My wife and I are US citizens and residents, preparing to move to Taiwan for my employment. My local TECO says I need to submit our marriage certificate with my wife’s Special Entry Visa application, and it must be authenticated by the Taiwan representative office in the country where it was issued (Mongolia). They directed me to TTERO in Mongolia. But TTERO in Mongolia tells me they cannot authenticate marriage certificates except for ROC citizens.
This seems like a catch-22. I asked TECO if there are any alternatives, such as a US legal document declaring our marriage recognized, or authentication from another Taiwanese government office. They told me both are not possible. It is also not possible to get a US marriage certificate for a foreign marriage, even though our marriage is legally recognized.
Does anyone here have experience with authenticating documents with TECO in a third country? Any ideas what I can do? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
The first thing that suggests itself to me is getting married now in the US. Taiwan’s trade offices are known for being rather implacable. It could be possible that an administrative relief process could resolve the problem, but it would take time and have an uncertain end.
I thought of that too! Surprisingly, unlike other countries, the US gives no way to register or certify a foreign marriage. When I requested this, I was told that my marriage is already legally recognized in the US without additional registration. To marry in the US would actually be illegal because it would be “marrying twice.” Family lawyers I talked to confirmed this.
You might think they’d be a little more accommodating. Clearly they have established an impossible requirement for you. Maybe someone here will have a better suggestion, but there is this MOFA mailbox:
Matters pertaining to immigration and border controls, new immigrants, foreign spouses (excluding interviews for resident visas for dependents), and applications for Alien Resident Certificates (excluding visa applications for travel to Taiwan) are the remit of the National Immigration Agency.
I guess that means this is a MOFA matter. Maybe you could call them as well, 886-2-2348-2999.
Can you have Seattle TECO contact TTERO in Mongolia to discuss the runaround?
Or translate Mongolia document into Chinese and have TECO authenticate it.
