Visa to China for Khmer Wife

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gregbell
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China

Visa to China for Khmer Wife

Post by gregbell »

Was hoping maybe someone would have some more info on this.

I am moving to China for a new job, I will be on a work (z) visa. My wife is Khmer and she will be coming with me. I already have all of the documents prepared but feel kind of stupid because I might have overlooked something.

We got married in Hong Kong and therefore our marriage is already recognized by my country (USA), as we all know Cambodia does not recognize any marriage from any other country, it must be specifically registered in Cambodia.

Does anyone who has experience getting long-term foreign visas know if the Chinese embassy will need to need to see a Khmer marriage registration as well, or will it be okay with just the certificate from Hong Kong?

We can get a khmer marriage cert but the issue is the time. I assume we would either have to pay a ton of money to have it expedited or wait for a long time, neither of which we really want to do, especially because according to almost every other country in the world we ARE married, except Cambodia of course! Other option is she comes in at first on a tourist visa but then she would need to go back to her home country's (Cambodia) Chinese embassy to register for the S1/S2 (working-spouse visa). So that involves an extra trip back there.

I'm currently in china so it's hard to call the embassy but that is my next step. I could ask my wife to clarify it, but I would rather be certain about all the information before I explain to her that there may be some complications.

Anybody have any info?

Thanks.
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General Mackevili
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Re: Visa to China for Khmer Wife

Post by General Mackevili »

Bump. Somebody help Greg out if they can.

Good luck with it!
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pczz
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Re: Visa to China for Khmer Wife

Post by pczz »

Went to MFA this week to find out about marriage for my friend. Getting a foreign marriage certified by the MFA may be a no-brain 10 minute job or a nightmare depending on circumstances. If you met the Cambodian requirements at the time of marriage (ie you were under 50 and had no criminal record and a reasonable income then it might be easier than you think. The seedy little one stop fleecing shop at the entrance has gone. Nice new waiting area with cameras and glass between you and them so the potential for tea money is much reduced. i was not asked for any 14 day service $125 to get the papers for ministry of interior. He could not tell me how long the interior ministry takes or how much it costs, but I am not sure they are even involved. You really should go ask them, before assuming tis going to be hard. it wasn't busy. Things are getting better every day on the paperwork in this country. if you have a good excuse ready for marrying outside Cambodia it would help. Warnings, when I went they were struggling to find anyone who could speak English and they will not let you in if you are not properly dressed. long trousers and a shirt ffs.
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Cruisemonkey
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Re: Visa to China for Khmer Wife

Post by Cruisemonkey »

I've lived in China for six years.

Adapted from 'Raoul's China Saloon' -
"Understanding Chinese visas and permits is a little like studying Quantum Mechanics... the phenomena are probabilistic, counter-intuitive, work differently when not directly observed, in a constant state of change, complex, and confusing to a lot of people. What makes the situation worse is that even the Chinese embassies, consulates, police, and Entry/Exit Bureau officials - the people who administer these documents - often don't seem to know the rules any better than we do.

What this all boils down to is that there really aren't many hard and fast general rules when it comes to getting visas and permits. The rules can change from embassy to embassy, from consulate to consulate, from province to province, from city to city, from time to time, from person to person...making it pretty difficult to know what's true in any particular time and place."
You could be next.
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