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The original was posted on /r/belgium by /u/TwelveSixFive on 2023-08-17 14:07:27+00:00.
Me and my girlfriend are living together in Etterbeek. I am a French national and she is a Chinese national. We are trying to get registered as a "cohabitation légale" (instead of a simple "cohabitation de fait") to the Etterbeek administration.
We had an appointment, and they told us that they first need my girlfriend to prove/explain her "état civil" (civil registry) from the Chinese authorities. Neither of us is sure what the "état civil" actually encompass in this context. I understand that it's the current situation of the individual in the society, defined by registry records of life events (like birth, marriage, children, death, etc), but it's rather vague, I don't get what actual document they want to prove her "état civil" (I don't think there is a document litterally called "état civil", and I would assume such records are country-specific anyway). We couldn't really ask, the woman at the counter was really annoyed at us and clearly wanted to go eat (she started getting up and putting on her jacket etc).
So I emailed the Etterbeek administration to ask what documents exactly she needs to ask the Chinese authorities to prove her "état civil" here.
The reply was basically "well you need to contact the Chinese authorities to get a document proving her état civil, not older than 3 months old and officially translated". Note that we still don't know what specific document they want.
So she called the Chinese ambassy and told them. And lo and behold, they asked us to.. enquire from the Etterbeek administration exactly what document are needed to prove her "état civil", because "état civil" is not specific enough. What a surprise!
So I wrote another email to Etterbeek to tell them that. Their reply was in short "But it's very simple. You just have to follow our previous instructions, to get a document from the Chinese ambassy explaining or proving her état civil." That's all. They seemed really pissed.
To which I replied along the lines of "the Chinese ambassy didn't know of a single 'document' for the état civil in general. They precisely asked us to inquire about the exact and explicit lists of documents needed, because they don't know. Is it the birth certificate? The marital status certificate?"
They never replied to me, despite several follow up emails.
At this stage I don't know what to do. We are running in circles. The Etterbeek administration flat out refuses to elaborate on what specific document they want to prove her état civil (despite the Chinese ambassy asking us to ask them) and they seem to believe that everyone should understand exactly what proves the "état civil", as if there was some magical document that everyone know about. This is incredibly frustrating.
Does anyone happen to know what specific documents are needed? (Birth certificate? Marital status? Something else?)
Thanks!