Divorced Abroad, Marrying Again in Guangzhou: Who Must Ask a Chinese Court to Recognise the Foreign Divorce First, What the Guangzhou Court Asks For, and the Chinese Translation

Checked on 11 November 2026. We are an interpreting and translation company in Guangzhou (Guangzhou GuanRi Translation Service Co., Ltd.). We are not a law firm, not a court and not a marriage registry. The service this article ends up recommending, translating the foreign judgment and the papers filed with it into Chinese, is one we sell ourselves. This is not legal advice. Whether a foreign divorce is recognised in China is decided by a Chinese intermediate people's court; whether you can register a new marriage is decided by the marriage registry. This article uses none of our company's data.

This article is for people who were divorced by a foreign court and now want to marry again in China, and for the foreign partners of people in that position. It covers who has to ask a Chinese court to recognise the foreign divorce first and who goes straight to the marriage registry, which court in Guangzhou, what the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court asks you to file, apostille or consular legalisation, the Chinese translation, what the court checks, and what this procedure does not cover. The Chinese texts quoted below are court and ministry texts; every English translation of them in this article is ours.

1. Find your row first

Read across the row that describes you. The last column says which section explains it.

2. Why a Chinese citizen usually cannot skip the court

In 2025 the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued new Marriage Registration Work Norms (Min Fa [2025] No. 23, published in the State Council Gazette 2025 No. 21). Under Article 36(3), the registrar checks both parties' marital status online. Under Article 29, a mainland resident brings an identity card and a signed declaration of having no spouse and no close blood relationship with the other party. Article 29 has two paragraphs; the second one, one sentence, is the one that matters here:

当事人声明的婚姻状况与婚姻登记机关核查信息不一致的，当事人应当向登记机关提供能够证明其声明真实性的法院生效司法文书、配偶居民死亡医学证明（推断）书等材料。

In our translation: "Where the marital status a party declares is inconsistent with the information verified by the marriage registration authority, the party shall provide the registration authority with materials that can prove the truth of the declaration, such as an effective judicial document of a court or a medical certificate (presumption) of the death of the spouse."

If your earlier marriage was registered in China, the registry's check can still show it, and the articles of the norms do not mention foreign judgments. The list in Article 29(2) is open-ended (in Chinese it ends with 等, "and other materials"), so ask the registry you plan to use what it will accept. What the court rules provide is a route: you apply to an intermediate people's court, which recognises the foreign divorce by a ruling (Article 13 of the 1991 rules described below). The ruling is issued in the name of that Chinese court (Article 14) and takes effect as soon as it is served (Article 15). That ruling is a Chinese court document.

If your marriage was never registered in China, the norms do not deal with your case separately; Article 29(2) applies only if what you declare differs from what the registry's check shows. Ask the registry you plan to use, and ask a lawyer whether to apply for recognition anyway. Article 29 is for mainland residents. A Chinese citizen settled abroad registers under Article 34, with a passport and a no-spouse certificate or declaration issued by a notary or competent authority of the country of residence and authenticated by the Chinese embassy or consulate there, or a certificate issued by that embassy or consulate, or a declaration notarised by it; where a treaty China has concluded or joined provides otherwise, its procedure applies. Article 34 does not say whether the registry will also ask for a ruling, so ask the registry. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents bring the documents in Articles 31 to 33.

The rules are the Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Procedural Issues Concerning Applications by Chinese Citizens for Recognition of Divorce Judgments of Foreign Courts (1991, revised with effect from 1 January 2021), and its Provisions on Issues Concerning Acceptance by People's Courts of Applications for Recognition of Divorce Judgments of Foreign Courts (2000, revised at the same time). Under the 1991 rules, the Chinese party may apply where the foreign court's country has no judicial assistance agreement with China; where there is one, the application follows the agreement (Article 1). The 2000 rules have three items. The court should not refuse a Chinese citizen's application on the ground that the marriage was not concluded in China, and a Chinese citizen applying to recognise a judgment made in their absence shall also file proof of lawful summons (section 5); foreign nationals can apply in one case (section 3); and the court shall accept an application to recognise the effect of a foreign court's divorce mediation statement and examine it under the 1991 rules.

Not having applied does not prevent either of you from suing for divorce in a Chinese court instead (Article 20 of the 1991 rules); once a court has accepted one party's recognition application, the other party can no longer sue for divorce (Article 19). A divorce suit is a full divorce case, not a recognition application.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court gave one example in February 2024. Two Chinese citizens had married in Guangzhou in May 2011, moved to Helsinki, and were divorced by the Helsinki District Court in August 2020. One of them applied to the Guangzhou court on 16 January 2024 with the judgment and an apostille, and the court recognised the divorce. The court's own account says it took 15 days from application to ruling. That is one case, not a time limit the court has promised.

3. Foreign nationals: when the court turns you away, and when it does not

The 2000 rules, as revised in 2020, say this in item 2 (one sentence):

外国公民向人民法院申请承认外国法院离婚判决，如果其离婚的原配偶是中国公民的，人民法院应予受理；如果其离婚的原配偶是外国公民的，人民法院不予受理，但可告知其直接向婚姻登记机关申请结婚登记。

In our translation: "Where a foreign citizen applies to a people's court for recognition of a foreign court's divorce judgment, the people's court shall accept the application if the former spouse in the divorce is a Chinese citizen; if the former spouse in the divorce is a foreign citizen, the people's court shall not accept it, but may tell the applicant to apply directly to the marriage registration authority for marriage registration."

So a foreign national whose earlier marriage was between two foreigners has no court step. What a foreign national brings to a Chinese marriage registry is set out in Article 35 of the 2025 norms: (1) a valid passport or other valid international travel document, or an identity document issued by the competent Chinese authority, such as the Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card; and (2) a certificate of having no spouse, issued by a notary or competent authority of the country concerned and legalised by the Chinese embassy or consulate in that country or by that country's embassy or consulate in China, or issued by that country's embassy or consulate in China. The article ends by saying that where a treaty China has concluded or joined provides otherwise, its procedure applies. In our reading, for a country where the Apostille Convention applies between it and China, that means an apostille.

Article 35 does not list a divorce judgment. If the registry you use asks to see your divorce papers as well, Article 88 applies to them like any other foreign-language material: it must be translated into Chinese, a document submitted without a Chinese translation is treated as not submitted, and the registry may accept a translation by a qualified translation agency. Article 86 says a no-spouse certificate is valid for six months from issue unless it states its own validity. Our article on marrying a foreign national in Guangzhou goes through the registry side in more detail.

A foreign national whose former spouse is Chinese can apply for recognition. Whether the registry wants that ruling for the foreign national's own new marriage, Article 35 does not say. If your Chinese former spouse wants to marry again in China, the first three rows of the table apply to them.

4. Which court: the Guangzhou notice and the Supreme People's Court rule are worded differently

Article 5 of the 1991 rules says the application is accepted by the intermediate people's court where the applicant is domiciled; where domicile and habitual residence differ, by the court of the habitual residence; and where the applicant is not in China, by the intermediate court of the applicant's former domicile in China.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court's case-filing notice for these applications (its page shows a publication date of 18 April 2022) puts it this way:

• An applicant now living in China goes to the intermediate court of the place of domicile before going abroad.
• An applicant living abroad goes to the court of the place of domicile before going abroad, and should provide a household-registration certificate issued by the police station of the original household registration.
• An applicant who is a foreign national goes to the intermediate court of the former spouse's domicile.
• If your household registration is, or was, in the Guangzhou area, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court has jurisdiction.

The notice's first jurisdiction item does not mention habitual residence, while Article 5 does; the notice's list of documents, below, does ask for proof of habitual residence where it differs from domicile. If you live in Guangzhou but your household registration is elsewhere, or the other way round, ask the Guangzhou court's case-filing division which court should take your application before you file.

5. What the Guangzhou court asks you to file

The Guangzhou notice lists eight items. In summary:

1. An application (original, one copy) stating your details, the grounds and request, how the parties were summoned and responded and what was decided, and anything else that needs explaining. Article 4 of the 1991 rules lists the same points in more detail: your name, sex, age, work unit and address, and which country's court made the judgment, with its result and date.
2. The foreign court's divorce judgment and its Chinese translation (originals, one of each).
3. A certificate that the judgment has taken effect (original, one copy), issued by the court that made it, if the judgment does not state that it has taken effect or when.
4. If the applicant was the plaintiff in the foreign case, proof that the foreign court lawfully summoned the defendant.
5. Items 2, 3 and 4 notarised and authenticated by a foreign notary or judicial officer and by the Chinese embassy or consulate in that country, with Chinese translations (see section 6 for apostilles).
6. If the applicant was the defendant in the foreign case, lives in China and has difficulty producing items 2 and 3 and having them notarised and authenticated, the foreign court's notice to respond or summons can be filed.
7. A household-registration certificate (bring the original for checking, file a copy). If your domicile and habitual residence differ, proof of habitual residence; if you are not in China, the household-registration certificate from before you went abroad.
8. The certificate of your original marriage registration (original, one copy).

Item 6 matches Article 11 of the 1991 rules: if a defendant living in China who has difficulty producing the documents and having them notarised and authenticated can file the foreign court's notice to respond or summons, the court can presume that the foreign judgment is genuine and has taken effect. Item 4 matches Article 9. For a Chinese citizen applying to recognise a judgment made in their absence, item 1 of the 2000 rules adds that proof that the foreign court lawfully summoned them shall be filed with the application.

If your original marriage certificate was issued by a foreign authority, it is a foreign-language document too. Article 525 of the Supreme People's Court's interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law says that any foreign-language written material a party submits to a court must be submitted together with a Chinese translation. Ask the case-filing division whether it also wants that certificate apostilled or legalised; the court's 2024 guide, written for lawsuits, says evidence about personal status formed outside China needs notarisation there and authentication by the Chinese embassy or consulate, or the procedure in a treaty between China and that country, and that public documents covered by the Apostille Convention need only an apostille.

The court fee is RMB 100 (Article 16 of the 1991 rules). The Guangzhou notice does not mention the fee.

If you appoint someone, Article 17 of the 1991 rules requires a power of attorney signed or sealed by you; one made abroad must be certified by the Chinese embassy or consulate in that country or go through the procedure in a treaty between China and that country.

6. Apostille or consular legalisation

Item 5 of the Guangzhou notice asks for notarisation abroad and authentication by the Chinese embassy or consulate. The page is dated 18 April 2022, before the Apostille Convention took effect for China on 7 November 2023. The 1991 rules, as revised, also allow the procedure in a treaty between China and the country concerned (Article 10), and the Guangzhou court has applied the Convention: in the Helsinki case in section 2, the applicant filed the Finnish judgment with an apostille, and the court accepted the apostille in place of consular legalisation. The court's 2024 guide to litigation involving foreign parties, written for people bringing lawsuits, also says that public documents covered by the Convention need only an apostille.

Note one difference. Article 10 of the 1991 rules asks for notarisation and authentication of the certificate of effect and the proof of summons (the documents in Articles 8 and 9). The Guangzhou notice's item 5 covers its items 2, 3 and 4, so it asks for this for the judgment itself as well.

For a country that has not joined the Convention, or where the Convention does not apply between that country and China, the route is normally notarisation and consular legalisation, unless a treaty between China and that country provides another procedure (Article 10). Our article on apostille or consular legalisation goes through how to tell which applies to your country. Ask the case-filing division before you start, because which documents need it is the court's call.

7. The Chinese translation: "certified as correct", and the rules do not say by whom

Article 3 of the 1991 rules (two sentences):

向人民法院申请承认外国法院的离婚判决，申请人应提出书面申请书，并须附有外国法院离婚判决书正本及经证明无误的中文译本。否则，不予受理。

In our translation: "To apply to a people's court for recognition of a foreign court's divorce judgment, the applicant shall submit a written application, which must be accompanied by the original of the foreign court's divorce judgment and a Chinese translation certified as correct. Otherwise, the application shall not be accepted."

Article 10 asks for the same kind of translation of the certificate of effect and the proof of summons. Article 525 of the interpretation says that if a party disputes a Chinese translation, the parties shall jointly appoint a translation agency, and if they cannot agree on one, the court decides. The Guangzhou notice asks for the judgment "and its Chinese translation", originals of both.

None of these texts says who certifies a translation "as correct": a translation company's seal, a translator's signed declaration, or a notary office. Ask the Guangzhou court's case-filing division which form it wants before you order a translation, so you do not pay twice.

Whatever form it takes, a translation of a court judgment needs three things to be usable:

• Every page, including the court's stamps, signatures and the page that says the judgment is final. Ask the court whether it also wants the apostille or legalisation pages translated.
• Your Chinese name exactly as on your identity card or Chinese passport. If the judgment gives your name in Latin letters, tell the translator the characters.
• Case numbers, dates and the court's name exactly as they appear, so that they match the same details on the certificate of effect and your other papers.

8. What the court checks, and what you get

Under the 1991 rules, the court decides within 7 days whether to accept the application and, if it does not, tells you with reasons (Article 6); a panel of three judges examines it (Article 7). The rules set no time limit for the ruling itself. If the court refuses to accept your application at filing, the bars on applying again in Articles 21 and 22 are worded for an application you have dropped and one the court has rejected; ask whether you can file again with what was missing. Article 12 lists five reasons for not recognising a foreign divorce judgment: it has not taken legal effect; the foreign court had no jurisdiction; it was made in the defendant's absence without a lawful summons; a Chinese court is hearing or has decided a divorce case between the same parties, or has recognised a third country's judgment on it; or it violates the basic principles of Chinese law or harms China's sovereignty, security and social public interest. The 2023 Civil Procedure Law (Article 300) has its own list for all foreign judgments, which also includes a judgment obtained by fraud.

A foreign judgment normally needs a treaty or reciprocity between China and the foreign country before a Chinese court will recognise it. Divorce is the exception. Article 542 of the interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law has two paragraphs; this is the first (one sentence):

当事人向中华人民共和国有管辖权的中级人民法院申请承认和执行外国法院作出的发生法律效力的判决、裁定的，如果该法院所在国与中华人民共和国没有缔结或者共同参加国际条约，也没有互惠关系的，裁定驳回申请，但当事人向人民法院申请承认外国法院作出的发生法律效力的离婚判决的除外。

In our translation: "Where a party applies to an intermediate people's court of the People's Republic of China having jurisdiction for recognition and enforcement of a legally effective judgment or ruling made by a foreign court, and the country where that court is located has neither concluded nor jointly joined an international treaty with the People's Republic of China nor has a reciprocal relationship with it, the court shall rule to reject the application, except where a party applies to a people's court for recognition of a legally effective divorce judgment made by a foreign court."

The second paragraph says that where an application for recognition and enforcement is rejected by ruling, the party may bring a lawsuit in a people's court.

If nothing in Article 12 applies, the court rules that the judgment is recognised; otherwise it rejects the application (Article 13). Article 7 says the ruling cannot be appealed. Article 303 of the 2023 Civil Procedure Law says a party who disagrees with a ruling recognising and enforcing, or refusing to recognise and enforce, a foreign judgment may apply to the next higher court for reconsideration within 10 days of service. If your application is rejected, show both texts to a lawyer within those 10 days.

The rules also say:

• If a Chinese court has already accepted a divorce suit, a recognition application from either party is not accepted (Article 18).
• Once the court has accepted a recognition application, the other party cannot then sue for divorce in a Chinese court (Article 19).
• You can drop the application, which the court allows by a ruling, but you cannot then apply again; you can sue for divorce in a Chinese court instead (Article 21).
• If the application is rejected, you cannot apply again; you can sue for divorce in a Chinese court instead (Article 22).

9. What this procedure does not cover

Property, maintenance and children. Article 2 of the 1991 rules (one sentence):

外国法院离婚判决中的夫妻财产分割、生活费负担、子女抚养方面判决的承认执行，不适用本规定。

In our translation: "The recognition and enforcement of the parts of a foreign court's divorce judgment concerning the division of the couple's property, the bearing of living expenses and the upbringing of children are not governed by these Provisions." Article 2 does not say which route those parts take instead. Ask a lawyer.

A divorce certificate issued by a foreign court. In 2005 the Supreme People's Court answered a question from the Guangdong High People's Court about divorce certificates issued by Australian courts. The answer, as revised in 2020, is one sentence:

当事人持澳大利亚法院出具的离婚证明书向人民法院申请承认其效力的，人民法院应予受理，并依照《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》第二百八十一条和第二百八十二条以及最高人民法院《关于中国公民申请承认外国法院离婚判决程序问题的规定》的有关规定进行审查，依法作出承认或者不予承认的裁定。

In our translation: "Where a party applies to a people's court for recognition of the effect of a divorce certificate issued by an Australian court, the people's court shall accept the application, examine it in accordance with the relevant provisions of Articles 281 and 282 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and of the Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Procedural Issues Concerning Applications by Chinese Citizens for Recognition of Divorce Judgments of Foreign Courts, and rule according to law to recognise or not recognise it." The article numbers are those the Civil Procedure Law had when the reply was revised in 2020.

A divorce that no court granted. The rules we read cover judgments of foreign courts, court mediation statements and the Australian court certificate above. They do not say what happens to a divorce that was registered abroad at a civil registry office by agreement of the spouses, with no court judgment or court mediation statement, or to a divorce granted by a religious authority. Ask the case-filing division before you pay for translations, and ask a lawyer about the alternatives, including suing for divorce in China.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. These rules concern foreign courts. This article does not cover divorces granted in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan; ask the intermediate court's case-filing division.

How old the judgment can be. Article 545 of the interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law has two paragraphs. The first says the period for applying for recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment follows Article 246 of the Civil Procedure Law as numbered at the time, which the same interpretation calls the period for applying for enforcement; in the 2023 text that period is two years (Article 250). The second says that where a party applies only for recognition, the period for applying for enforcement starts again when the recognition ruling takes effect. Neither paragraph says directly how the two years apply to an application to recognise a divorce only, or from which day they run. Article 250 counts the two years from the last day for performance set in the document, or from the day it takes effect if it sets none; none of these texts says how that applies to a judgment that only ends a marriage. In the Helsinki case in section 2, the application was filed about three years and five months after the Finnish decision, and the court recognised the divorce; that is one case. Whatever the age of your divorce, do not wait; if it is already more than two years old, ask the case-filing division before you pay for translations.

10. What we do, and what we do not do

We translate foreign judgments, certificates of effect, summonses and marriage certificates into Chinese. Our FAQ page says that for court-admissible translations we provide signed translator declarations, and that we coordinate with Chinese notary offices to notarise translations of court documents and powers of attorney, which typically adds 3-7 business days and RMB 150-400 per document. A special VAT invoice adds 6% and a general invoice adds 3%.

Our online document store has a page for divorce decree translation, priced per page by the language of the original: RMB 50 a page for English, RMB 80 for French, German, Japanese, Korean or Russian, and RMB 110 for originals in the other 18 languages it prices (you pick the language when you order). That page sells stamped translations. If the court tells you it wants a notarised translation, send us the documents for a quote; notarisation is extra (typically RMB 150-400 per document, our FAQ page).

We do not file applications, represent anyone in court, or advise on whether to apply for recognition or sue for divorce.

Send us the documents and the date you need them by: WhatsApp / 微信 +86 139 2416 6640 (WeChat ID: Saralee93), or our contact page. Quotes are free; prices are on our FAQ page.

Sources

• Supreme People's Court, Decision on Amending Nineteen Judicial Interpretations on Civil Procedure (Fa Shi [2020] No. 20), dated 29 December 2020 and posted on the court's website on 31 December 2020, in force 1 January 2021, with the revised full texts of the Provisions on Procedural Issues Concerning Applications by Chinese Citizens for Recognition of Divorce Judgments of Foreign Courts (1991), the Provisions on Issues Concerning Acceptance by People's Courts of Applications for Recognition of Divorce Judgments of Foreign Courts (2000) and the 2005 reply on Australian divorce certificates.
• Supreme People's Court, Interpretation on the Application of the Civil Procedure Law, second revision in force 10 April 2022, published 2 April 2022 (Articles 466, 525, 542 and 545).
• Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (2023 revision), as posted by the Duanzhou District People's Court of Zhaoqing (Articles 250 and 298-303).
• Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, case-filing notice for applications to recognise foreign court divorce judgments, page dated 18 April 2022.
• Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, guide to litigation services involving foreign, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan parties (PDF, images only), page dated 2 December 2024.
• Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, account of the Helsinki case, as republished by The Paper, 23 February 2024.
• Ministry of Civil Affairs, Marriage Registration Work Norms (Min Fa [2025] No. 23), State Council Gazette 2025 No. 21 (Articles 29, 31-36, 86 and 88).