Expat Forum For People Moving Overseas And Living Abroad banner

american with brit wife in england moving to spain

7K views 31 replies 13 participants last post by  sgaldo 
#1 · (Edited)
hello wonderful people!
here's my situation:
i'm an american, married to a brit living in the uk on a setllement visa (us passport). we've been here for nearly a year and have decided to move to granada spain sometime this summer (probably july). i speak a good bit of spanish (if that matters at this point).

i'm aware that i will probably have to start over to get leave to remain in the uk if we stay more than 90 days, but that's not my issue at the moment.
for now i have a few very basic questions about getting the right to live and work in spain:

1- what is the name of the permit/card i need? i have heard several different names including EU family member residence card, temporary NIE, and EEA family permit. What is it??

2- how do i apply for this permit? i have done some reading on this forum and found a few answers. one involved getting a lawyer and recent copies of our marriage certificate. another seemed much easier involving 10 euros and a few forms. there have also been mentions of visiting the spanish embassy in the uk and the spanish consulate in caracas.... long story short, there seem to be many ways to do this... what do i do??

If it will not be expensive and too complicated, i would like to do it myself without a lawyer. but if it's too much to sift through, maybe a lawyer is the right way to go.
thank you so much for reading... sorry for the long-winded questions.
i would appreciate any straightforward advice anyone can provide.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
sorry, i wasnt clear. i meant that i would have to start again (to get indefinite leave to remain) if i don't spend a certain number of days a year in england.
i'm no expert, and i could be totally wrong. but i thought it was 90 days. maybe i wont have a problem returning... but that's not the issue for me at the moment anyway.
thanks for helping me clarify.
 
#4 ·
#6 ·
is that tefl or qualified teacher?

if the former............. it's hard to make a living wage outside of the big cities like Madrid

if the latter - have a look at the useful links sticky on the education post - there are links to associations of British & American Schools in Spain - you never know - someone might be looking for teachers for the next school year in September (or even sooner)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roxx79
#9 ·
update. spanish residency for UK and USA married couple

hi everybody! as always, thanks for your help. my wife and i are still struggling to get our residency in granada, spain... it's not a happy story at the moment... but it's also not over.
here's just a quick update as to what we've had to do (and are still trying to do) to get residency:

first thing, my wife had to get residency. i'm not an EU citizen, but she is, so we figured it would be easy enough.
for this, we needed empadronamiento from the ayuntamiento. (basically a document stating that we are living in the city) to get this, we needed to live in a flat that was recorded. ours wasnt. a bit of a nightmare to get it. several trips to the ayuntamiento.
next, we needed 5000 euros in our bank account. luckily, my parents lent us the money.
we were told conflicting stories from people in the same office about private health insurance. in the end, it turns out her EHIC card was sufficient.
after 16 visits to the oficina de extranjeros, sifting though the massive amounts of (often conflicting) information we were given, my wife got her residency.

originially, i was told (at the office) that my wife needed her residency, then with my work pre-contract, i could get mine. this is not true.
i went back with all my documents, including marriage cert and translation, EHIC card, EX# document (application form) passports, bank account info, job contract and copies of everything... but they told me this last time that together we either needed to have 8000 euros in the bank or my wife needed a job contract.
ridiculous.
at the moment, we've been to the oficina de extranjeros 19 times... thinking about just not going back at all. is it time to give up? work illegally? keep trying, only to be met with lots of emphatic "NO!"?
we've done everything we've been told to do. i'm completely above board at the moment. the office doesnt seem to offer important information unless it's paired with rejection. sorry for the short rant, but can you tell i'm frustrated?

meanwhile, if we give up, we've already signed a rental contract because e were sure we could get it all squared away... what do we do about that?

so that's where we stand. married. all documents in. i have a job contract. thousands of (borrowed) euros in the bank. 19 trips to the oficina de extranjeros...
and NO RESIDENCY.
 
#11 ·
hi everybody! as always, thanks for your help. my wife and i are still struggling to get our residency in granada, spain... it's not a happy story at the moment... but it's also not over.
here's just a quick update as to what we've had to do (and are still trying to do) to get residency:

first thing, my wife had to get residency. i'm not an EU citizen, but she is, so we figured it would be easy enough.
for this, we needed empadronamiento from the ayuntamiento. (basically a document stating that we are living in the city) to get this, we needed to live in a flat that was recorded. ours wasnt. a bit of a nightmare to get it. several trips to the ayuntamiento.
next, we needed 5000 euros in our bank account. luckily, my parents lent us the money.
we were told conflicting stories from people in the same office about private health insurance. in the end, it turns out her EHIC card was sufficient.
after 16 visits to the oficina de extranjeros, sifting though the massive amounts of (often conflicting) information we were given, my wife got her residency.

originially, i was told (at the office) that my wife needed her residency, then with my work pre-contract, i could get mine. this is not true.
i went back with all my documents, including marriage cert and translation, EHIC card, EX# document (application form) passports, bank account info, job contract and copies of everything... but they told me this last time that together we either needed to have 8000 euros in the bank or my wife needed a job contract.
ridiculous.
at the moment, we've been to the oficina de extranjeros 19 times... thinking about just not going back at all. is it time to give up? work illegally? keep trying, only to be met with lots of emphatic "NO!"?
we've done everything we've been told to do. i'm completely above board at the moment. the office doesnt seem to offer important information unless it's paired with rejection. sorry for the short rant, but can you tell i'm frustrated?

meanwhile, if we give up, we've already signed a rental contract because e were sure we could get it all squared away... what do we do about that?

so that's where we stand. married. all documents in. i have a job contract. thousands of (borrowed) euros in the bank. 19 trips to the oficina de extranjeros...
and NO RESIDENCY.
Welcome to the world of Spanish bureaucracy!!!! I'm not sure of the answer, but I'm surprised they let you use the EHIC as proof of healthcare - that seems to be a most peoples stumbling block. Usually tho, you cant be put on the padron if you dont have residencia, the rental contract would also need to be seen. What the authorities want to see is that you can support yourselves. You have the job and your wife has the EU status. Have you thought5 of going to a gestor who could maybe write something for you that would satisfy the foreigners office and give you residencia???

Jo xxx
 
#13 ·
thanks jojo and xabiachica
we're going to weigh all the options... lots to think about.
we've definitely complicated things by throwing a third country into the mix... we've definitely got enough bureaucracy to keep ourselves occupied between our two home countries!

it's a relief to hear about the rental contract.
only problem is when we signed, they were very clear that they needed us to stay a full year.
do you think we could run into a problem if we broke it?

i guess my advice for anyone thinking about moving to spain would be to consider your current situation and really weigh it against dealing with wildly confusing, changing, and contradictory bureaucracy in a second language... it aint easy. especially at the oficina de extranjeros in granada.
but the funny thing is, as an english teacher, it's been super easy to find a job. it's just the "right to work" that's the hard part at the moment.
 
#14 ·
as far as the contract is concerned - they'll kick & scream a bit & you won't get your deposit back - but rarely in my experience does anyone get their deposit back anyway - most landlords seem to find a way of using it up on 'damage' :rolleyes:

but they won't do any more than that - you have the law on your side that if it's your home & you pay monthly you only have to give a month notice
 
#16 · (Edited)
One of the first things we intend doing, is to employ the services of a gestor once we arrive. From what I have read, I find the fact of using someone local reassuring, however how do you choose your gestor if you are new to the country is it pot luck?

Is the OP having problems mainly due to the 2 nationalities............I would hate to arrive and then not get residency...how will I buy my home!!!!
 
#18 ·
Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I think if we do continue then a gestor will be our next option. I'm just worried that we will spend money on a gestor and it will end up not helping. If this had happened a few months ago, I would have been all for it, but now we are both so jaded by the whole experience that we are just tying to muster the energy to continue.
It's such a shame. We love Spain, we love Granada even more, but the reality of living here right now is harder than we thought. Oddly enough, it's not about finding work, we've got plenty of opportunities as we teach English and Granada has enough work to keep us going. It's just getting legal that is the confusing part.

We are also feeling a bit lonely and finding it hard to settle in. The language barrier is hard, we have met some lovely people but it's still not the same as conversing in your native language...having to have a joke explained 5 times before you get it i annoying for everyone! I know that this feeling will fade though if we stick it out, we've both moved to new countries before and the first few months are always the hardest.

Our last visit to the oficina de extranjeros was ridiculous. We were told by my husbands advisor that he could now begin work. "uhh, ok, are you sure?" we asked, and he said yes, you are fine to start work. You have an NIE number. We knew there was something wrong, so we asked to speak to someone else who told us what we already knew... of course he can't work until the whole application is complete, fingerprints are in and he has the piece of paper saying he can.

It really is a different story EVERY time and we are left drained and exhausted. Right now, my grim little island and it's straightforward bureaucracy is looking very appealing. :(
 
#21 ·
funny you should ask... i finally got residencia last week!!
i think part of our difficulty was that when we got in, the rules had JUST changed, so nobody really knew what to tell us, hence all the mixed messages and confusion at the oficina.
sounds like with your situation, you should be alright... are you in granada or another city? either way, good luck and let us know how things turn out... just keep your cool and be patient... that's the key.
 
#23 ·
you got that right.
as far as money in the bank, i believe you need to show 4000 euros to get your residency and 8000 for your spouse.
in order for you to get residency, you need to show that you have 4000 euros (equivalent) in the bank.
in order for your spouse to get residency, you need to show that you have 8000 euros.

it's a bit steep, but with some borrowing and/or clever money moving, you may be able to beat it without having all of it yourself.

if you can't show that amount of money, a job contract or autonomo with proof of income should do it.

good luck man. we're rooting for you.
 
#26 ·
short answer:
no, you don't need to be married in spain.

little bit longer answer:
my wife and i were married in the usa. (i'm american and she's english)
for our marriage certificate to be recognized by spain we had to get an "apostille of the hague" attached to our marriage certificate, and present that with an official translation of both the apostille and the certificate.
to get the apostille, we just took it to an office in washington dc (the city where we were married), paid some money, and got an official-looking paper stapled to our marriage certificate. (we did this on our last visit)

not sure if you need the apostille seal if it's an english marriage certificate, as that's all E.U.
but if you do, it shouldnt be too difficult to get one.

after that, we just got it translated to spanish in spain (be sure it's a "traduccion jurado" done by a proper legal translator or else it won't be recognized)

spain's bureaucratic system is a tough nut to crack. but it can be done!
good luck! :fingerscrossed:
 
#27 ·
sgaldo said:
short answer:
no, you don't need to be married in spain.

little bit longer answer:
my wife and i were married in the usa. (i'm american and she's english)
for our marriage certificate to be recognized by spain we had to get an "apostille of the hague" attached to our marriage certificate, and present that with an official translation of both the apostille and the certificate.
to get the apostille, we just took it to an office in washington dc (the city where we were married), paid some money, and got an official-looking paper stapled to our marriage certificate. (we did this on our last visit)

not sure if you need the apostille seal if it's an english marriage certificate, as that's all E.U.
but if you do, it shouldnt be too difficult to get one.

after that, we just got it translated to spanish in spain (be sure it's a "traduccion jurado" done by a proper legal translator or else it won't be recognized)

spain's bureaucratic system is a tough nut to crack. but it can be done!
good luck! :fingerscrossed:
1 more question, this may be very dumb but a friend tried to tell me today that if your partner is not Spanish you only get residency not permission to work. In other words my gf is British not Spanish, if we marry, I can get residency and live here but that doesn't mean I have permission to work. That can't possibly be true right?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top