t have to do any silly dances with trying to “prove” you’re single, you just send them some paperwork and they hang it up for a couple weeks and if no-one complains, then you’re eligible. You can arrange a date for the registry office thingy via email, they’re very helpful, and afterward you can go get it “authenticated” the same day at the Taiwanese office there (the “Zhonghua Travel Agency”).
No-one in Taiwan or England will bat an eyelid at an HK marriage certificate, and going on to get my JFRV in Taiwan and British visas for my wife was very easy.
The BTCO actually suggest HK as an easy place to do it:
(http://ukintaiwan.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-taiwan/how-register-marriage/)
How unbelievably fucking retarded.
It wasn’t that difficult when I did it. My father was able to help me get the CNI and it didn’t need all that certification. I haven’t lived in the UK since I was a minor so it was a completely ridiculous requirement in the first place.
And this:
WTF?
Yet it goes on to say that “the registrar in the UK will require the original Taiwanese marriage documents when notice is given of the marriage”…
A total scam, like most of the other bureaucratic bullshit that the UK forces upon its citizens. For the record, I would never get married in the UK. The costs are so much greater than the costs in Taiwan. What are the costs like in Hong Kong?
We got married in Vegas - we planned ahead and booked the Bellagio but our main reasons were excessive paperwork in Taiwan and the fact that we didn’t plan to live there.
We came unstuck when we moved to HK because they needed some paperwork from Taiwan to prove my wife was married so I ended up having to get single certification etc anyway.
If you can, I would do it in Taiwan - it may be a pain but if you ever need them to certify the marriage, update your wife’s status on her id card to married etc then you’ll end up jumping through more or less the same hoops anyway. . . . just my 2C
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]We came unstuck when we moved to HK because they needed some paperwork from Taiwan to prove my wife was married so I ended up having to get single certification etc anyway.
If you can, I would do it in Taiwan - it may be a pain but if you ever need them to certify the marriage, update your wife’s status on her id card to married etc then you’ll end up jumping through more or less the same hoops anyway. . . . just my 2C[/quote]
Wouldn’t her household registration be proof enough? I got added to my wife’s by showing them our (“authenticated”) HK marriage cert.
You can get married in the UK through the Church of England through the marriage banns or by the issuance of an Archbishop’s special licence. The marriage is then legal in the United Kingdom. That marriage certificate can be authenticated by the legalisation office of the Foreign Office in Milton Keynes for GBP28 in 20 minutes. The Taiwanese wife can have her passport endorsed to reflect the change in marital status at the Taiwan office in London (right next to Victoria station) for free in two days.
You would need to find an agreeable clergyman, speak to them, arrange for marriage banns to be posted for two weeks in your local parish or one where you have some relatives or association, provide copies of your passports, proof of ID etc. You then fix a date, pay a fee and the marriage certificate is issued immediately after the ceremony. If either party has been married before, you will need to provide divorce decrees etc.
Interestingly, as the C of E is the Established Church (an organ of state), it allows for some circumvention of the usual visa regulations regarding spousal visas. A marriage in a civil registry requires visas in advance and a CNI (certificate of no impediment). With the C of E, one signs a simple affidavit in lieu of the CNI. Note that you cannot do this in any church other than the Church of England. With the C of E, the clergyman who presides over the ceremony is also a licenced marriage officer. All other marriages elsewhere require the presence of the civil registrar to sign the certificate and thus application for spousal visas in advance. You just don’t mention the word ‘marriage’ to immigration upon arrival.
As Taiwanese get visa-free access, this can be done in about three weeks on a visit to the UK. The Special Licence takes a little longer but what you have is a solid marriage certificate, and with the Apostille attached by the legalisation office, one that is pretty universally recognised especially if you were to apply for visas in third countries for a Taiwanese spouse.
BroonAttached
[quote=“Brendon”][quote=“Edgar Allen”]We came unstuck when we moved to HK because they needed some paperwork from Taiwan to prove my wife was married so I ended up having to get single certification etc anyway.
If you can, I would do it in Taiwan - it may be a pain but if you ever need them to certify the marriage, update your wife’s status on her id card to married etc then you’ll end up jumping through more or less the same hoops anyway. . . . just my 2C[/quote]
Wouldn’t her household registration be proof enough? I got added to my wife’s by showing them our (“authenticated”) HK marriage cert.[/quote]
For some reason my wife decided that our celebration dinner in Taiwan was a wedding and convinced the authorities of this - but of course that meant we had to produce appropriate paperwork. Officially the “marriage” in Taiwan supercedes the one in Vegas - bizarre but true
The obvious reason being that at some point in the coming years we will be moving back to England or anywhere else…seems little point in marrying here to later be told its not recognised.
The situation is appalling though…Americans can simply got to AIT and sort it out, England wont even give me a CNI unless I’m there in person. Twats.
Hong Kong it is I suppose, but was kind of hoping to somewhere less dull…
There is no reason that you couldn’t get married somewhere that you consider to be more exotic. You’d just need to be sure that there is a Taiwan representative office there to authenticate the marriage certificate (for recognition in Taiwan) and that the UK recognises marriages performed in your country of choice. You mentioned Thailand; I’m sure Thailand meets the above criteria.
My wife and I got married in Hong Kong.
It was fairly simple. We had to stay there for a few days and you’ll need a couple of witnesses to the marriage. Don’t forget to get the marriage certificate authenticated by the Taiwanese pseudo-embassy there.
The BTCO in Taiwan actively endorse marrying in Hong Kong:
ukintaiwan.fco.gov.uk/en/help-fo … -marriage/
Hmm lots of countries don’t recognise Thai marriages.
Which countries? I couldn’t find any reference with a quick search on google.
Some thing else to consider is that if you get married in Hong Kong, the certificate will be in both English and Chinese. This may (or may not?) save you from having to get the thing translated into a relevant language.
[quote=“BroonAle”]You can get married in the UK through the Church of England through the marriage banns or by the issuance of an Archbishop’s special licence. The marriage is then legal in the United Kingdom. That marriage certificate can be authenticated by the legalisation office of the Foreign Office in Milton Keynes for GBP28 in 20 minutes. The Taiwanese wife can have her passport endorsed to reflect the change in marital status at the Taiwan office in London (right next to Victoria station) for free in two days.
[/quote]
That is incredibly useful. Thank you for that information!
If only my sister had known this a few years back. Of course, it’d mean she’d have married the wrong guy but still…