Getting Married in Hong Kong: The Smart Choice for International Couples

If you’re in a bi-national relationship, chances are you’ve hit at least one wall trying to figure out where and how to legally get married.

Maybe your home country has a 6-month residency requirement. Maybe your partner’s country doesn’t allow international marriage without impossible paperwork. Or maybe you’re both expats with passports full of stamps and zero patience for bureaucracy.

We were right there too. My wife is from the Philippines, I’m German. We love each other, we wanted to get married, and we had no idea where to do it. The options were confusing, slow, or legally complicated. Some countries required weeks (or months!) of waiting. Others wouldn’t recognize our documents.

Then we discovered Hong Kong. And everything changed.

For us, it felt like a legal “cheat code.” We couldn’t believe how simple it actually was—once we figured it out.

But I won’t lie: there are still some steps, forms, and pitfalls to navigate. And if you don’t get it right, you could delay your wedding or risk wasting your trip.

Next up, let’s talk about the timing.

We planned everything from abroad and spent 10 days in Hong Kong for the actual wedding trip plus sight-seeing but you can get it done much faster if you want.

Honestly? Super chill.

It’s a quick civil ceremony (usually 10–15 minutes). You walk in with your witnesses, show your passports, and confirm your identities.

The registrar reads a short marriage declaration, you declare that you want to marry each other, sign the documents, and boom—you’re married.

There’s no walk down the aisle. No music. No flower girl. But there is formality. It’s dignified, professional, and emotionally significant. And you can absolutely dress up, bring a photographer, and make it feel special. We did!

Our nerves melted once we stood in front of the registrar. Even though we knew it was short and simple, hearing the words felt real. It was official. Legal. And so meaningful after everything we’d gone through to get there.

Each country has different rules for document validation, so this is where a lot of couples trip up. It’s important to double-check what your home country requires for recognition.

All in, we spent way less of what most international weddings cost.

And unlike destination weddings, this was 100% legal and globally recognized.

All services are available in English and Chinese. No need for a translator, even for legal documents, as long as your paperwork is in English or Chinese.

Our registrar conducted the whole ceremony in English, and every form we filled out was bilingual. For couples like us, with different mother tongues, this neutral ground made everything much smoother.