Delta Law Expat Services Desk ｜ Marriage Registration Regulations（《婚姻登记条例》）, State Council Order No. 804（国务院令第804号）, second revision adopted 2025-03-21, promulgated 2025-04-06, in force from 2025-05-10.
- Where a Chinese citizen marries a foreign national in mainland China, registration is not handled by an ordinary county-level or township office: article 2, paragraph 2 places it with the provincial-level civil affairs department or an authority it designates.
- Both parties must attend in person and apply jointly (article 7, paragraph 2); there is no proxy route.
- Article 8, paragraph 5 makes the applying party personally responsible for the authenticity of certifying documents issued by foreign competent authorities under a treaty, evidenced by a signed written statement.
- Article 14(3) shuts the door on divorce by agreement in mainland China where the marriage was not registered in mainland China — a limit that catches couples married abroad.
- A validly registered marriage and a marriage recognised in the parties' home countries are two separate questions; articles 21, 22, 24 and 26 of the Law on the Application of Law to Foreign-Related Civil Relations decide only the Chinese side.
1. The document at a glance
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Full title | Marriage Registration Regulations（《婚姻登记条例》） |
| Document number | 国务院令第804号（State Council Order No. 804）, carried in the State Council Gazette 2025 No. 12 |
| Adopted / promulgated | Second revision adopted at the 55th executive meeting of the State Council on 2025-03-21, promulgated 2025-04-06; originally State Council Order No. 387 of 2003-08-08, first revised 2024-12-06 |
| Current version in force from | 2025-05-10 (article 28) |
| Issuing authority | State Council |
| Official text | https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2025/issue_12006/202504/content_7021465.html |
| What this page covers | The requirements that apply where one party is a foreign national, and how they sit against the conflict-of-laws rules. |
2. Which authority, and which paragraph you are in
Article 2 splits registration into two tiers. Paragraph 1 gives ordinary registration between mainland residents to the civil affairs department of a county-level people's government, or to a township people's government designated on convenience grounds by the provincial-level government. Paragraph 2 carves out four categories — a Chinese citizen marrying a foreign national, and a mainland resident marrying a Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan resident or an overseas Chinese national — and places them with the civil affairs department of the province, autonomous region or municipality, or an authority it designates.
That tiering runs through the whole instrument. Article 7, paragraph 2 and article 13, paragraph 2 both send the four categories back to "the marriage registration authority provided for in article 2, paragraph 2", and article 8 then gives each category its own paragraph: mainland residents in paragraph 1, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents in paragraph 2, overseas Chinese nationals in paragraph 3, and foreign nationals in paragraph 4. This page is about paragraph 4 and about paragraph 5, which applies to all of them; the other categories are a different analysis and are not covered here.
中国公民同外国人在中国内地结婚的，内地居民同香港居民、澳门居民、台湾居民、华侨在中国内地结婚的，男女双方应当亲自到本条例第二条第二款规定的婚姻登记机关共同申请结婚登记。
申请结婚登记的外国人应当出具下列证件和书面材料：（一）本人的有效护照或者其他有效的国际旅行证件，或者外国人永久居留身份证等中国政府主管机关签发的身份证件；（二）所在国公证机构或者有权机关出具的、经中华人民共和国驻该国使（领）馆认证或者该国驻华使（领）馆认证的本人无配偶的证明，或者所在国驻华使（领）馆出具的本人无配偶的证明。中华人民共和国缔结或者参加的国际条约另有规定的，按照国际条约规定的证明手续办理。
Article 7, paragraph 2: Where a Chinese citizen marries a foreign national in mainland China, or a mainland resident marries a Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan resident or an overseas Chinese national in mainland China, the two parties shall attend in person at the marriage registration authority provided for in article 2, paragraph 2 and apply jointly for marriage registration. Article 8, paragraph 4: A foreign national applying for marriage registration shall produce: (1) a valid passport or other valid international travel document, or a Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card or other identity document issued by a competent Chinese government authority; (2) a certificate of no spouse issued by a notarial institution or competent authority of the country where the person is located and authenticated by the embassy or consulate of the People's Republic of China in that country or by that country's embassy or consulate in China, or a certificate of no spouse issued by that country's embassy or consulate in China. Where an international treaty concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China provides otherwise, the certification formalities prescribed by the treaty apply.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Three things are worth reading closely. A Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card（外国人永久居留身份证）is expressly an alternative to a passport here — one of the few places in the Regulations where the card is named. The certificate required of a foreign national is a certificate of no spouse only: the comparable requirement for mainland residents in paragraph 1 also covers the absence of a lineal or collateral blood relationship within three generations, and paragraphs 2 and 3 keep that wider scope, but paragraph 4 does not. That does not make the relationship irrelevant — article 9(4) still bars registration between lineal relatives or collateral blood relatives within three generations — but the point is not carried by the foreign party's certificate. And the treaty sentence at the end is an alternative route, not an exception to the requirement.
申请结婚登记的当事人对外国主管机关依据本条第三款、第四款提及的国际条约出具的证明文书的真实性负责，并签署书面声明。
Article 8, paragraph 5: A party applying for marriage registration is responsible for the authenticity of certifying documents issued by a foreign competent authority under an international treaty referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this article, and shall sign a written statement to that effect.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
This paragraph is easy to skim past and should not be. Where the treaty route is used, the Regulations move the authenticity risk from the verifying authority to the applying party and record the transfer in a signed statement. Article 23 supplies the tail: a party is responsible for the truthfulness and lawfulness of the documents produced, a party producing false ones bears the corresponding legal responsibility, and the information is entered into credit records under the applicable national rules and included in the national credit information sharing platform. Article 23 is drafted generally — it is not confined to the treaty route or to foreign parties.
3. Registration, and the grounds on which it is refused
Article 10 sets the review: the authority checks the documents produced, asks about the relevant circumstances and conducts an online cross-check of identity and marital status; where the conditions are met it registers on the spot and issues the marriage certificate, and where they are not it explains the reasons. Article 9 lists the four grounds for refusal: below the statutory age of marriage; not fully voluntary on both sides; either or both already having a spouse; and lineal relatives or collateral blood relatives within three generations.
Article 12 preserves the two Civil Code routes to annulment — duress under article 1052, and failure to disclose a serious illness before registration under article 1053 — both exercised by petitioning a people's court, not the registration authority. Article 6, paragraph 2 provides that the authority may not charge a fee for handling marriage registration; article 22 makes charging one a ground of discipline and requires the fee to be refunded.
4. Divorce by agreement, and the door that article 14 closes
第十四条 申请离婚登记的当事人有下列情形之一的，婚姻登记机关不予受理：（一）未达成离婚协议的；（二）属于无民事行为能力人或者限制民事行为能力人的；（三）其结婚登记不是在中国内地办理的。
申请离婚登记的香港居民、澳门居民、台湾居民、华侨、外国人除应当出具前款第二项规定的证件外……华侨、外国人还应当出具本人的有效护照或者其他有效的国际旅行证件，或者外国人永久居留身份证等中国政府主管机关签发的身份证件。
Article 14: The marriage registration authority shall not accept an application for divorce registration where any of the following applies: (1) no divorce agreement has been reached; (2) a party is a person without capacity or with limited capacity for civil conduct; (3) the marriage was not registered in mainland China. Article 15, paragraph 2: A Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan resident, an overseas Chinese national or a foreign national applying for divorce registration shall, in addition to the document referred to in item (2) of the preceding paragraph … in the case of an overseas Chinese national or a foreign national, also produce a valid passport or other valid international travel document, or a Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card or other identity document issued by a competent Chinese government authority.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Item (3) of article 14 is the provision that most often surprises a couple. Divorce by agreement before a mainland registration authority is available only where the marriage itself was registered in mainland China. A couple married abroad who now live in Shanghai cannot use this route at all, however complete their agreement; their route is a court, and article 27 of the Law on the Application of Law to Foreign-Related Civil Relations then makes divorce by litigation governed by the law of the forum. Item (2) is the second closed door: where a party lacks or has limited capacity for civil conduct, the application is not accepted, again leaving the court route.
Where the door is open, article 13 requires a written divorce agreement and joint personal attendance, and its third paragraph requires the agreement to record the voluntary intention to divorce and the agreed positions on the upbringing of children and the handling of property and debts. Article 16 then runs on two statutory periods the Regulations do not themselves spell out, and which come from the Civil Code.
第一千零七十七条 自婚姻登记机关收到离婚登记申请之日起三十日内，任何一方不愿意离婚的，可以向婚姻登记机关撤回离婚登记申请。
前款规定期限届满后三十日内，双方应当亲自到婚姻登记机关申请发给离婚证；未申请的，视为撤回离婚登记申请。
Article 1077: Within thirty days of the marriage registration authority receiving an application for divorce registration, either party unwilling to divorce may withdraw the application. Within thirty days after that period expires, the two parties shall attend in person at the marriage registration authority and apply for the divorce certificate; if they do not, the application for divorce registration is deemed withdrawn.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Article 16, paragraph 1 requires the authority to check documents and ask about the circumstances within the statutory period, and to register and issue the divorce certificate on the spot where the parties are genuinely divorcing voluntarily, have agreed on children, property and debts, and both attend in person at the authority that received the application. Paragraph 2 states the consequence of missing the second window: the application is deemed withdrawn and the procedure terminates. Where one party travels frequently, that second window — during which both must appear again, at the same authority — is the practical constraint, and it is worth planning around before filing.
5. Registered here is not the same as recognised there
第二十一条 结婚条件，适用当事人共同经常居所地法律；没有共同经常居所地的，适用共同国籍国法律；没有共同国籍，在一方当事人经常居所地或者国籍国缔结婚姻的，适用婚姻缔结地法律。
第二十二条 结婚手续，符合婚姻缔结地法律、一方当事人经常居所地法律或者国籍国法律的，均为有效。
Article 21: The conditions for marriage are governed by the law of the parties' common place of habitual residence; failing that, by the law of their common nationality; failing a common nationality, where the marriage is concluded at the place of habitual residence or in the country of nationality of one of the parties, by the law of the place where the marriage is concluded. Article 22: The formalities of marriage are valid if they comply with the law of the place where the marriage is concluded, the law of the place of habitual residence of one of the parties, or the law of the country of nationality of one of the parties.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
These two articles have different structures, and the difference is the whole point. Article 21 is a cascade: one applicable law, found by working down three connecting factors in order. Article 22 is alternative: formalities are valid if they satisfy any one of three laws. A marriage registered in Shanghai under Order No. 804 therefore satisfies Chinese formalities, while its conditions are tested separately under article 21, which may point to a law other than Chinese law.
The converse also holds. Whether a marriage registered in mainland China is recognised in a party's home country is a question for that country's law, on which this page expresses no view: nothing in Order No. 804 or in articles 21 and 22 answers it, and a Chinese marriage certificate is not a determination of it. Where recognition abroad matters, that question should be assessed separately and before the registration rather than after.
第二十四条 夫妻财产关系，当事人可以协议选择适用一方当事人经常居所地法律、国籍国法律或者主要财产所在地法律。当事人没有选择的，适用共同经常居所地法律；没有共同经常居所地的，适用共同国籍国法律。
第二十六条 协议离婚，当事人可以协议选择适用一方当事人经常居所地法律或者国籍国法律。当事人没有选择的，适用共同经常居所地法律；没有共同经常居所地的，适用共同国籍国法律；没有共同国籍的，适用办理离婚手续机构所在地法律。
Article 24: For matrimonial property relations, the parties may by agreement choose the law of the place of habitual residence of one of them, the law of the country of nationality of one of them, or the law of the place where the principal property is located. Failing a choice, the law of their common place of habitual residence applies; failing that, the law of their common nationality. Article 26: For divorce by agreement, the parties may by agreement choose the law of the place of habitual residence of one of them or the law of the country of nationality of one of them. Failing a choice, the law of their common place of habitual residence applies; failing that, the law of their common nationality; failing a common nationality, the law of the place of the institution handling the divorce formalities.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Article 24 is the provision to raise early, because it can be settled by agreement while relations are good: it permits an express choice of law for matrimonial property from three candidates, with a default cascade where no choice is made. Article 26 does the same for divorce by agreement and adds a final fallback — the law of the place of the institution handling the formalities — which, for a couple divorcing before a Shanghai registration authority with no common habitual residence and no common nationality, points to Chinese law.
6. Records, corrections and consequences
Article 19 requires marriage registration archives to be kept, preserved long term and made searchable for parties or competent authorities under rules to be made by the civil affairs department of the State Council with the national archives authority. Article 20 requires the authority, on receiving a copy of a court judgment declaring a marriage void or annulling it, to note that in the archives promptly and to upload the information to the national basic marriage information database. Article 21 allows a party needing a replacement certificate to apply on production of a resident identity card or one of the identity documents in article 8, paragraphs 2 to 4 — which is where a foreign national's passport or Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card comes back in — subject to verification against the archives.
On consequences, article 22 is directed at the authority and its staff and article 23 at the parties, while article 24 provides that a violation amounting to an act against public security administration is punished accordingly and that conduct constituting a crime attracts criminal liability. Every procedural matter is subject to the current published requirements of the accepting authority.
7. Who runs into this, and how it is used
- Misconception: one party can register with a power of attorney. In fact: article 7, paragraph 2 requires both parties to attend in person and apply jointly; there is no proxy route.
- Misconception: a couple married abroad can divorce by agreement at a Shanghai registration authority. In fact: article 14(3) bars acceptance where the marriage was not registered in mainland China.
- Misconception: a Chinese marriage certificate settles the parties' status everywhere. In fact: recognition abroad is a question for the law of the country concerned; articles 21 and 22 address only the Chinese side, and they use different structures for conditions and for formalities.
- Misconception: any convenient body can issue the certificate of no spouse. In fact: article 8, paragraph 4(2) names the permitted issuers and authentication routes, and paragraph 5 puts authenticity risk on the applying party where the treaty route is used.
- Confirm at the outset which paragraph of article 8 applies to each party, and therefore which authority under article 2, paragraph 2 is competent.
- For a divorce, check article 14 first — items (2) and (3) decide whether the registration route exists at all before any agreement is drafted.
- Plan both thirty-day periods in article 1077 of the Civil Code against travel, noting the article 16, paragraph 2 consequence of missing the second, and consider recording an express choice of law for matrimonial property under article 24 of the Law on the Application of Law to Foreign-Related Civil Relations while it can still be agreed.
- Where recognition in a home country matters, assess that separately and before registration; a Chinese registration does not determine it.
- Laws and Regulations for Foreign Nationals in China — the provision-by-provision index.
- Settle · Cross-Border Marriage, Family & Children in China.
- Permanent Residence in China: What the 2004 Approval Measures Actually Require — where the Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card comes from.
- Adopting Your Spouse's Child or a Cousin's Child in China: The New April 2026 Registration Measures (forthcoming in this batch) — the same authenticity-statement structure at its article 13, paragraph 2.
- Who Inherits What When a Foreign National Dies Holding Assets in China (forthcoming in this batch).
- 《婚姻登记条例》, State Council Order No. 804（国务院令第804号）, second revision adopted 2025-03-21, promulgated 2025-04-06, in force from 2025-05-10, State Council Gazette 2025 No. 12: https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2025/issue_12006/202504/content_7021465.html （articles 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28）
- 《中华人民共和国民法典》, in force from 2021-01-01: https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/233181.html （articles 1052, 1053, 1077）
- 《中华人民共和国涉外民事关系法律适用法》, adopted 2010-10-28, in force from 2011-04-01: http://gongbao.court.gov.cn/Details/5556b6c60575c047bb77100af04a09.html （articles 21, 22, 24, 26, 27）
- Status and timing note 效力与时点提示：Verified on 2026-09-07 against the official texts above. Order No. 804 is the second revision of the 2003 Regulations, in force since 2025-05-10. Every procedural matter is subject to the current published requirements of the accepting authority.
This article is general legal research and does not constitute legal advice; by law, a law firm may not guarantee case outcomes. 本文为一般性法律研究，不构成法律意见；依据法律规定，律所不得承诺办案结果。
