# Spanish Embassy will not accept our marriage!



## Kus (Apr 24, 2014)

Hi everyone

I am a British national, currently resident in Japan. I have a job starting in Spain in September, so I will be moving there then. My wife is a non-EU national (Trinidad & Tobago). We wanted to apply for a family visit visa for her to come with me, and then apply for her residence too. Should be straightforward, right?

We first hoped to apply at the Spanish Embassy in London on our way through to Spain, but they said that this was not possible as she would not be a British resident (T&T citizens get a 6-month tourist visa on entry to the U.K.).

So, as she still has a year on her residency here in Japan, we decided to apply here. However, I have just received an e-mail from the Spanish Embassy in Tokyo, saying that they will not accept our Japanese marriage certificate, and that she must apply for a regular tourist visa.

This seems unbelievable considering that the embassy is actually in Japan. But can they do this? I even offered to get it apostilled, translated, everything, but to no avail! I thought Spain was a member of the Apostille Convention?

Thoughts or advice please!
Thank you so much!!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Kus said:


> Hi everyone
> 
> I am a British national, currently resident in Japan. I have a job starting in Spain in September, so I will be moving there then. My wife is a non-EU national (Trinidad & Tobago). We wanted to apply for a family visit visa for her to come with me, and then apply for her residence too. Should be straightforward, right?
> 
> ...


It seems that you in these cases the marriage first has to be registered in the country of origin of the EU member. So, is the marriage registered/ recognised or whatever in the UK?
Can you not ask the the Spanish embassy directly the steps you have to go through to be able to reside in Spain as a couple?
Do a search here for non eu spouse or similar and see what you come up with?


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## Kus (Apr 24, 2014)

Hi Pesky Wesky

Thanks for your reply.
I've been through the information on this forum about the process, and what we need to do, but it's the initial part that is included in all routes that is the problem: My wife entering Spain on a Schengen/family visa.

When I went to the British Embassy on another matter, they said that you cannot register a marriage in the U.K. that's already been registered in Japan. This is because (supposedly like Spain) the U.K. is a member of the Apostille Convention, and therefore all marriages within those member states are recognised by each other.

But from what I can gather there is no way to get the Spanish Embassy to recognise our marriage. The Spanish Embassy said for her to enter on a non-spouse tourist visa, but surely then when we apply for residency they again won't recognise our marriage.

It seems a catch-22 situation.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Kus said:


> Hi Pesky Wesky
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> I've been through the information on this forum about the process, and what we need to do, but it's the initial part that is included in all routes that is the problem: My wife entering Spain on a Schengen/family visa.
> ...


that does seem very odd

what about contacting the Japanese Consulate in Spain?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Kus said:


> Hi Pesky Wesky
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> I've been through the information on this forum about the process, and what we need to do, but it's the initial part that is included in all routes that is the problem: My wife entering Spain on a Schengen/family visa.
> ...


That the marriage is recognised yes, but doesn't ¡t it have to be registered in some form for it to be recognised. I mean, if they don't know that you're married in the UK, how can it be recognised?


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## Kus (Apr 24, 2014)

The U.K. discontinued it's Marriage certificate registry service on 1st January 2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...istry-service-discontinued-for-overseas-brits

Which wasn't really a register, more a place you could store the marriage record for future copies etc. 

So there isn't a way of registering it, because the U.K. just does recognise foreign marriages.

xabiachica, I will give your suggestion a go. I'll also get in touch with the British Embassy here.

Thanks


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## Donutz2 (Apr 14, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> It seems that you in these cases the marriage first has to be registered in the country of origin of the EU member. So, is the marriage registered/ recognised or whatever in the UK?
> Can you not ask the the Spanish embassy directly the steps you have to go through to be able to reside in Spain as a couple?
> Do a search here for non eu spouse or similar and see what you come up with?


Why would registration in the EU nationals country have anything to do with it? What matters is that you are married. 

If the EU/EEA national is married, then (s)he can take the non EU/EEA spouse with them or join them in any EU/EEA country except for the country one is a national of. So a Brit with Japanese wife should be granted entry (entry visa) to Spain with minimum hassle and for free.

What would be required:
- Proof of family relation (marriage act, pref. orginal, might need legalisation/notirisation/apostille if there could be doubts about it's genuinity).
- Proof of who both are (passports of EU and non EU national)
- Showing that they are traveling to or joining eachother in Spain: statement by the EU spouse, optionally reservation of transport to Spain.

More info and help on the EU's website:
EU â€“ Travel documents for non-EU family members â€“ Your Europe
Applicants fall under the Freedom of Movement rights, 2004/38/EG. 

Sounds like the Spanish are making things difficult..
- If the non EU spouse has ressidency in the UK they can apply from there, even without ressidency you should be able to apply from there if it's unreasonable to ask them to return to their home country to apply. 
- EU/EEA family should be granted every facility, should be a fast and easy process, a few weeks at most and almost no paperwork
- If applying from Japan, the same still applies: show that you are family, who you are and will travel to Spain. The Spaniards should then issue the visa for free ASAP.

The OP may also wish to file a complaint with the Spanish authorities and the EU council (Home Affairs) since on the info given the Spanish embassies do not seem to execute EU regulations properly... Not a real suprise there, wouldn't be the first EU member to do so...

Edit: as for what is required for settlement I do not know. Check with the Spanish authorities or even better, EU authorities since countries or individual representatations do not always seem to excute EU regulations correctly...


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## Donutz2 (Apr 14, 2014)

Just a second too late for an other edit (b*gger):
This EU page details what you require for long term stay for family members in an other EU/EEA country: EU – Residence rights when working abroad (non-EU relatives & partners) - Your Europe


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## clau420e (Apr 21, 2013)

Hello to all. I am new to this forum (as far as posting, but I have spent a lot of time reading posts). I thought I might contribute a little bit from my experience. What my husband (from England) and I (from Peru) had to do was go the the UK embassy in Lima and request a certificate wherein they simply state that, as per British law, overseas marriages are recognised. The Spanish embassy in Lima was well aware that the UK does not issue anything else. I hope this helps.

Cheers,


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## jonmlb748 (Oct 30, 2011)

I have used SOLVIT which is a free European ombudsman with great success .the Spanish authorities will be most unhelpful ,not answering emails,changing rules depending on the civil servants frame of mind and generally dicking you around.it could be in your interests to get in touch with them ,state the facts and see if they can help.they quickly resolved resident card problems for both my wife and stepdaughter when my lawyer had admitted defeat .


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

clau420e said:


> Hello to all. I am new to this forum (as far as posting, but I have spent a lot of time reading posts). I thought I might contribute a little bit from my experience. What my husband (from England) and I (from Peru) had to do was go the the UK embassy in Lima and request a certificate wherein they simply state that, as per British law, overseas marriages are recognised. The Spanish embassy in Lima was well aware that the UK does not issue anything else. I hope this helps.
> 
> Cheers,


Similar to my experience when I went to Colombia. I was asked to provide a constancia de buena conducta or something like that. At that time Britain didn't release that type of info, and Colombia knew that, but I had to get a letter from Scotland Yard saying that it didn't give this info.
Then in Spain I had to get some paper or other from the British embassy which again didn't exist so what in fact I had to get was a paper saying that that didn't exist either...:noidea:


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