Several days ago, we performed legal research at request of a client regarding how to getting married in China for a foreigner and whether there are special requirements for a prenuptial agreement.
According to relevant laws and regulations, a foreigner is required to submit the following documents to the Civil Affairs Bureau which is in charge of registration of marriage.
1. Passport or other kinds of ID certificate;
2. A notarized certificate of being single issued by relevant authority of the foreigner’s country and it also needs to be authenticated by the China’s embassy in that country;
3. A photo of the new couple with special formalities. The new couple can take that photo at the place where they file the application for marriage registration.
In addition to the documents, the couple also must be present in person before the authority when they file the application for Marriage.
As for a prenuptial agreement, there is no special requirement except the agreement must be in written form for the agreement to be valid. But if the agreement is executed abroad and is in other language, when you want to use it as evidence at China’s court, this agreement needs to be certified by a public notary office of the country where the agreement is executed and authenticated by China’s embassy in the same country. What’s more, it needs to be translated to Chinese and sealed by a translation company which is recognized by the court.