Okay, well I figured the easiest way to solve my dilemma was to just go straight to the source, the Panciao District Court where I’m getting married.
They told me that I can use the single certificate that I get from the Canadian Trade Office (CTO), which has to sign/stamp it when they give it to me. Then I take the certificate to MOFA, which then checks it and signs/stamps it. Then I take it to BOCA (i just love the names of these places…) which proceeds to double check the possibly incomplete and irregular work of MOFA by once again checking over my certificate and then they sign it and chop it. Voila! I’m now allowed to reserve a date for my wedding!
Again, to all the very considerate folks here, thanks much for all your help and advice! it was very much appreciated! I hope this posting will help someone out if they find themselves in a similiar situation!!
Maybe this is just the Banqiao court being difficult. I never had to take mine to MOFA. Got it stamped by TECO in my country, translated by my wife and myself, then we took it to the (Jilong) district court. I don’t see why MOFA would have to see it at all.
Same here; issued by the Canadian Trade Office (who charged what I thought was a rather steep amount for it!) and no stamping by the MOFA or BOCA. Typical Taiwanese logic at work here, though; the more stamps it has, the more authentic it must be!
Congratulations and be patient with all the bureaucracy. It’s the happiest day of your life, so after all the running around is done, take the time to enjoy it!
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]Maybe this is just the Banqiao court being difficult. I never had to take mine to MOFA. Got it stamped by TECO in my country, translated by my wife and myself, then we took it to the (Jilong) district court. I don’t see why MOFA would have to see it at all.
Brian[/quote]
I think I must have got lucky. I got mine stamped by the UKFCO and the pretend Taiwan Embassy in London, but I never got it translated. In fact I never saw it before the wedding as my father-in-law sorted out the paperwork. (I was subjecting the wife to her final pre-marriage test - three days in Hong Kong watching the 7s for between 6 and 8 hours a day! She passed ).
My advice is to get your father in law to sort out the Taiwan end. Firstly he will be more in tune with what works re implementaion of Taiwanese ‘rules’. Secondly, he will keep going till the problems are solved so as not to seem incompetent to the funny fella marrying his beloved daughter.
[quote=“Bu Lai En”] I don’t see why MOFA would have to see it at all.
[/quote]I had to get mine chopped by MOFA. I couldn’t get a certificate of singleness as that’s not issued where I come from, but no-one seemed to notice that as long as it had the right stamps on it. What a nightmare, issuing office -> TECO in issuing country -> MOFA in Taichung -> district court. That was four years ago, in Taichung. As always, YMMV.
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