US citizen married to Brit moving to Spain

gracegaldo said:

I have now come across the EU Family-member Residence Card which he should apparently apply for in order to live and work in Spain. Apparently this process can take a maximum of 6 months. As I understand it, he can remain in Spain while this process takes place but it is unclear if he would be allowed to work during this period. Would he have to wait until his EU Family-member Residency was issued before starting work? Has anyone else been through the process before that could perhaps shed some light on the situation?
Thanks in advance!

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steve_in_spain said:

HI

I have just assisted someone with this and can recommend a goog law firm (dependig on the area, mins is in Costa Blanca).

You will need new copies of the marriage certificate (it must be less than 3 months old when it is submitted), you will need this legalsing in the country of issue and you will need various other stamps on it such as the british embassy and so on (check exactly with a lawyer as it does change fomr area to area).

Everything will need to be officially translated into Spanish also but your lawyers will be able to arange this.

Once applied for you shoudl be able to get a temporary NIE which will allow him to work in Spain. Obviously he has a right to be in Spain by the marriage but its still full of red tape and things to go through.

Aparently the whole process to be fully complete can take anything up to a year (or more) but once its all submitted and you get that NIE you are ok to live and work pending the full application being approved.

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steve_in_spain said:

The lawyers doing the one for my client (shes english and hes from jamaica) said that they have one thats still ongoing after nearly 2 years! I think though like everything in Spain sometimes you get lucky and sometimes no!

Yes, my client finally got all the stuff done, translated, stamped by the relevant authorities in the UK, Jamaica, and Spain and then went the the lawyers to submit it.. they had a "temporary" NIE in a few days for him after this and he could begin working. :clap2: I guess then its just a case of wait for it to all be finalised!

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gracegaldo said:

Thank you everyone for your help, it's all a little clearer now. After having to deal with US immigration and then UK for my husband it sounds as if Spain, despite the complications, will be a lot easier. We will be visiting the embassy here and getting new copies of our marriage certificate on our upcoming visit to the states.
We are moving to Granada.

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gracegaldo said:

I emailed a law company called "Fairway Lawyers" that I found online for a rough quote (just for my husband, not including my own residencia) and they have said that can complete the process for 1000 E, that will apparently go through all stages of the process including Foreign Office and Police Station. We have politely declined as this seems insanely expensive. His UK visa only cost £750 so we are not prepared to shell out that kind of cash again unless it's totally necessary.
Does anyone here have a good lawyer they could recommend that would be cheaper, that could get both our residencias sorted at the same time? If not, would it be easier and/or cheaper to just do this process ourselves?
Again any help is much appreciated. We feel very lucky to have a forum like this to pass questions around. Not sure how people managed 20 years ago! Thank you!

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