Overseas Chinese and foreigners wishing to marry a Chinese citizen in China should be acknowledged that the legal marriage age in China is 22 and above for male, 20 and above for female according to the Chinese law and bigamy is illegal.

Before going to China, the following documents should be prepared:

1.Non-spouse certificate which indicate your name, sex, date and place of birth, nationality, personal identification document number, marital status (never married or divorced or widowed) and the name of your fiancee/fiance.

The divorced should provide divorce certificate, ex-spouse's nationality certificate(or declare ex-spouse's nationality). If either party is a Chinese citizen, the divorce certificate which is emanated from the country outside China should be approved by the local intermediate Chinese court first.

The divorce certificate and the approval from Chinese court must be attached to the non-spouse certificate when notarized.

2.The above-mentioned documents are invalid unless they are first notarized by a local Notary Public/Lawyer and then legalized by the local provincial authority (valid for 3 months since the date of legalization) and finally authenticated by the Chinese Embassy or the Chinese Consulate-General (valid for six months from the date of authentication).

The address for the Ministry of Government Services of Ontario and the office of the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba are as follows:

Ministry of Government Services                                Department of consumer and corporate affairs

6th Floor, 700 University Ave.,                                Room 1034, 10th Floor, 405 Broadway

Toronto ON M7A 2S4                                             Winnipeg , Manitoba R3C 3L6

Tel: 416-3258416 Fax:416-3258434                                                Tel: 204-9452654

3.All documents emanating from Canada should be accompanied with Chinese translation. Both the original and the translation must be legalized by the Chinese Embassy or the Chinese Consulate-General in Canada before being used in China.

4. After entering China with the above said documents and a valid visa, you should, together with your fiancee/fiance, submit in person your marriage application to the marriage registration office of the local government above county level where your Chinese fiancee/fiance resides .Marriage can be registered only after the application is ratified, and Marriage Certificate is issued upon registration.

Visa Office                                                                                                             Office Hours:

Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China                                             9:00am-12:00pm

240 St. George St. , Toronto, M5R 2N5                                                           Monday to Friday

Tel :416-9648861 Fax:416-3249010                                                               (holidays not included)