I am an American citizen and I will enter Taiwan soon on a tourist Visa.
The plan is to marry my Taiwanese gf who’s waiting for me there, and then adjust my status.
First question is, can this be done from within Taiwan? (meaning, without having to go out and re-enter)
Second, I was told I need a Certificate of No-records of Marriage from my US State of residency. My question is, does that need to have an Apostille Seal?
Third, I was told I also need a Criminal record check. What type of check is needed, Local Police or FBI check?
I’m an American and I got married while already in Taiwan, so I’m not 100% sure what you should do to prepare while in the US. It’s pretty easy to do once you’re here. I’ll say some things, but hopefully some other Americans can chime in to verify or add their thoughts/advice in case I missed something or whatever.
Should be able to. You said you’re getting a real tourist visa, rather than visa free entry? That should mean one fewer step for you when you’re here. It’s been years since I did this, so maybe your best bet would be to have your fiance call and ask the Immigration office if that visa can be switched over to an ARC after you’re married.
Yes. Taiwan requires proof foreigners aren’t married before they’ll let them get married here.
Whatever you get, BOCA has to authenticate it. Taiwan loves stamps and seals, so I’d definitely do that. But BOCA workers are used to seeing documents from AIT, so I’m not sure if they’ll accept one from your state. Your easiest bet would be to do it here this way after arriving. I was able to do this part in a day.
I needed a UK police certificate for my spouse ARC application. Maybe you only need a local one if you are converting from an existing ARC. @papertowel did you need an international or local police certificate switching from a gold card to a spouse ARC?
Thank you all for your replies.
I’ll try to address them all in one message.
Yes, I do have a 6-months visitor visa, and I’m leaving to Taipei next week.
My girlfriend is already in Taiwan. We’ll get married there.
I understood from some of the replies and reading online that I can prepare a “single status affidavit” and, once in Taipei, go to the AIT and have it notarized. Can you guys please reconfirm this?
This would be great cause I don’t have enough time left to go thru the State Vital records bureau process, get a Cert of No-records of marriage and then mail it to another office for the apostille.
About the FBI background: I’m writing this message from the Woodside, NY Identogo “location”, where I’m about to give my fingerprints.
Was this background check ($85 by the way) necessary or not?
At TECO NY they said it was - about a month ago.
Most U.S. states don’t have such a thing. And even if one state does, it would be meaningless, because you might have been married in another state so it proves nothing.
There are lots of stories on Forumosa about Taiwan authorities insisting on a certificate of no marriage, and people from the U.S. complaining that there is no such thing.
If you had a previous marriage and were divorced in the U.S., then you can use the divorce order from a U.S. court to demonstrate “no marriage.”
Or, in some cases I’ve heard that you can have AIT notarize an affidavit of single / unmarried status, as you’ve suggested. That’s what I would do.
EDIT for accuracy: I did a quick Google search and it appears that some U.S. states do offer a certificate of non-married status, which you could have apostilled and then present to Taiwan authorities. This still doesn’t prove that you weren’t married somewhere else (in another U.S. state) so it doesn’t prove that you have single status in the United States, only within a single state.