Understanding marriage leave in China

In China, newly wed employees are entitled to paid marriage leave. Every region in the country offers staff who get married at least three days as time off.

Some even provide additional holiday, with Gansu and Shanxi, which both offer 30 days, being the most generous.

Employees are eligible for leave once they have registered their marriage with the relevant authorities. This includes foreign employees and divorced people who get re-married.

In general terms when it comes to statutory annual leave, China is relatively stingy. Employees who have worked for their employer for less than a year are not entitled to any leave at all, and even those with one to 10 years of experience are entitled to just five days.

But marriage is a very important event in Chinese culture and marriage leave is a way for the government to recognise its significance.

There are no concrete guidelines as to when marriage leave must be used though. Employers sometimes include rules on marriage leave in their company handbook to determine how and when it should be taken, while also stipulating which documents must be submitted as proof. The usual is to say that leave must be used within a year of registering the marriage.

In the past as part of its One Child Policy, China offered additional ‘late marriage leave’ as an incentive for couples to tie the knot at an older age and postpone having children. But it was abolished in late 2015 when the Two Child Policy was introduced everywhere except Tibet.

Faced with a rapidly aging population, China is now encouraging couples to have more children – but marriage and birth rates are slowing. In 2016, there were only 11.4 million new marriages in China, a 6.7% drop year-on-year and the third consecutive year of decline.

As a result, the government is expected to start developing new policies to encourage population growth and counteract these demographic trends, which is likely to include relaxing existing family planning laws.

The complete guide to marriage leave in China is shown below:

This article was first published on China Briefing.  

By Alexander Chipman Koty and Qian Zhou, editors

Since its establishment in 1992, Dezan Shira & Associates has been guiding foreign clients through Asia’s complex regulatory environment and assisting them with all aspects of legal, accounting, tax, internal control, HR, payroll and audit matters. As a full-service consultancy with operational offices across China, Hong Kong, India and ASEAN, we are your reliable partner for business expansion in this region and beyond. For inquiries, please email us at info@dezshira.com. Further information about our firm can be found at: www.dezshira.com.

In China, newly wed employees are entitled to paid marriage leave. Every region in the country offers staff who get married at least three days as time off.

Some even provide additional holiday, with Gansu and Shanxi, which both offer 30 days, being the most generous.

Employees are eligible for leave once they have registered their marriage with the relevant authorities. This includes foreign employees and divorced people who get re-married.

In general terms when it comes to statutory annual leave, China is relatively stingy. Employees who have worked for their employer for less than a year are not entitled to any leave at all, and even those with one to 10 years of experience are entitled to just five days.

But marriage is a very important event in Chinese culture and marriage leave is a way for the government to recognise its significance.

There are no concrete guidelines as to when marriage leave must be used though. Employers sometimes include rules on marriage leave in their company handbook to determine how and when it should be taken, while also stipulating which documents must be submitted as proof. The usual is to say that leave must be used within a year of registering the marriage.

In the past as part of its One Child Policy, China offered additional ‘late marriage leave’ as an incentive for couples to tie the knot at an older age and postpone having children. But it was abolished in late 2015 when the Two Child Policy was introduced everywhere except Tibet.

Faced with a rapidly aging population, China is now encouraging couples to have more children – but marriage and birth rates are slowing. In 2016, there were only 11.4 million new marriages in China, a 6.7% drop year-on-year and the third consecutive year of decline.

As a result, the government is expected to start developing new policies to encourage population growth and counteract these demographic trends, which is likely to include relaxing existing family planning laws.

The complete guide to marriage leave in China is shown below:

This article was first published on China Briefing.  

By Alexander Chipman Koty and Qian Zhou, editors

Since its establishment in 1992, Dezan Shira & Associates has been guiding foreign clients through Asia’s complex regulatory environment and assisting them with all aspects of legal, accounting, tax, internal control, HR, payroll and audit matters. As a full-service consultancy with operational offices across China, Hong Kong, India and ASEAN, we are your reliable partner for business expansion in this region and beyond. For inquiries, please email us at info@dezshira.com. Further information about our firm can be found at: www.dezshira.com.