First thanks for letting me join the forum. There seems to be a great bunch of knowledgeable peeople here
Right now I’m in a bit of a pinch. Me and my Taiwanese wife were married back home in Norway in 2019, and she has been living there since just before covid. Now we are on vacation in Taiwan, and she and her family seems intent on getting our marriage registered here. I’m aware we don’t have to, but the documents are all ready and it’s perceived pretty badly if I refuse.
I’ve been reading a bit around the forum here, and realized I should know what I’m doing before signing anything in this place.
As we all know, nobody knows the future, and not every releationship lasts forever. In Norway we have a written separate property regime, so I don’t risk losing neither what I had from before nor future inheritance or other unequalities. Divorse there is also pretty straight forward - 1 year separation time upfront, but does not have to be consentual. In Taiwan however, it seems like a non consentual divorse can be nearly impossible to attain, and thus the blackmailing begins.
So basically I’m wondering: Do I risk messing up my situation by registering the marriage here in TW? Or should it still be safe as long as I keep living in Norway and my assets are all there.
If you do not plan to live in Taiwan, then there is no point registering the marriage here.
They have different requirements for each country and it can be a pain. It’s expensive anyway to get all documents authenticated. And the divorce requirements you mentioned
It won’t be that hard for you, but have a look at Taiwanese bureaucratic nightmare for foreigners:
Show your wife:
They can have the most absurd regulations, because the politicians did not think about every possible situation, when passing the law. Nevertheless the officials will follow every requirement to the letter like ‘get a single certificate for your baby born in Taiwan from your home country stamped by the embassy’
Tell her you’ve researched it on Forumosa and it looks like it could take 6-12 monthss of documentation, translation, and even then, you might miss some document(s), and then your police report will have expired, and it has to be done over again. Then ask her why register in Taiwan if it’ll take forever and not guaranteed on first try after documents’ handover.
To clarify, she already fixed all the documents needed to register at the household office.
And the separate property regime in Norway is also about differences after the marriage happened, as there are differences there too that need be accounted for. Shortly said, if any situation following the registration of marriage in Taiwan messes with the full separation of assets we have back in Norway, it may impact my economy enough to risk me losing my home.
I am aware that we don’t absolutely have to register right now. Though the issue is that me refusing this is not exactly good for my relationship to her and her family.
So that’s why I’m trying hard to figure out if it’s safe to do so. According to what I’ve found so far, a possible divorce should still follow Norwegian law as long as the couple is mainly based in Norway, AND the divorce can be started in Norway regardless of mutual consent in Taiwan.
But I don’t know if there is any pitfalls I might be overlooking.
I’ll be looking into those posted links now, thanks!
Are you planning to deposit some sperm at a sperm bank or get a vasectomy? Both requires your wife’s consent in Taiwan. So I’d do it before getting married.
Are you going to sign a prenup? I would.
If you have kids or properties in Taiwan in the future you may want to ask a lawyer what happens in case of divorce. The local courts may side with the local person.
If your residence is in Norway, you’ll stay under Norway system, wether you register the mariage or not. It is not like you get married twice under two systems. If you move your residence to Taiwan, you’ll be under Taiwanese régime.
Overall there isn’t much point in her asking but conversely not a huge point in your refusing (unless you plan to move to Taiwan). It’s just an administrative procedure, you’re still married. She might just want your name on her ID card.
In terms of property there are laws in Taiwan regarding ownership between spouses but in reality the government doesn’t usually get involved and it’s up to the couple to come to an agreement.
Taiwan’s divorce laws are a potential problem BUT in the case of international couples if a (one-sided) divorce is granted by a court/administrative system of another country, you can have those documents translated and authenticated then update the Taiwanese household registration effectively having a one sided divorce processed in Taiwan.
In saying that I’ve never tried it and it’s only a theory, public employees here love to make up their own rules so it might not be as simple in reality.
that is what you can do in taiwan too by registering each of your assets separately at the court.
in that case, if she doesn’t register her marriage within 3 months or so, she could be fined. roc citizens are supposed to register their marriage by law.
Yeah, I don’t think “because we don’t have to” is a good excuse for not doing it.
In fact, it may show that you are unsure of the marriage and divorce is somehow in your plans. Not really a good way to improve relationships.
Agreed. A small part of my husband doesn’t believe me when I tell him it’s not possible to register our marriage in Australia. We’re already married. Australia does not have a marriage registry and legal consented overseas marriages are automatically recognised in Oz.
It would be illegal for us to marry in Australia, it would be like bigomy.
He still wants an answer that involves us going to an office somewhere declaring our marriage. I think a lack of useless bureaucracy is hard for Taiwanese to understand
So I agree that ‘we don’t have to’ is not a great excuse and could cause family issues.
but ‘can you explain the legal implications of us registering our marriage here?’ Is a reasonable question to ask.
Taiwanese are traditional and they love noise around marriage. It’s a face thing to them. I believe is also about respect to her folks and basically saying you are serious and determind about it.
When I married in Taiwan, I faced a lot of silly - weird requests from in laws(including money), ofc we negotiate, but was always respectful. I took it as a deal between me and my father in law. He is a own made rich guy, raised 4 children. I gave old man face, and whenever I purchase something bigger, he sents money over to Europe.
Why does this bother you, (a man always work harder) ? Does she complement your life or only make it complicated? Taiwanese girls are spoiled and expects guy pay most of stuff, from living in Taiwan, I would say they are good of taking advantages of naive guys.
Said this, if everything fine in your relations sign it, be happy about it. Otherwise say straight I am not satisfied how things are and I expect you behave different. Say It’s your choice either to accept it, or we move on. We will sign this documents next time when we are in Taiwan.
Since the marriage contract isn’t available anywhere in clearly written form, it’s anybody’s guess what you’re really signing up for unless you sit down with a lawyer and have him walk you thru all the details.
And this is the bottom line: what are the long term plans? Hers, I mean. Usually, Taiwanese mean to come back, HAVE to come back. They cannot fathom like us to move elsewhere for life.
So it may be the wife is moving the pieces of her game to get OP to move here. Now it is register the marriage. Next, a visit here with the kids and she refuses to go back to Europe, now with the law and family on her side. OP is left locked out if he refuses. Or anytime down the line when he becomes mafan.
So be aware this may not be the case but that once here your spouse can literally kick you in the butt. Losing money is not the question. Your property in Norway is safe. But if you buy anything here and put it under her name, well, if anything goes downhill, it’s forfeit.
I think you should do it, if you’re serious about the relationship/marriage.
She moved to Norway for you and married you there.
Your assets are not in Taiwan anyways.
And nobody cares (as long as you are not marrying another taiwanese women later) if you are married in some foreign (Taiwan) country?
I don’t see how “blackmail” would make sense in that case.
