Efficiency

Efficiency is when you march in to an office with papers in tow and the official makes your certificate while you wait. But I'm getting a little ahead of the story here.

About a month ago I contacted the Finnish maistrate asking how to apply for a paper declaring myself free to wed in a foreign country. It turned out they had a simple application available online, which they required signed as well as a second form they needed but didn't have online. The official in Finland was nice and responsive on the phone and emailed me the missing application to me the same night.

These maistrate applications were easy to get, but required additional work. The two steps were the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs who legalized the certificate by stamping and signing it. You see, Finland and China are not part of a mutual agreement where official documents of both nations would be directly usable in both. Instead, the stamped and signed official documents needs a second set of official identifiers from the government. This I got done by using a relative in Finland. They charged about 20e.

The second step was the Chinese embassy in Finland. For a document of this nature to be accepted in China, they need to authorize the legalization with a further stamp (it comes with a cool hologram sticker too.) They charged a little under 60e but were fast as well. The mail-in service is cheaper but takes longer (one day for 60e versus a week for 20e.) With this, the certificate is ready and has about five stamps and four signatures. Plus your own signature.

Get the paper to China. 100e for the courier covered my cost, but it was quick. I strongly recommend against cheaper options for important documents.

In China the local notary will need to translate the document. This is the step where all the stamps are needed, as the translation will be official too. The Zhejiang notary did the translation in a reasonable timeframe, for less than 200 RMB. They then stamp the Chinese translation together with the original document, so that now your certificate has five and a half stamps plus four plus two signatures. You are ready for the final hurdle, the local bureau in charge of the wedding registry.

You would expect it to be horrible by now, right? We walked in at about 10am with the documents in tow. The official took them asked for a copy of a couple of them (Household registry for my significant other, identifications) and gave a pair of documents to fill. Name, Date of Birth and such, nothing you couldn't answer off the top of your head unless you forgot where you were born. There was even a service available to have the paper filled for you if you couldn't read/write. (Not catering to the foreigners, but they would help a laowai too, I assume.)

The official checked the documents, printed a confirmation out and asked for one more signature plus 9 RMB. Official documents followed immediately.

The last step of the journey took 30 minutes, three A4 papers and no hassle at all. I walked out with a Chinese marriage certificate bound in a small red booklet with golden letters on top. Fancier than what would be provided in Finland.

I wish to apologize for all my lady readers seeking an eligible bachelor, there's one less fish in the sea.

OP out.