Joining family visitor visa from HK TECO - required documents?

Looks like I also got stuck on the ‘marriage registration’ in both spouses’ countries like other posters in the forums did~even though the US doesn’t have this (we got married in Taiwan and I’m on 90 day visa exempt.) Called the HK TECO and they insist it is necessary. Have decided to go for an extendable Visitor’s Visa for the purpose of joining family and switch to JFRV here. I have our marriage certificates, household registration, etc. Will bring a copy of my spouse’s ID, a letter of invitation as well.

Does anyone have any experience / advice on what else they might require? Will a copy of Bank deposits work? Not currently working as we will open a cafe after I get my residency/work permit. How strict are they with this type of thing?

Many thanks in advance!

Hi
Do you mean “marriage certificate” from both countries?
I recently just did my NZ husband’s Visitor’s visa.
We got married in HK, and registered in Taiwan later. Took both HK and TW marriage and household registration and etc, NZ marriage certificate was not required as NZ recognize both TW and HK marriage

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No, it looks to be ‘proof of marriage registration in applicant’s country,’ -so the US in my case. As the US doesn’t have a registry, I assumed just our marriage certificate issued in Taiwan (and our Taiwan household registry, etc.) would suffice. After searching the forums here, noticed a few others have run into a similar issue.

I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office here in Kaohsiung and the person I spoke with said that within Taiwan, they would accept something from AIT stating that our marriage would be recognized in the US. When I called HK TECO, the person I spoke with insisted I needed proof of marriage registration in the US. She said others had provided them with something in the past, but wasn’t able to explain what this was. I suggested perhaps those individuals had been married in the US and just registered the marriage in Taiwan, so likely it was their US marriage certificate. Am going to call both agencies again today and see if they say anything different. Many thanks!

Apologies-just to clarify, what I mentioned above is not needed for a visitor visa, just a resident visa. I do likely plan to go with the visitor visa and then switch it to a resident visa here. Mainly, just wondering what other supporting documents they might require for the visitor visa. Did they ask for financial documents, etc. for you husband or were the household registration and marriage certificate sufficient? The person at HK TECO just referred me to the BOCA website for visitor visa requirements and wasn’t very forthcoming on what they would want to see. Thanks again!

AIT provides a document that explains that the US doesn’t have a central marriage registry, recognises the one elsewhere and lists a few of your details. That’s probably what MOFA/TECO was referring to.

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Just an fyi if you’re wanting to apply for a resident visa in the futurr, MOFA will likely ask for a notarized AND authenticated copy of your US marriage license…except, AITs do NOT notarize marriage licenses. This is something you have to get done back in the States.

Or so I was told at MOFA.

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Went through this earlier this year in Macau – this is exactly what they are looking for (You’ll still have to pay the $50 to get the stamp on it from AIT though and then I believe get it verified at MOFO)

I was already in Macau when I discovered I didn’t have it, but taking the required paperwork for a JFRV visa they were able to just give me the Visiting Family visa (I don’t remember the exact requirements but remember that I didn’t need anything additional – I think a typical Visiting Family Tourist Visa requires you to show some bank account statements but they didn’t even ask) https://visawebapp.boca.gov.tw/BOCA_EVISA/

Good luck!

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I didn’t prepare anything to prove our marriage is recognized in NZ, I don’t think you do too as US recognize TW marriage
HK TECO has a booklet for them to check if the marriage certificate or anything is required, for us, ie. NZ, is not.
In your case, you can try to apply for visitor visa like us, but prepare for all the documents for resident visa

I could apply for Resident visa if I have his health check done at that time

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This is super helpful~thanks so much. Have now made an appointment at AIT to procure this.

Much appreciated!

Well noted. Will bring along some financials just in case. Thanks for your help.

Ok, great. Should have the physical checkup results soon, so might just try for the JFRV. Thanks so much!

Thanks! We got married here in Taiwan.

I’ve been looking for something like this. Thanks!!! I just need to find something similar that will work in the US.

Hi Echo,

I’m in a similar situation where we got married in Taiwan, and doesn’t have a US marriage registration. US TECO can only offer me a visitor visa for visiting family, but they said that the visitor visa has a “no change to other visa” stamp on it. Was this similar to your case? How were you able to change the status of your visitor visa? Thank you!