Marriage in Taiwan

Jo and I went up to Taipei last week to figure out the protocol for a foreigner marrying a Taiwanese....

....and I was shocked at how easy it was.

Usually in Taiwan, the bureaucracy and the rigamarole of doing anything official is anything but "easy." Especially for foreigners, as I learned when I got my Permanent Residency Visa last year (which makes me technically a mini-Taiwanese, in a way). In addition to various documents I needed to get from the states, as well as myriad things that needed to be done here, I was frustrated so much at the multiple visits to the supposed knowledgable police affairs bureau since rules flip flop back and forth and basically your visit's progress depends on the attitude of the clerk that day. So, I was at my wit's end by the whole procedure, but I finally got it and it makes things much easier here.

But getting married in Taiwan is so much simpler.

Jo and I went to the court to find out the procedures and all we needed were copies of our IDs, a signed notorized statement saying I was free to marry (not already married) and 2 witnessess IDs.

The only thing that had me anxious was the statment of marital freedom - or whatever it was. I had heard varying reports, each rising in the degree of difficulty in getting it. So we headed up to TPE to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) the pseudo-defacto US embassy (but not really since the US does not officially recognize Taiwan)...

After waiting only for about 5 minutes (and paying $50 for processing), I signed a statement saying I was indeed free to marry (my beautiful and super fiance ;), and then I had to raise my right hand and swear that it was true.

What?

That's it?

That was easy!

I walked out in slight disbelief and casually mentioned to Jo: "Heck, marrying a Taiwanese is easy....maybe I can get married more often!" To which The Eyebrow flared and I heard - "No, it is marrying a foreigner that is easy - who would want to?" Haha....touche.

Anyway we walked out with the papers and after coming back to Taichung to continue the process, we have set a date for Oct 11th to become officially married in the eyes of the law.

Why Oct 11th? It is the Anniversary of Jo arriving in England last year - another happy memory, so there we go.

Wish us luck!

Jeff & Jo