Residence Card from Marriage to Spaniard: Wedding Certificate from Overseas?

[Michael75]

Question about marriage to a Spaniard, visas and residency. I've read through the posts on here and haven't found anything about my question.

I'm a non-EU citizen and want to marry my Spanish girlfriend. Currently, I am in Spain visiting her on a legal, 90-day visa (the standard airport stamp). I have no residency in Spain or the EU.

I hope to get a Spanish residency card based on our marriage as soon as possible, and then to apply for citizenship after one year of our marriage and my legal residence in Spain.

Our problem: the time for each step of the process is incredibly long.

My girlfriend resides (empadronada) in Barcelona. The Registro Civil in Barcelona told us this month (end of May, 2009) that we should plan on 1 year to get married: 7 months wait to see the judge for an interview, a few months for the judge to make his decision, then a few months wait to actually get the date for the marriage and finally have it officially transcribed in the Registro.

So if we try to get married in Barcelona, it will be more than 1 year before I can get the residence card to allow me to live and work legally in Spain. And only then will I begin completing the 1 year period of reidency/marriage required to apply for citizenship.

Because of this mess (que conazo!), an immigration lawyer we consulted recommended we get married outside Spain. We spoke to the Spanish consulate in a country we thought would be a beautiful place for a wedding, and got good news: we would be able to inscribe our marriage in the Registro Civil Consular and get our Libro de Familia on the same day.

So we started planning our wedding... until we suddenly were told this week by a different immigration lawyer that I cannot get a residence card based on a marriage overseas even if I have the Libro de Familia from the Spanish consulate.

The lawyer explained that the Spanish consulate will just forward our information to the Registro Central in Madrid. I need the certificado literal de matrimonio from this Registro Central in order to apply for the residence card. The consular inscription and the Libro de Familia is not sufficient.

And the lawyer told me that the system is so crowded that it takes about 18 months for the Registro Central in Madrid to process and inscribe our marriage.

However, we rechecked with the first lawyer we spoke with, and he disagrees. According to him, the Libro de Familia IS the marriage certificate required by the Oficina de Extranjeria to issue the residence card.

I've tried checking with Spanish government sources, but as I'm sure you've all experienced, I can't get a consistent answer from anyone official.

My question:
- If we marry outside of Spain, inscribe the marriage in the Spanish Consulate and receive a Libro de Familia from the Consulate, are these documents sufficient for me to apply for the residence card based on marriage? Or do we indeed have to wait (18 months?!) for the Registro in Madrid to process our marriage?

- If marrying outside the country doesn't shorten the time to get the residence card, do you have any other suggestions for what to do? [As an example, the Consular Officer in the Spanish consulate in my country recommended (this is not a joke) that I get a 6-month student visa, which he said is quick to get in my country. With that, my girlfriend and I could get married in Barcelona within a few months (because the interview/apaproval process would be shortened if I already have residence), then I could apply to change my visa from a student visa to a visa for family member. This idea sounds complicated, I don't want to study, and it would cost me tuition in a school, but maybe it would work as a short-term solution and allow us to be together legally sooner.]

Both my girlfriend and I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions and advice from any of you who know about this.

Thanks!

[Suenneil]

Originally Posted by Michael75

Question about marriage to a Spaniard, visas and residency. I've read through the posts on here and haven't found anything about my question.

I'm a non-EU citizen and want to marry my Spanish girlfriend. Currently, I am in Spain visiting her on a legal, 90-day visa (the standard airport stamp). I have no residency in Spain or the EU.

I hope to get a Spanish residency card based on our marriage as soon as possible, and then to apply for citizenship after one year of our marriage and my legal residence in Spain.

Our problem: the time for each step of the process is incredibly long.

My girlfriend resides (empadronada) in Barcelona. The Registro Civil in Barcelona told us this month (end of May, 2009) that we should plan on 1 year to get married: 7 months wait to see the judge for an interview, a few months for the judge to make his decision, then a few months wait to actually get the date for the marriage and finally have it officially transcribed in the Registro.

So if we try to get married in Barcelona, it will be more than 1 year before I can get the residence card to allow me to live and work legally in Spain. And only then will I begin completing the 1 year period of reidency/marriage required to apply for citizenship.

Because of this mess (que conazo!), an immigration lawyer we consulted recommended we get married outside Spain. We spoke to the Spanish consulate in a country we thought would be a beautiful place for a wedding, and got good news: we would be able to inscribe our marriage in the Registro Civil Consular and get our Libro de Familia on the same day.

So we started planning our wedding... until we suddenly were told this week by a different immigration lawyer that I cannot get a residence card based on a marriage overseas even if I have the Libro de Familia from the Spanish consulate.

The lawyer explained that the Spanish consulate will just forward our information to the Registro Central in Madrid. I need the certificado literal de matrimonio from this Registro Central in order to apply for the residence card. The consular inscription and the Libro de Familia is not sufficient.

And the lawyer told me that the system is so crowded that it takes about 18 months for the Registro Central in Madrid to process and inscribe our marriage.

However, we rechecked with the first lawyer we spoke with, and he disagrees. According to him, the Libro de Familia IS the marriage certificate required by the Oficina de Extranjeria to issue the residence card.

I've tried checking with Spanish government sources, but as I'm sure you've all experienced, I can't get a consistent answer from anyone official.

My question:
- If we marry outside of Spain, inscribe the marriage in the Spanish Consulate and receive a Libro de Familia from the Consulate, are these documents sufficient for me to apply for the residence card based on marriage? Or do we indeed have to wait (18 months?!) for the Registro in Madrid to process our marriage?

- If marrying outside the country doesn't shorten the time to get the residence card, do you have any other suggestions for what to do? [As an example, the Consular Officer in the Spanish consulate in my country recommended (this is not a joke) that I get a 6-month student visa, which he said is quick to get in my country. With that, my girlfriend and I could get married in Barcelona within a few months (because the interview/apaproval process would be shortened if I already have residence), then I could apply to change my visa from a student visa to a visa for family member. This idea sounds complicated, I don't want to study, and it would cost me tuition in a school, but maybe it would work as a short-term solution and allow us to be together legally sooner.]

Both my girlfriend and I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions and advice from any of you who know about this.

Thanks!

PHEW! Michael ! thats a very detailed and well put together post! Its way out of my experience to be honest so I cant offer you any help .... its seems to be quite a specific problem that may not have been experienced by too many of us on here - but you never know ! I hope you get some answers soon so that you can focus on the actual wedding!

Good luck - Sue

[Mely]

OK basically this is what happened to us. We were both Canadian but OH also has the Spanish nationality. So a Non EU country.

We married in Montreal and got a copy of the civil marriage from the government. (Act of Marriage as it was called). With this document we went to the consulate and a few weeks later got our libro de familia.

Fast forward to us being in Spain. First, get an appointment for your NIE (residency card), I called in June and got an appointment in September. When you call, they will give you a reference number and tell you what to bring. If I remember correctly, you will need your empadronamiento, passport, libro de familia, and documents from the person married to you. I don't remember if you need anything else. I checked my papers and do have the sheet anymore but I'll try to verify.

After getting the document settled and etting your fingerprints, they will send you a letter home to go and get your NIE on a certain date. I got mine end of October, so a bit less than 2 months. You can apply for your nationality after 1 year of having your residency. All in all, from the phone call to getting the document: about 5 months.


I hope this can help you a bit. You are legal in Spain if you are married to a Spaniard and can work, just need the paper to do so.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

mel

[Pesky Wesky]

Sounds incredibly complicated!
Try this website which we've all just found out about recently. I don't think you'll find the answer there but they should be able to point you in the right direction.
British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Home
Good luck to you both

[Mely]

here is a link for the solicitud

http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/modelos/ex...anje/ex_14.pdf

It explains a bit what you need. I'll keep on looking if I can find something better. the best would be to go to the consulate and talk to them.

and this is what the consulado asked to proceed with the marriage inscription:

MATRIMONIOS
Sería conveniente que el/los cónyuge/s español/es estén inscritos en el Registro de Matrícula Consular antes de proceder a la inscripción del matrimonio. No obstante, se podría proceder a ello siempre y cuando el matrimonio se haya realizado dentro de esta jurisdicción, presentando la siguiente documentación en este Consulado General:

1. Certificado local de matrimonio (COPIE D'ACTE DE MARIAGE / Certified Copy of Marriage Registration, Long form).

2. Copia literal de nacimiento del cónyuge español, actualizada.

3. Certificado de nacimiento del cónyuge extranjero.

4. Pasaportes vigentes de los cónyuges.

5. DNI de los cónyuges españoles.

6. Si uno o ambos de los cónyuges están divorciados:

o Certificado de Divorcio para el cónyuge extranjero.

o Para el cónyuge español, de haberse inscrito el matrimonio en el registro civil español y haberse realizado el divorcio en el extranjero, éste último no tendrá validez si no está reconocido en España mediante el proceso de EXEQUÁTUR, ejecutado por un abogado en España.

7. Declaración jurada de estado civil previo al matrimonio, que se encuentra a su disposición en esta Sección Consular.

8. Hoja de declaración de datos para la inscripción del matrimonio, cumplimentada preferentemente por el cónyuge español, que se encuentra a su disposición en este Consulado General. Inscripción consular matrimonios.pdf



NOTA IMPORTANTE: Los documentos mencionados deberán ser ORIGINALES.

UNA VEZ INSCRITO EL MATRIMONIO SE ENTREGARÁ EL CORRESPONDIENTE LIBRO DE FAMILIA.




****
I also found this link of someone that explained very well and remember the details! lolll not like me:

Non-EU marrying a Spaniard & NIE

check it out.


Hope thishelps you.

[Michael75]

Hi - I'm the original poster.

Thanks, Sue and Pesky Wesky.

Mely - Your situation is really interesting, as you're the first person I've heard from who personally has gone thru the process. I'd be interested if you got the certificado literal de matrimonio from the Registro Civil Central before you applied for your tarjeta de residencia, or if you were able to use only the documents which the Spanish consulate gave you? Also, in what city/provincia were you in?

Here's the heart of the issue:

The Oficina de Extranjeros has a document (www . graduados-sociales . com / extranjeria / 48 . pdf) [sorry for the spaces in the link, it won't let me post a hyperlink otherwise] which states that to apply for a residence card as the spouse of a Spaniard, you need:

"certificado literal de matrimonio expedido por el Registro Civil espanol, con una antiguedad no superior a tres meses"

(translation: literal certificate of marriage issued by the Spanish Registro Civil, not older than 3 months)

The issue affecting me is the interpretation of "expedido por el Registro Civil espanol". Does a certificate issued by the Registro Civil Consular of the Spanish consulate count as having been issued by the Registro Civil espanol?

The Consulado de Espana in the country we want to get married in told me that they will issue me a Libro de Familia and a Certificado Literal de Matrimonio within a week of our marriage. They confirmed to me that 100%, absolutely 100% for sure, that these documents are sufficient to receive the Tarjeta de Residencia. They confirmed that the Registro Civil Consular is 100% the same as the Registro Civil espanol.

However, several immigration lawyers in Barcelona are even more absolutely convinced that this is incorrect. They say what the consulate gives is NOT sufficient. I need to get the Certificado Literal de Matrimonio from the Registro Civil Central in Madrid... and that this is taking at least 18 months right now.

I'm really confused. If the Consulate documents are sufficient, I can apply for my tarjeta de residencia and begin working relatively quickly, say within a few months. But if I need to wait for the Registro Central to issue the documents, it will be at least 2 years before I can reside and work legally in Spain. It's a huge difference, and really affects the lives of my girlfriend/future-wife and me.

[Mely]

OK. I got all my documents in Canada (libro de familia) and applied here for the residency card. The Registro civil consular from Montreal / Quebec in Canada was valid and sent the info to the registro civil español.

i had no problem applying to get my residency card... I don't understand why the lawyers are telling you that. I have never gone through a lawyer and have done the whole "tramite" myself .. and OH obviously.. and it was pretty straight forward. I got mine done in Madrid. Of course, being Spain, everything is a long process but being married to a Spaniard gives you all the rights. As I said, getting an appointment is the longer process.. call in advance as it takes a few months to get one. That is a shortcut you can take. Don't wait until you get your libro de familia or get married... call and get one. After you go to the appointment and everything is in order, it only takes max 2 3 months to get your residency card.

Hope this helps you!

[Michael75]

Wow, Mely, you're amazing. Thanks for the great reply!

2 follow-up questions:

- Just to confirm for the 1000th time (sorry!), you really just submitted only the Libro de Familia from the Consulate and the Registro from the Consulate? In other words, when applying for your tarjeta de residencia, the Oficina de Extranjeros really didn't care that you didn't have anything from the Registro Civil Central?

- Great idea about calling in advance to set up the appointment. I thought they ask you for the date of your wedding in order to get the appointment, though, and if you're not yet married, you can't get the appointment. You sound very street smart, so I'd love to know how you got around that?

[Mely]

Originally Posted by Michael75

Wow, Mely, you're amazing. Thanks for the great reply!

2 follow-up questions:

- Just to confirm for the 1000th time (sorry!), you really just submitted only the Libro de Familia from the Consulate and the Registro from the Consulate? In other words, when applying for your tarjeta de residencia, the Oficina de Extranjeros really didn't care that you didn't have anything from the Registro Civil Central?

- Great idea about calling in advance to set up the appointment. I thought they ask you for the date of your wedding in order to get the appointment, though, and if you're not yet married, you can't get the appointment. You sound very street smart, so I'd love to know how you got around that?

Well the consulate supposedly sends your info to Spain. The libro de familia is an "extract" from the registro civil. Seriously, follow what the consulate tells you or if you want, call the embassy of your country in Spain, they know it as well.

I am copying the link I send you before because this is realllly exactly to the dot what I had to do":

************************************************** *********

NIE/Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union

Step 1 was to make an appointment with the Oficina de Extranjeria on tel. 902565701. We did this when we got back form Australia in December and was told our interview would be in May (5 months later!!).

I was lucky in that my father in law has a friend of a friend of a friend (or something like that) so I could get this meeting in January instead of May. To avoid this problem I recommend calling as soon as possible (even before getting married), as they asked for no proof of marriage to make the interview.

I had to present the following:
- a completed EX-16 form (Solicitud de Certificado de registro como residente comunitaria o Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union) + copies
- Libro de Familia + copy
- my passport + copy
- my husband’s ORIGINAL DNI card + copy
- my certificado de empadronamiento
- Three passport photos

************************************************** **************************

You shouldn't have any problem. As for the phone call for the appointment, they asked for my name and passport number and it is only to book a time. Go and get the solicitud before though. When you show up, you give them the info they need.

Honestly, I never talked to any lawyer. I have been here a year, got a job 4 months later and the NIE 1 month after. It is not that complicated.

Good luck!

[Michael75]

That's great, Mely! I'm really happy to know from you that the documents from the Consulate in Canada were all that you needed.

And great advice about getting the appointment... I'll be sure to do that!

Thanks again!