# US/UK citizen Married in Gibraltar- how to get US citizen residency in Spain?



## mere1331 (Feb 23, 2015)

I've been with my partner who is a UK citizen for the past 3 years as we were living in the UK where I had a UK visa and was working. I gave up my job last year and we spent 8 months traveling round the world but recently (6 months ago) moved to Spain where my husband has a teaching job in a private British school.

We were married in Gibraltar in October before my 90 days out of 180 ran out but are just now trying to sort the paperwork to make me legal here in Spain. I work for a foreign company remotely, I have private healthcare that covers me in Europe and I own a house in the US so the only reason to complete the paperwork is so I don't have trouble traveling in and out for work (and so we're not breaking the law of course!). 

I've read online that my husband has to first change his status and re-submit forms to say he is now married and get a new NIE. One website suggested that once this is done, I can simply schedule an appointment in Motril at the same place and bring his passport, an EX19 or 16 form, our marriage certificate, my passport and some pictures and that would be enough to get my residency card.

Other sites seem to suggest it is much harder and that we need to get our marriage certificate with apostle, translated, many forms to fill out, proof of insurance etc. and that it's a lengthy and complicated process.

We are renting a house here, my husband has a 2 year contract with a well respected school in the area, we have a puppy, I have a fulltime job so I'm trying to pretend it's not going to be that hard or scary- should I believe the first site that says it is so easy? Do I need to be prepared for a battle- will I have to explain why it has taken us so long to apply for the paperwork? 

On top of all of this, I am applying for my Italian citizenship which should come through in the next year or so and we are moving back to the UK for me to start a Phd program I've already been accepted to in Oct. 2016. In other words, Spanish residency is just needed as a temporary solution for the next year and a half.

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Many thanks.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mere1331 said:


> I've been with my partner who is a UK citizen for the past 3 years as we were living in the UK where I had a UK visa and was working. I gave up my job last year and we spent 8 months traveling round the world but recently (6 months ago) moved to Spain where my husband has a teaching job in a private British school.
> 
> We were married in Gibraltar in October before my 90 days out of 180 ran out but are just now trying to sort the paperwork to make me legal here in Spain. I work for a foreign company remotely, I have private healthcare that covers me in Europe and I own a house in the US so the only reason to complete the paperwork is so I don't have trouble traveling in and out for work (and so we're not breaking the law of course!).
> 
> ...


:welcome:

your husband needs to be a registered resident first, if he isn't already, as he should be since he's been here more than 90 days & is working here. He would have the same NIE number, but a green resident certificate /card

if he hasn't already done this, that's the first step - he uses form EX18 which can be downloaded from our http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-living-spain/2725-faqs-lots-useful-info.html

once that is done then you apply for residency as the _spouse of an EU citizen exercising treaty rights_, using form EX19, also at the above link

yes you will need your marriage certificate apostilled & perhaps also legally translated by a_ traductor jurado_ - though the guidelines say that the apostille should be sufficient - the _extranjería_ will tell you exactly what other documentation & income requirements are required - it can vary slightly from office to office

you might have a bit of a problem though - unless you've been out of Spain (& the entire Schengen zone) as much as you've been here for the past 6 months, you've already overstayed - the rule is 90 in every 180, so if you're here 90 you have to leave for 90 before returning & getting married during that time won't change a thing - only being granted residencia will do that - or at least applying for it before the 90 days are up

also you aren't allowed to work at all until such time as your residencia is granted - not even remotely for a company outside Spain

it isn't always straightforward - you need private healthcare cover equal to state healthcare & there is a financial requirement which your husband will have to show - your income can't be counted because, as I said, atm, you aren't legally allowed to work - though generally in your circumstances, as long as your husband has sufficient income it should be fine

we have had a couple of threads recently of people running into problems

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...non-eu-visa-rejected-no-good-reason-help.html

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...n/634825-uh-oh-my-request-tarjeta-denied.html


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## mere1331 (Feb 23, 2015)

Thank you so much for your help! Do you think it would be wise to hire a lawyer and/or have the school helps us through the process? They employ all foreign teachers so have a good relationship with the office in Motril and I can imagine that might help somewhat. My husband makes a good salary and has a Spanish bank account yet we don't have any savings. Hopefully that won't be an issue- if we do have to scrape together funds we can but is there a minimum amount of time they have to have been in the bank account (in the UK you have to wait 3 months before you can submit your application). When we went to Gibraltar to get married we did not have our passports stamped at either side of the border, so in theory, I was out of the EU and in the UK without a record of it. I wonder if this will give us some leeway on the overstaying issue? I also left the EU twice for work (carried all of our paperwork with me) and was admitted back though both times (though my passport was stamped and not scanned).


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

You are in Spain on a tourist visa and that means that you can only stay here (or anywhere in the Schengen zone) for 90 days out of every 180. So even with your 2 trips out of the EU and even if they had stamped your passport when you went to Gibralter it doesn't change your situation. Unfortunately you have clearly overstayed. I'm not sure how that will affect your request for residency. I think you need to be using an immigration lawyer at this point. 

Just so you know, under normal circumstances when you apply for residency they usually request proof of income of about 600€ per family member _and possibly_ about 6000€ in savings per family member in a Spanish bank account. Note that sometimes they don't request the savings. That depends on the exact foreigner's office you deal with. Frankly I don't think the school your husband works at will have much clout in this matter, but hey, it never hurts to pull in all the help you can get. 

Be sure never to mention to any Spanish authorities that you're working remotely!!! It's illegal for you to work in any capacity until you get residency.

Good luck with this!


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## mere1331 (Feb 23, 2015)

I just wrote to a lawyer in Madrid who someone else on the forum suggested. Hopefully she will be able to help us. I read somewhere that even though I'm not in compliance with the law, I'm not breaking it as EU countries cannot keep family members apart. We were meant to do the application in October but even then would have been tight and we had a sick relative that sidetracked our planning. I'll be sure not to mention that I work remotely and my partner makes 1800 Euros a month so that should be sufficient funds if it's 600 per family member, right? If we need the savings does it work to have it transferred in via a foreign bank account or does it need to have been in the account for a long time? 

Thanks for the well wishes- hopefully it will work out in the end. The worst case scenario is that I stay throughout the time we are applying or potentially appealing the case and then I would not be able to return to the EU until I became an Eu citizen myself via my Italian heritage related citizenship, non?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mere1331 said:


> Thank you so much for your help! Do you think it would be wise to hire a lawyer and/or have the school helps us through the process? They employ all foreign teachers so have a good relationship with the office in Motril and I can imagine that might help somewhat. My husband makes a good salary and has a Spanish bank account yet we don't have any savings. Hopefully that won't be an issue- if we do have to scrape together funds we can but is there a minimum amount of time they have to have been in the bank account (in the UK you have to wait 3 months before you can submit your application). When we went to Gibraltar to get married we did not have our passports stamped at either side of the border, so in theory, I was out of the EU and in the UK without a record of it. I wonder if this will give us some leeway on the overstaying issue? I also left the EU twice for work (carried all of our paperwork with me) and was admitted back though both times (though my passport was stamped and not scanned).


how many days in the last 6 months have you been in Spain?

just going to Gibraltar to get married won't make a jot of difference


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

mere1331 said:


> I just wrote to a lawyer in Madrid who someone else on the forum suggested. Hopefully she will be able to help us. I read somewhere that even though I'm not in compliance with the law, I'm not breaking it as EU countries cannot keep family members apart. We were meant to do the application in October but even then would have been tight and we had a sick relative that sidetracked our planning. I'll be sure not to mention that I work remotely and my partner makes 1800 Euros a month so that should be sufficient funds if it's 600 per family member, right? If we need the savings does it work to have it transferred in via a foreign bank account or does it need to have been in the account for a long time?
> 
> Thanks for the well wishes- hopefully it will work out in the end. The worst case scenario is that I stay throughout the time we are applying or potentially appealing the case and then I would not be able to return to the EU until I became an Eu citizen myself via my Italian heritage related citizenship, non?


You need to go to your local foreigner's office (extranjería) and ask what the requirements are and what paperwork you need to turn in to apply for residency as a family member of an EU citizen. Each foreigner's office works a little differently so we can't tell you exactly what your office will ask for. Get it from the horse's mouth. 

BTW, you might need to make an appointment online to speak to someone in your foreigner's office. At other offices you can just show up and they give you a number. I bet someone at your husband's school would know how your local foreigner's office works.


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