# Requirements with Foreign Marriage Certificates



## angkag (Oct 29, 2013)

We are moving to Spain next summer, and looking to see what paperwork we can prepare in advance of the bureacratic siege ahead.

The issue we are looking at is what we need to do with our marriage certificate. We got married in Indonesia, so our original marriage certificate is in Indonesian (I'm British, wife Indonesian, three kids etc and other than this complication boring and straightforward). Wife does not have EU status of any description currently, and would follwo what sounds like standard process of arriving on a tourist visa and then start the application for residence after the kids and I register locally.

Can anyone advise what we should prepare for the process wrt the marriage certificate ? Specifically:

- I assume a translation of the marriage certificate is required from Indonesian into Spanish (we have certified copies into English, but assume that counts for nowt), in which case, what are the restrictions on who can do the translation, and what legal certification is needed ? 

- I see mention of a 3 month rule quite a lot, is this to say that the legal certification has to be renewed every three months to stay current ? (in which case we should wait until shortly before we leave and not do it now as we won't be travelling till next summer)

- any other requirements we should prepare for specific to the marriage certificate ?

thanks


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

We have just had ours(Birth and Marriage certs) translated by Agencia de traducción LinguaVox | Traductores e intérpretes

They are not cheap but you just scan the documents, send them to them they, do the translations and post them beck to you. The translations are authenticated and will be accepted bt the Spanish Authorities.

Hepa


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

angkag said:


> We are moving to Spain next summer, and looking to see what paperwork we can prepare in advance of the bureacratic siege ahead.
> 
> The issue we are looking at is what we need to do with our marriage certificate. We got married in Indonesia, so our original marriage certificate is in Indonesian (I'm British, wife Indonesian, three kids etc and other than this complication boring and straightforward). Wife does not have EU status of any description currently, and would follwo what sounds like standard process of arriving on a tourist visa and then start the application for residence after the kids and I register locally.
> 
> ...



In all the years we've been here, we've NEVER needed anything translated.

Regarding the 3-month 'rule' - after 3 months you are considered resident in Spain and so should have applied for your 'residencia' (basically just sign on the list of foreigners). This will require proof of income and health care. It should not need replacing.

If you will be in Spain for less than 90 days in any one period or less than 183 days in any calendar year, then you do not need to worry about being resident.

You can get a temporary NIE which only lasts 3 months but I see little point if you are moving here permanently.


Bear in mind that you can't do much in the way of a 'residencia' unless you are in Spain.


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## angkag (Oct 29, 2013)

Hepa said:


> We have just had ours(Birth and Marriage certs) translated by Agencia de traducción LinguaVox | Traductores e intérpretes
> 
> They are not cheap but you just scan the documents, send them to them they, do the translations and post them beck to you. The translations are authenticated and will be accepted bt the Spanish Authorities.
> 
> Hepa


Thanks Hepa, we'll try those guys when needed.

All of our documentation is in English except the marriage cert, and as she will be applying to stay as spouse to an EU national, the focus is on validating the marriage and relationship (witnesses for the defence your honour, three screaming kids).

One thing I have been able to confirm is that we need to obtain "_a certificate from the British Consular General (in my case) stating that the submitted marriage certificate is recognised as valid by its own legislation"._

One cannot "register" a marriage in Britain (like a birth certificate), one can only deposit a record of the marriage with the GRO, but it is used only for record keeping and is not a recognition of validity. Britain, like Spain, recognises marriages from other countries that comply with local law, so it looks like Spain wants to ensure the British (in my case) confirm the marriage is compliant with local law first, and then presumably recognise the marriage as valid based on the British doing so. This looks like standard process, and not sure if it has to come from the British consul in Jakarta or not (if so they have always been helpful and easy to deal with), but we should find out soon. We did deposit a record of our marriage with the British consul at the time of marrying, but as mentioned, that doesn't mean the British validated it (so I guess anyone getting married outside the EU, get your consulate to issue a certificate recognising the certificate is "valid by its own legislation", ie followed local law). 

Will report back on how we get on with the rest of it once we engage with the authorities in Spain.


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## jonmlb748 (Oct 30, 2011)

your marriage certificate only has a validity of three months if your where married in Indonesia,the certificate must be translated by an approved body in Indonesia .the translation will need to be certified by the Indonesian gov, then presented to Spanish embassy in indonesia for stamping .then you present this to immigration in Spain.you will have to go through all this idiocy again if the papers are one day over three months old when presenting to immigration and when you come to renew in five years time.having three kids ,a house together etc etc holds no water with regards to these people.they have their lists and they will stick to them.
i am currently trying to get a residents card for my stepdaughter who is Asian and been here for five years in the school system,despite her mother working and living here with a residents card we have been told we need to get yet another marriage certificate so I am in the process of making a complain to SOLVIT (eu body who help in the process of helping a eu citizen who has a problem with a goverment body)who have been very helpful in the past.


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## angkag (Oct 29, 2013)

Should be interesting as Indonesian bureacracy competes with Spanish bureacracy, and put the two in the same room together and it will be paralysis - not sure anything is possible in 3 months.

Will report back with how it all goes from time-to-time. The Indonesian embassy in Madrid will have seen this before and will be able to point to how it has been solved in the past.


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## jonmlb748 (Oct 30, 2011)

Hepa said:


> We have just had ours(Birth and Marriage certs) translated by Agencia de traducción LinguaVox | Traductores e intérpretes
> 
> They are not cheap but you just scan the documents, send them to them they, do the translations and post them beck to you. The translations are authenticated and will be accepted bt the Spanish Authorities.
> 
> Hepa


not applicable in the op case as Indonesia is not a part of the Hague convention regarding apostles


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