Yes, you can marry in Denmark with a partner from China, and since November 2023 the paperwork has become much shorter: Chinese documents get an apostille from China instead of legalisation by the Danish embassy. For the trip, your partner needs a Schengen visa or a residence permit from a Schengen state. After the ceremony the marriage is also valid in China, without you having to register it there again.
This guide is for couples where one of you lives in Germany, Austria or Switzerland and the other comes from the People's Republic of China. Partly different rules apply to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; they have their own section. The rules for every nationality are on our page rules by country of origin, and all documents in our guide documents for your wedding in Denmark.
Which documents does your Chinese partner need?
Familieretshuset, the Danish Agency of Family Law, asks each partner for photos of all passport pages and the online application, in which unmarried applicants confirm their marital status with their signature under criminal liability. It asks for a certificate of marital status only in individual cases, and never for your own birth certificates. Chinese documents are added only if your case needs them:
| Document | When needed | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Passport (护照) | always | colour photos of all pages, no apostille |
| Proof of stay | always | residence permit from a Schengen state, or Schengen visa with EES printout and plane tickets |
| Proof of divorce | if divorced | notarial certificate of the divorce (离婚证 or court decision with proof that it has taken effect), with apostille and translation |
| Death certificate of the former spouse | if widowed | notarial certificate with apostille and translation |
| Birth certificates of joint children | if you have children together | if born in China, notarial certificate with apostille and translation |
| Proof of marital status | only if Familieretshuset asks for it | notarial certificate of marital status with apostille and translation |
| Proof of your joint address | if you live together outside Denmark | e.g. German registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung), not older than 4 months |
About the passport: for citizens from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, Familieretshuset requires a passport that was issued within the last 10 years, is valid at least 3 months beyond the stay and has 2 empty pages. The Chinese resident identity card (居民身份证) does not count for this.
Apostille from China: since 7 November 2023
China acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention on 8 March 2023; it has been in force there since 7 November 2023 (HCCH: status table). According to the depositary's treaty database, only India objected to the accession, Denmark did not (Treaty database: objections). The apostille therefore applies between China and Denmark, and for documents from outside Europe Familieretshuset requires exactly this apostille of the issuing country (Familieretshuset: Documentation requirements).
Who issues it is for China to decide. According to the notice of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC):
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外交部): the competent authority for apostilles on documents from all of China.
- Foreign Affairs Offices (外事办公室) of the provinces and some cities: on behalf of the ministry, but only for documents from their own administrative area.
- Form: a sticker with the national emblem in silver. You no longer need legalisation by embassies.
The Danish embassy in Beijing describes the route like this: the Chinese document is first notarised at a Chinese notary office (公证处) and then apostilled; Danish missions no longer legalise apostilled documents (Danish embassy in Beijing: apostille). More on the apostille in general is in our apostille guide, and the rules for every country in our apostille and legalisation country list.
Notarial certificates (公证书) and translation
In China, your partner gets civil status documents for use abroad as a notarial certificate (公证书) from a notary office. According to the Danish embassy, the notary office automatically translates the document into English in the process. Familieretshuset, however, requires a translation by an authorised translator into Danish, English or German, including the text of the apostille. Whether it accepts the notary office's English translation as such is not stated on its pages. Also, that translation is made before the apostille is added: if the apostille text is not in English, it has to be translated separately. So ask before you apply, or have the document and apostille translated by a sworn translator in Germany, Austria or Switzerland; how that works is explained in our guide certified translation of wedding documents.
Names deserve special care. In the passport, Chinese names appear in pinyin; in notarial certificates and translations they sometimes appear in a different spelling or order. Make sure that name and date of birth match in the passport, notarial certificate, translation and household register booklet (户口簿, hukou). Familieretshuset itself does not ask for the hukou.
Visa and residence: what applies on the wedding day?
Denmark only marries people who are legally in the country on the wedding day (Familieretshuset: Legal residence for marriage in Denmark). For your partner there are two routes:
- With a residence permit from Germany, Austria or Switzerland: the permit of a Schengen state counts as proof; upload the front and back. Your partner then does not need a visa.
- Living in China: with a passport of the People's Republic of China, your partner needs a Schengen visa. Since 10 April 2026, Familieretshuset has also required a printout of the data page and the result page of the EES calculator for the planned stay, plus the plane tickets or boarding passes (Familieretshuset: Documentation of legal stay). So the visa must already be in hand before you apply.
How the visa for the wedding works is explained in our guide marrying on a Schengen visa, and the EES proof in our guide EES proof for the wedding. Familieretshuset also checks whether the relationship is genuine, for example from how long you have been together and how you met; what it wants to see is in our guide sham marriage checks in Denmark.
If you live in Germany and are considering marrying there: for Chinese fiancés, the Higher Regional Courts (Oberlandesgerichte, OLG) require the procedure for exemption from the certificate of no impediment (Ehefähigkeitszeugnis); the OLG Köln publishes its own notes for China, with an apostille on the Chinese documents (OLG Köln: country notes on China). How long that takes and why many couples marry in Denmark instead is explained in our guide OLG exemption from the certificate of no impediment.
Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan
| Origin | Documents for Familieretshuset | Entry into Denmark |
|---|---|---|
| People's Republic of China (mainland) | notarial certificate with apostille from China | Schengen visa, unless holding a Schengen residence permit |
| Hong Kong | apostille from the Hong Kong authorities | visa-free, 90 days in 180 days |
| Macao | apostille from the Macao authorities | visa-free, 90 days in 180 days |
| Taiwan | no apostille possible; clarify the form with Familieretshuset beforehand | visa-free with a biometric passport |
Hong Kong and Macao have applied the Apostille Convention for a long time; the Danish embassy writes that both are already part of it (Danish embassy in Beijing: Legalisering). Taiwan is not a party to the Convention. The Danish representation in Taipei does not legalise Taiwanese documents and asks you to contact the Danish authority that requires the document, which for the wedding is Familieretshuset (Trade Council of Denmark, Taipei: Legalisation). According to the same page, Danish documents for Taiwan are authenticated by the Taipei Representative Office in Copenhagen.
Married before: proving a Chinese divorce correctly
If your partner was married before, Familieretshuset needs proof that the marriage has ended, and for a divorce, proof that it is final. In China a marriage ends either by divorce at the marriage registration office, which issues a divorce certificate (离婚证), or by a court, with a judgment (离婚判决书) or a court mediation settlement (离婚调解书). For a court decision, ask the court to confirm that it has taken effect, and bring this confirmation to the notary office. From it, the notary office prepares the notarial certificate, which then gets the apostille.
For Germany there is a second question. Under § 107 FamFG, a foreign divorce is in principle only recognised once the state justice administration has confirmed it. That does not apply if, at the time of the divorce, both spouses were nationals of the state whose court or authority decided, that is, two Chinese nationals divorced in China. If the former spouse was not Chinese, sort out recognition before the wedding. More in our guide divorced: a second wedding in Denmark.
Is the Danish marriage valid in China?
Yes, as a rule. The civil affairs bureau of Beijing's Fangshan District answers exactly this question: anyone who married abroad under the law of that country does not have to register the marriage again in China; the foreign marriage certificate serves as proof of the marriage (Fangshan civil affairs bureau: FAQ). It relies on Article 22 of China's Law on the Application of Laws to Foreign-related Civil Relations: the form of a marriage is valid if it complies with the law of the place where it was concluded, of the habitual residence of one of the partners or of their nationality, as long as it does not violate fundamental principles of Chinese law.
The page still mentions authentication by the Chinese embassy. For documents from Denmark, the apostille has applied instead since 7 November 2023: according to the Danish embassy, Danish documents for China get the apostille of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the original (Danish embassy in Beijing: Legalisering). It costs DKK 250; how to get it is explained in our guide apostille on the Danish marriage certificate, and we take care of it as an add-on for €149.99. Expect Chinese authorities to also ask for a Chinese translation, and check with the office that needs the certificate, and also with the hukou office if the marital status in the household register booklet is to be changed.
In Germany, the Danish marriage is as a rule recognised without a separate procedure, and registration in the German marriage register is voluntary. Austria requires registration in the Central Civil Status Register (Zentrales Personenstandsregister), Switzerland a report through the competent Swiss representation. Details are in our guides on recognition in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and other countries in the overview recognition of the Danish marriage worldwide. How your partner then moves to join you is explained in our guide family reunification after the wedding.
Typical pitfalls with Chinese documents
- Notarial certificate without apostille: Familieretshuset asks for more documents, and after such a request it is currently working on applications from August 2026 (as of 6 November 2026).
- Wrong Foreign Affairs Office: an office may only apostille documents from its own area.
- Wrong order: translated first, apostilled later. Then the translation of the apostille is missing.
- Divorce without proof that it has taken effect in the case of a court decision.
- Inconsistent names in passport, notarial certificate, translation and hukou.
- Visa too tight: the visa expires before the planned wedding day, and with it the approval.
Step by step
- Clarify your situation: passport, residence status and earlier marriages. Our free eligibility check shows which documents your case needs.
- Notarial certificates: only the ones you need, from the notary office in China.
- Apostille: from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the competent Foreign Affairs Office.
- Translation: document and apostille into German, English or Danish, if Familieretshuset does not accept the notary office's translation.
- Visa: before the application, if your partner lives in China.
- Application to Familieretshuset: the fee is DKK 2,100 (about €281) and is not refunded. Familieretshuset usually decides complete applications within 5 working days.
- Ceremony: it takes 15 to 20 minutes. You need two witnesses, and many municipalities provide them on weekdays. Afterwards, an apostille on the marriage certificate if you need it in China.
What else binational couples should keep in mind is in a separate guide. If you would rather not check the documents alone: in the Complete package for €649.99, Familieretshuset's fee included, we check every scan before submission and file the application for you. The Essential package for €249.99 includes the document list, instructions and WhatsApp support. All services are on our pricing page.
