# American married to a spanish citizen



## Guest (Mar 30, 2013)

In January of last year my now wife came to California to marry me. We took the certified wedding documents to the consulate in San Francisco in order to get a "Libro de Familia", which I received 6 weeks later... by then my wife had returned to Madrid in order to return to her job in Madrid.

While I waited for the "Libro de Familia" I began to read many online articles which I interpreted as saying I would need a lot more documentation than the spanish consulate had told me and so I began to get my certified birth certificate, health statement from my doctor, criminal record report, etc , and had them all translated into Spanish & which cost a small fortune.

The advice I received from the consulate was straightforward: for me to return to Spain with the "Libro de Familia", I could enter Spain on a one-way ticket & on a tourist visa, and I did so with all the documentation I had accumulated.

My wife and I went to the Oficina de Extranjería in Madrid and discovered that the process was very easy, pretty much as the consulate had told us, and all the documentation that I had sought was not needed. 

What was requested was: our the "Libro de Famila", our Empadronamiento document, my passport, her DNI, and 3 months of her bank statements... nothing else! I now have my future DNI number.

Now we wait for news that this is all copasetic and the next step is fingerprints and a DNI card.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mysticsmick said:


> In January of last year my now wife came to California to marry me. We took the certified wedding documents to the consulate in San Francisco in order to get a "Libro de Familia", which I received 6 weeks later... by then my wife had returned to Madrid in order to return to her job in Madrid.
> 
> While I waited for the "Libro de Familia" I began to read many online articles which I interpreted as saying I would need a lot more documentation than the spanish consulate had told me and so I began to get my certified birth certificate, health statement from my doctor, criminal record report, etc , and had them all translated into Spanish & which cost a small fortune.
> 
> ...


Good!
But why did you go to Madrid?
Did you have to, or did you choose to?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mysticsmick said:


> In January of last year my now wife came to California to marry me. We took the certified wedding documents to the consulate in San Francisco in order to get a "Libro de Familia", which I received 6 weeks later... by then my wife had returned to Madrid in order to return to her job in Madrid.
> 
> While I waited for the "Libro de Familia" I began to read many online articles which I interpreted as saying I would need a lot more documentation than the spanish consulate had told me and so I began to get my certified birth certificate, health statement from my doctor, criminal record report, etc , and had them all translated into Spanish & which cost a small fortune.
> 
> ...


:clap2::clap2:

congratulations - you have discovered what most of us living here often say - as long as all your paperwork is in order everything is simple............

you might still find that you need all the translated papers tbh - I had used the same birth certs for my daughters for years & then last year I had to have them apostilled..... & we were all already in the system


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Good!
> But why did you go to Madrid?
> Did you have to, or did you choose to?


My wife lives and works in Madrid, so that was the most convenient choice for us at the moment. Now, I am mostly in Asturias renovating an old farmhouse while my wife is hoping/waiting to lose her job in Madrid... in the meantime we thank Skype and Renfe for keeping us together.


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## elisa31bcn (Jan 23, 2013)

I also found the process to be quite simple and straight forward. I married my Spanish husband here in Barcelona in October. The libro de familia was ready in about 3 weeks, and then we went to Extranjeria with the certificado de matrimonio, libro de familia, empadronamientos for both, passport, his DNI, and work contract. They gave me my approval on the spot, and my NIE number. I could take that 2 weeks later to get my fingerprints done at the police station, and I was able to pick up the card a month later at a different police station on Mallorca. But I was able to work from the moment of my approval...I was expecting much more bureaucracy, and hassle really. I'm so glad it's over, and there are no more hoops to jump through...


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

I'm glad to hear the process was so simple and painless! 

Just for your information, the number they've given you isn't a DNI, but a NIE. You have to be a Spanish citizen to get a DNI. You should know what you have because whenever you have to fill out an official form you'll need to check that your number is a NIE and not a DNI.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mysticsmick said:


> My wife lives and works in Madrid, so that was the most convenient choice for us at the moment. Now, I am mostly in Asturias renovating an old farmhouse while my wife is hoping/waiting to lose her job in Madrid... in the meantime we thank Skype and Renfe for keeping us together.


In my time it was the telephone that OH used from work and the buses that kept us together whilst I was in Madrid and he was in Tarragona!


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2013)

kalohi said:


> I'm glad to hear the process was so simple and painless!
> 
> Just for your information, the number they've given you isn't a DNI, but a NIE. You have to be a Spanish citizen to get a DNI. You should know what you have because whenever you have to fill out an official form you'll need to check that your number is a NIE and not a DNI.


Thank you for that! I have been hearing so many new acronyms these last few months my head is spinning...


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