You don’t have to go back to your hometown to get the ＂520＂ license! Marriage registration in 21 places can be ＂run across provinces＂

　　Mr. Liu and Ms. Li, who work in an Internet company in Beijing, have been in love for many years and plan to register for marriage this year. However, both of them are not registered in Beijing. According to the previous provisions of the Marriage Registration Regulations, "when a mainland resident gets married, both men and women should go to the marriage registration office where one party’s permanent residence is located to register for marriage." "My home is in Hubei, and my girlfriend’s home is in Guangxi. If I fly, at least both sides should take two days off at the same time." Mr. Liu said.

　　On May 18th, the State Council issued a reply to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to expand the pilot program of "cross-provincial registration" for mainland residents, and Beijing was among them. This means that as long as one of them has a residence permit in Beijing, Mr. Liu and Ms. Li can register their marriages in Beijing.

　　As for the "cross-provincial operation" of marriage registration, netizens generally said that it can make residents more convenient and reduce the possibility of fraudulent marriage and bigamy. "With the popularization of marriage registration information by the civil affairs department, it is almost impossible to register in one place and go to another place again. At present, the cases we have encountered involve bigamy, and the cases related to de facto marriage account for the majority. " Xie Yining, a lawyer at Fujian Reliance Law Firm, said.

　　The pilot area of "cross-provincial general office" for marriage registration has been expanded to 21.

　　On May 18th, the State Council publicly issued an official reply on agreeing with the Ministry of Civil Affairs to expand the pilot program of "cross-provincial registration" for mainland residents. It is agreed to expand the pilot project of "cross-provincial general office" for marriage registration of mainland residents. After adjustment, marriage registration will be implemented in 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) such as Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Ningxia.

　　The State Council approved, in the pilot areas, the relevant provisions of the first paragraph of Article 4 and the first paragraph of Article 10 of the Marriage Registration Ordinance shall be temporarily adjusted accordingly. After the adjustment, the parties involved in marriage registration who are not registered locally can apply for marriage registration at the marriage registration office where the residence permit is issued, or choose to do so at the place where one party’s permanent residence is located.

　　The pilot period is 2 years from the date of approval.

　　The State Council also requested that during the pilot process, the Ministry of Civil Affairs should guide the pilot areas to further strengthen the upgrading of the marriage registration management information system and strive to improve the informationization level of marriage registration; Prepare a guide to marriage registration, carry out practical training on "inter-provincial general office" of marriage registration, and carry out pilot work in an orderly manner according to law.

　　As long as one party has a residence permit

　　Marriage registration can be handled at the local civil affairs bureau.

　　Ms Zhai, who lives in Xi ‘an, Shaanxi Province, wants to register marriage with her boyfriend this year, but her household registration is still in her hometown of Shanxi, and her boyfriend’s household registration is not in Xi ‘an. However, two years ago, Xi ‘an implemented the pilot program of "cross-provincial general office" for marriage registration, so when handling marriage registration, Ms. Zhai and her boyfriend don’t need to go back to their hometown, but they can do it in Xi ‘an.

　　"It is no problem that both parties are not registered in Xi’ an, but they need to have a residence permit for one party in Xi’ an, as well as their household registration books and ID cards." On May 18th, the staff of the Marriage Registry of beilin district Civil Affairs Bureau in Xi ‘an told the Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star journalist that it can be handled in any district of Xi ‘an.

　　The reporter noted that the pilot project to expand the cross-provincial marriage registration for mainland residents was based on the cross-provincial marriage registration pilot project in June 2021, and Xi ‘an, Shaanxi Province was the area where the cross-provincial marriage registration was implemented at that time.

　　In May, 2021, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Civil Affairs would carry out "cross-provincial" pilot projects for marriage registration and divorce registration in Liaoning, Shandong, Guangdong, Chongqing and Sichuan, and "cross-provincial" pilot projects for marriage registration in Jiangsu, Henan, Wuhan, Hubei and Xi ‘an, Shaanxi. The pilot period is from June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2023.

　　This expansion will expand the pilot provinces of marriage registration and divorce registration from the previous five to 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government).

　　Before the pilot, according to the first paragraph of Article 4 of the Regulations on Marriage Registration, when a mainland resident gets married, both men and women should jointly go to the marriage registration office where one party’s permanent residence is located for marriage registration. According to the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 10, if mainland residents divorce voluntarily, both men and women should jointly go to the marriage registration office where one party’s permanent residence is located to register for divorce.

　　Can "Inter-provincial Office" Reduce Bigamy?

　　Lawyer: Now bigamy cases are mostly unregistered de facto marriages.

　　For the pilot marriage registration "cross-provincial", some netizens said that this move can reduce bigamy and fraudulent marriage.

　　According to the news of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2012, by the end of June of that year, the national goal of networking marriage registration information had been achieved.

　　In May 2021, Wang Xingling, then the chief engineer of the Information Center of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the Ministry of Civil Affairs would strengthen the nationwide online review of marriage registration to ensure the accuracy of marriage registration. The Ministry of Civil Affairs will guide marriage registration authorities at all levels to configure technical equipment such as face recognition, fingerprint collection and comparison, and ID card readers to improve the accuracy of personal information comparison of marriage parties.

　　Xie Yining, a lawyer of Fujian Reliance Law Firm and the founder of the family law team, told reporters that there will still be related cases involving bigamy. "However, due to the fact that the relevant departments such as civil affairs have basically realized the nationwide networking of marriage registration information, it is almost impossible to register in one place and go to another place again."

　　Xie Yining said that there are two main types of cases related to the crime of bigamy: one is that the parties registered in one place and registered again in another place before the marriage registration information was networked nationwide; The other category is bigamy involving de facto marriage. These people are not registered in civil affairs departments, but there is a de facto marriage and bigamy. This category now accounts for the vast majority.

　　The reporter inquired about the relevant precedents of bigamy cases in local courts in recent years through the referee document network, most of which were two cases mentioned by lawyer Xie Yining. For example, in the first-instance judgment of the People’s Court of Xinhua County, Hunan Province on Yi Moumou’s crime of bigamy in April this year, Yi Moumou registered marriage with Xie Mou in 2010 and had three children, but Yi Moumou lived with Zou Moumou in the name of husband and wife and had one daughter after 2017, until Zou Moumou knew that Yi Moumou had not divorced Xie Mou in 2021. The court held that the defendant Yi Moumou had a spouse who still lived with others in the name of husband and wife, and his behavior constituted a crime of bigamy. In the first instance, Yi Moumou was sentenced to six months in prison and suspended for one year.

　　Xie Yining believes that the benefits of expanding the pilot area of "cross-provincial general office" for marriage registration are not only to avoid the possibility of fraudulent marriage and bigamy, but also to solve the difficulty of many people living outside their household registration. "This is also in line with China’s national conditions. At present, there are many floating population in China, and it is also common to live outside the registered residence. ‘ Inter-provincial general office ’ It has greatly reduced the cost of doing things for these people. "