# Marrying a Spaniard In Spain and Questions about NIE Process



## GreenGreen88 (Apr 22, 2016)

Im going to give everyone my entire process here to help with some up to date insights about marriage in Spain and specifically in Barcelona City. 

My partner and I decided to get married for sure last summer. We had met with a lawyer before and decided to make another appointment with her. I had read A LOT of information online about specific documents I needed to gather. Here are some insights about that:

- Birth Certificate: California changed its laws recently to get a certified birth certificate. So I needed to not only fill out a request with ID but I also needed it motorized. If you are already living in Spain the only place you can do this is at the consulate/embassy. The consulate gets backed up certain times a year so MAKE APPOINTMENTS IN ADVANCE! I had to wait a full month to get to the consulate just to get it notarized.

- You will need an Apostille. 

- Certificado de Soltero. You'll need to certify you're single. Because we don't have this in America you'll again need to go to the consulate to certify this. Write a simply prompt letter and you'll get this sworn in front of the consulate general. Again...appointment time is long depending on time of year.

- There's a 3 month rule on how old your documents can be. Barcelona Civil Registry for some reason said they didn't care as long as it was within a year. Still the best way around this if you're still waiting for ALL your documents is to open the case for marriage and submit documents. For us we got my birth certificate and by the time we had all our documents it was 1 day until it was past the 3 month mark for the issue date of my new birth certificate.

- Everything needs to be an original. 


Once we got our documents in it was I believe late October. Our lawyer told us to expect perhaps a 4 week wait for the "interview" with a judge. Our appointment was for the first week of April. Yes, almost 6 months. In Barcelona at least the interview was only a 4 page questionnaire you fill out separately. It's mostly details about your relationship, daily habits, how you met, medical history, and family. It's not that difficult but it is 4 pages/40 questions in Spanish. 

You'll need to wait 15-20 days to see if your questionnaires are accepted. 

Then you'll need to wait a further 2+ weeks to pick up the actual completed certified permission to get married.

*If you haven't been reading pay attention here!*
Now here is where our lawyer failed us miserably (more on that later). We already knew that there are two options to get married. 1. Wait for a civil registry date which usually 6+ months. 2. Take your documents and call around to different civil registries in Spain (small towns).

THERE IS A THIRD MUCH FASTER WAY. As of now, I believe the law is changing in late 2017, notaries that are certified in marriage can marry you. They can often do it immediately with 0 wait time. The civil registry officer was shocked that 1. we paid our lawyer so much and 2. that NOBODY had told us about this option.


*My Question For You*
SO now my questions. Our appointment for marriage with the notary and our party with our families is in two weeks. I know I can make an appointment with the NIE office after. I also know and have read those appointments can be 5 months later. My question is...with my marriage certificate and NIE appointment does any one know if I can travel outside Schengen? We wanted to go visit my family this summer after our marriage but Im afraid to travel outside Spain without my NIE card already having overstayed my visa. Does anyone know if I can? Does anyone have experience with this?




Final thoughts and suggestions:
1. DONT HIRE A LAWYER! They are for the most part totally useless. Your instinct as an American, or foreigner, is that lawyers can grease the wheels of a slow process and know all the ins and outs. For the most part they're just taking your money. Unless you've heard from someone that this lawyer specifically knows someone who knows someone, they usually know very little. There was one part of this process that I specifically found out myself and the lawyer hadn't told me about. If I hadn't read about it online it would have added at least a month onto this whole process. 

2. Go FIRST to the Civil Registry, especially in Barcelona 1. While Spain is famously bureaucratic, the women who work in the Civil Registry are SHOCKINGLY kind, decent, hard working, and helpful. I can tell you that I dealt with both front desk clerks and marriage clerks on no less than 4 occasions. Each time they went above and beyond in their attitude and knowledge of the process. Theres no limit on the amount of times you can go to them with questions. Its FREE and you're getting information directly FROM THE SOURCE! Go to them first, explain your situation, ask about the process, ask about things you need to know, ask if there is any way you can make certain parts move faster (the interview specifically). If you are kind and open with them they can and will help you. We are personally sending our last civil registry clerk flowers after our wedding to say thank you for her help. 

3. Don't get married in Spain. Seriously if I could go back I would have saved my money and gone back to New York, got married in 24 hours, got the Apostille on the marriage certificate the same day, and come back to Spain. You can have your marriage reception wherever you like and see the marriage process as just a formality. If you're trying to plan a big ceremony you'll feel completely powerless in Spain when it comes to timelines and appointments. See it as a non-traditional marriage and separate your actual marriage from your reception. 

I hope this helps everyone here because I know looking on these old forums helped me!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

GreenGreen88 said:


> Im going to give everyone my entire process here to help with some up to date insights about marriage in Spain and specifically in Barcelona City.
> 
> My partner and I decided to get married for sure last summer. We had met with a lawyer before and decided to make another appointment with her. I had read A LOT of information online about specific documents I needed to gather. Here are some insights about that:
> 
> ...


:Welcome:

Thanks so much for this. I'm going to add a link to this thread to our FAQ sticky.


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## GreenGreen88 (Apr 22, 2016)

xabiachica said:


> :Welcome:
> 
> Thanks so much for this. I'm going to add a link to this thread to our FAQ sticky.


No problem. To be honest this forum gave me WAY more peace of mind than my lawyer ever did in this process.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

GreenGreen88 said:


> ...Final thoughts and suggestions: ...
> 
> 3. Don't get married in Spain. Seriously if I could go back I would have saved my money and gone back to New York, got married in 24 hours, got the Apostille on the marriage certificate the same day, and come back to Spain. You can have your marriage reception wherever you like and see the marriage process as just a formality. If you're trying to plan a big ceremony you'll feel completely powerless in Spain when it comes to timelines and appointments. See it as a non-traditional marriage and separate your actual marriage from your reception.
> 
> I hope this helps everyone here because I know looking on these old forums helped me!


Sorry, but I can't agree with you about this. I know that what you're going through right now is a huge hassle. I know that it's stressful, and time-consuming, and horrible, and that it shouldn't have to be this complicated. BUT, once it's done, you can put it all behind you and never think about it again - and you'll have the advantage of having your marriage license here in Spain, where I'm assuming you'll be living. It's an advantage because you'll need a new copy of that marriage license every single time you renew your residency papers. I have American friends here who got married to Spaniards in the States, and it's a huge hassle for them to get a hold of a new copy of their US marriage license, get it Apostilled, get it spent here, get it officially translated, and get it turned in before the Apostille is over 3 months old. Compare that with how easy it is to request a copy of a Spanish wedding license from the Registro Civil. 

Anyway, it's something to think about.


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## GreenGreen88 (Apr 22, 2016)

kalohi said:


> Sorry, but I can't agree with you about this. I know that what you're going through right now is a huge hassle. I know that it's stressful, and time-consuming, and horrible, and that it shouldn't have to be this complicated. BUT, once it's done, you can put it all behind you and never think about it again - and you'll have the advantage of having your marriage license here in Spain, where I'm assuming you'll be living. It's an advantage because you'll need a new copy of that marriage license every single time you renew your residency papers. I have American friends here who got married to Spaniards in the States, and it's a huge hassle for them to get a hold of a new copy of their US marriage license, get it Apostilled, get it spent here, get it officially translated, and get it turned in before the Apostille is over 3 months old. Compare that with how easy it is to request a copy of a Spanish wedding license from the Registro Civil.
> 
> Anyway, it's something to think about.


Its really a "to each his own" situation. I went through the WHOLE process in Spain for the very reasons you state above. I figured I live in Spain, my relationship is in Spain, this is where I think of as home now so I may as well do it here. That being said I was told every step of the way by a lawyer, people who had gone through this, even civil registry clerks that this all would be easier if I just went home and got married in the US. I take your point but also point out for others that residency cards from marriage are good for a full 5 years. Also in New York City at least you can get an apostille on your marriage certificate the same day you receive the certificate. A hassle maybe but one you only have to deal with every 5 years.

Ultimately for the reasons you state, I did it all here. Looking back I would have done it differently. I think coming from America I have this idea of doing things "right" in a certain sense. Here in Spain, something Ive learned, is that the view a lot of Spaniards take when it comes to "the bureaucracy" is take the road with least complications. 

There's no right way to do it and nobody is going to pat you on the back for getting married in Spain rather than the US. But again, its about whats right for you individually!


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## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

I was married here and I agree it was all a huge ball-ache to get sorted. However, I agree with Kalohi, if you intend staying here it's much easier in the long term if you were married here and all the paperwork is readily available and understandable. If you go on to have kids here too it'll be one less hassle when you have your family book already.


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

Is this something to do with you being American? As I went trough the process myself and the whole thing from beginning to end took around 2 months, with no much paperwork, othen than Birth Certificate, translated and apostilled. Booked a registry office in my town a week earlier and all went pretty smoothly. I didn't hire a lawyer, I am Spanish, my partner from UK, no need to hire a lawyer to get married, right? What for?


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

kalohi said:


> It's an advantage because you'll need a new copy of that marriage license every single time you renew your residency papers. I have American friends here who got married to Spaniards in the States, and it's a huge hassle for them to get a hold of a new copy of their US marriage license, get it Apostilled, get it spent here, get it officially translated, and get it turned in before the Apostille is over 3 months old. Compare that with how easy it is to request a copy of a Spanish wedding license from the Registro Civil.


Every time you describe how extranjería works in Sevilla, it amazes me how different it is from my experience. I had to show a marriage certificate, apostille and official translation when I first applied for residency in 2010. I have never had to show that again at extranjería, and I have had to renew three times.

It fact, the marriage certificate and apostille were already five years old, because I had used them to apply for residency in another EU country back in 2005. Only the translation was recent. No one commented on that. They just keep a copy of the documents, and hand the originals back to me. I used the same originals again to apply for a health card with no problem. My OH submitted those old documents again when applying for Spanish citizenship about three years ago.

Last year at the Registro Civil in Albacete we used our same trusty, dusty paperwork in the process of registering our marriage, which took place a long time ago in the U.S. Registering a foreign marriage takes about a year. Once that's done, our marriage should be on record here in Spain just like any other.

If bureaucrats in Sevilla demand fresh paperwork every time, couldn't your friends register their U.S. marriages with the local civil registry to avoid that hassle?


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## GreenGreen88 (Apr 22, 2016)

Lolito said:


> Is this something to do with you being American? As I went trough the process myself and the whole thing from beginning to end took around 2 months, with no much paperwork, othen than Birth Certificate, translated and apostilled. Booked a registry office in my town a week earlier and all went pretty smoothly. I didn't hire a lawyer, I am Spanish, my partner from UK, no need to hire a lawyer to get married, right? What for?


I think it has less to do with me being American and more to do with the city I was married in. Im not sure if you had to do the interview process because your spouse is English? I did and here in Barcelona filing all our paperwork in October we got an appointment for the interview in April. That's nearly six months of waiting. Then after that was accepted if we wanted a civil registry wedding here in Barcelona from filing for an appointment in May we would not get a date until November or December. That is more than a full year for the process. 

Our padron is in Barcelona which is why we filed. We could have technically done the marriage in a small pueblo but I'm not sure we would be allowed to do the "interview" part outside the city where we have padron. 

As for hiring a lawyer, yes that is ABSOLUTELY because I'm American! It's a totally American idea that when you need to deal with complicated or long bureaucratic processes a lawyer can help and or speed up the process. The same is not really true in Spain. Although I will say after I was well into this process someone told me the name of a lawyer here who does know people in the system and can speed up the process.


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## GreenGreen88 (Apr 22, 2016)

Brangus said:


> Every time you describe how extranjería works in Sevilla, it amazes me how different it is from my experience. I had to show a marriage certificate, apostille and official translation when I first applied for residency in 2010. I have never had to show that again at extranjería, and I have had to renew three times.
> 
> It fact, the marriage certificate and apostille were already five years old, because I had used them to apply for residency in another EU country back in 2005. Only the translation was recent. No one commented on that. They just keep a copy of the documents, and hand the originals back to me. I used the same originals again to apply for a health card with no problem. My OH submitted those old documents again when applying for Spanish citizenship about three years ago.
> 
> ...


I have to agree with you here. Ive never heard of needing to file the marriage again in Spain especially if one of the partners is Spanish. I would assume its "in the system" once you file it here. It's not like anything changes about the marriage paperwork in the span of the five year residency you're given. 

Perhaps it has something to do with how autonomously the bureaucracies in Spain operate. Ive heard stories that suggest different ajuntamentos/civil registries work TOTALLY different, require totally different paperwork, and have very different wait times between different autonomous regions.


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

We actually live in Valencia (region), but what we did was to go to the Town Hall in Pamplona, north of Spain, where my family live, and did the empadronamiento there (just for a few days to sort out the paperwork), and then after the wedding, we did the empadronamiento here again. It is legal and that way, you can get married anywhere in Spain without a problem. We didn't have problems in Valencia, but we did the paperwork in Pamplona as were were there for holidays and did everything they wanted in around 10 days. Barcelona being a big city, i am sure they have their own rules and regulations for pretty much everything. lol!


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## banana plant (Mar 15, 2016)

or you could take this advice..
if your a bloke----Once upon a time, a Prince asked a beautiful Princess,
“Will you marry me?” The Princess immediately said, “No!”

And the Prince lived happily ever after, and rode
motorcycles and dated thin, long-legged, full-breasted
women, and hunted and fished and raced cars, and went to
t###y bars and dated ladies half his age and drank whiskey,
beer and Captain Morgan, and never heard bitching and
never paid child support or alimony, and dated cheerleaders
and kept his house and guns, and ate spam and potato
chips and beans, and blew enormous farts, and never got
cheated on while he was at work, and all his friends and
family thought he was friggin’ cool as hell, and he had tons
of money in the bank, and left the toilet seat up. The End.


or if your a lady---- "Once upon a time a prince asked a beautiful princess: 'Will you marry me?' The princess said no and the princess lived happily ever after and traveled around the world and met interesting people and learned new stuff and she hooked up with some cute guys and nobody thought she was a **** and always put herself first and went to rock concerts and no one ever told her 'Go make a sandwich' and kept her apartment and all her shoes and never got cheated on, period. And all her family and friends thought she was cool as hell and she made tons of money and the toilet seat was always down. As it should be. The End."


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Brangus said:


> Every time you describe how extranjería works in Sevilla, it amazes me how different it is from my experience. I had to show a marriage certificate, apostille and official translation when I first applied for residency in 2010. I have never had to show that again at extranjería, and I have had to renew three times.
> 
> It fact, the marriage certificate and apostille were already five years old, because I had used them to apply for residency in another EU country back in 2005. Only the translation was recent. No one commented on that. They just keep a copy of the documents, and hand the originals back to me. I used the same originals again to apply for a health card with no problem. My OH submitted those old documents again when applying for Spanish citizenship about three years ago.
> 
> ...


What can I say except this is how it works here. In fact I have never thought it odd that they request a current marriage certificate every time I renew my residency, because my residency depends on being married to a Spaniard. Otherwise, what would prevent someone who had gotten a divorce last year, for instance, from turning in a marriage certificate from 5 years ago and illegally getting residency? Of course they have to check to see if the basis for a claim for residency is still valid. 

I really don't know why my friends haven't registered their marriages here. I'll have to ask them. Maybe they don't know that they can.


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

Just another American piping up to vote against getting married in the US. 

I got married five years ago in the Bilbao metro area. My residency was granted about a month after my wedding. The priest even found a loophole to get around going to Madrid for a certificado de soltería. We didn't need a lawyer and the process was much easier than many other Spanish bureaucratic nightmares I've dealt with. (Just try and opositar as a guiri!)

I know another American who got married in the US recently. She is trying to register her paperwork here and has been told that it's going to be months. Had she simply done the legal paperwork here, she would have been able to skip quite a bit of that wait. 

This is an issue that every non-EU national seems to have an opinion on. However, I very strongly urge folks to just get married in the country that they plan to live in. And, to do it with plenty of lead-time. Most folks I know here take about a year to get married, from deciding on the date to the big day. Eloping, Vegas style, isn't easy unless you have connections.


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