Chinese Visa Requirements

As a Canadian citizen you need a visa to visit China. You must make sure that your passport is valid for at least 6 more months with at least two blank pages available. After that you must apply for a single entry L-visa. Copy your passport ID page, then fill out this visa application form. Then you are ready to apply for a visa. Your visa will be issued within 4 working days, and will be valid for 3 months. Visa fee of $50 is collected on pick-up, only cash, money order and certified check accepted.

Once you have prepared all relevant documents and you have a valid Canadian passport you can make arrangements to join your Chinese wife.

Marriage Registration in China

Under both Canadian and Chinese Marriage Law, only the civil registration of your marriage will be recognised as legal and only a legal marriage will allow you to bring your Chinese wife back to Canada.

The first step in planning your wedding in China is to go with your Chinese spouse to the Civil Affairs Bureau –in some cities you will have a special section for ‘international marriages’ – and submit an application for marriage registration together with the relevant documents. Your Chinese spouse will need to get a certificate from the local government office or her place of work indicating her name, sex, date of birth, nationality, marital status, occupation, name and nationality of the person she plans to marry. This is the Chinese equivalent to the Affidavit of Marital Status.

The legal age to get married in China is 20 for women; if your Chinese bride is under 20 she will need to produce a written consent from her parents or guardians. This should be given personally and in writing in front of the local civil registrar officer. Alternatively, it can be in the form of an affidavit made in the presence of two witnesses

To register the marriage legally with the Chinese authorities takes a lot of work and you should not underestimate the time or work involved. A marriage registration in China is equivalent to a civil marriage in many western countries but it is entirely administrative, there is no ceremony at all. The event normally takes well under one hour, sometimes as little as 15 minutes.