China Wife without birth cert, Hukou or parent's marriage cert

[I love San Diego 18]

She should go to the Gong Zheng Chu (my spelling is probably off) and ask them what she needs to get a birth certificate made. It will be free, and it will be translated in white book format. I went through a similar experience, and after a lot of running around, it turned out not to be that difficult in the end. The Gong Zheng Chu is a good place to start though, since they are the ones who will actually make the birth certificate.

[SBB 74]

I don't have an answer, but I am curious if you or anyone else can elaborate on how one gets an ID or passport without having a birth certificate, since as far as I understand the birth certificate is considered a primary document necessary to get any form of identification—and anything that doesn't require it (like a driver license in the fifty states in the U.S.) still requires other documents that you couldn't get without having a birth certificate in the first place (Social Security card, passport, et cetera).

The Chinese government didn't make a regular practice of issuing birth certificates until well into the 90's. The canonical document of identity in China is the hukou (family register).

[chonguaphilia 0]

Update with more snags:

Wife was able to get notarial birth certificate (White Book with translation). However, the document only indicates her identiy,: photo (same one as passport and driver's license) ID#, Date/Place of birth along with ID #s and names of her parents (who were never married) AND it does NOT include a statement to meet the requirement as stated in the "K Visa Instructions" published by the US Consulate General, Guanzho: "The certificate must also indicate that the public office extracted the information from official records" as found at http://ustraveldocs.com.

The notary official(whose office is located within the same office in which our marriage was processed) indicated that the document meets the requirements from the US visa process. He will not likely amend the document to include the requirement mentioned.

Mind you, as in a previous post, her hokou includes only her and her brother's names (sans parents) due to multiple births to scofflaw parents.

Is the notarial birth cert.adequate without the statement?

Your consideration and patience are most appreciated!

[RandyW 149]

Update with more snags:

Wife was able to get notarial birth certificate (White Book with translation). However, the document only indicates her identiy,: photo (same one as passport and driver's license) ID#, Date/Place of birth along with ID #s and names of her parents (who were never married) AND it does NOT include a statement to meet the requirement as stated in the "K Visa Instructions" published by the US Consulate General, Guanzho: "The certificate must also indicate that the public office extracted the information from official records" as found at http://ustraveldocs.com.

The notary official(whose office is located within the same office in which our marriage was processed) indicated that the document meets the requirements from the US visa process. He will not likely amend the document to include the requirement mentioned.

Mind you, as in a previous post, her hokou includes only her and her brother's names (sans parents) due to multiple births to scofflaw parents.

Is the notarial birth cert.adequate without the statement?

Your consideration and patience are most appreciated!

China issues their own birth certificates - the consulate merely ACCEPTS them. That is, they do not dictate what goes in the document. Trying to have one generated to your own specification can be MUCH more than just an exercise in futility.

As long as it's an actual GongZhengShu 公证书 from the Notarial Offices (Gong Zheng Chu) (which you refer to as "notarial birth certificate - White Book with translation"), the consulate should recognize the document as what it is.

[chonguaphilia 0]

Such a relief! Thanks Randy! Thanks to Darnell also!