# In-person visit to Registro Civil Central - will they give me my marriage certificate the same day?



## preguntasenpucela (11 mo ago)

My husband (Spanish) and I (American) were married in the UK and had our marriage inscribed at the Spanish Consulate in London. Thus, we have to solicit our marriage certificate from the Registro Civil Central in Madrid.
We requested a copy via the online form for the RCC last year. When it still hadn't arrived after more than 6 months, we called the information line, who informed us that the certificate had been posted to us about 3 1/2 months after our request. So apparently, it was lost in the post. We put in a new request online the 4th of March, but we can't wait another 3 1/2 months for it to arrive, as I want to submit an application for my tarjeta de residencia permanente in early May.
My question is whether anyone knows if the Registro Civil Central will be able to provide me a copy of my marriage certificate on the spot if I reserve a cita previa and go there in person. We requested and received a copy of the certificate through the post from the RCC once before, so (theoretically) it should still be on file there and they shouldn't need to obtain it from London again. Has anyone successfully (or unsuccessfully) gotten a copy of their documents from the RCC on the spot by going in person? Obviously I'd rather not waste the time and money to travel to Madrid if I'm just going to be made to fill out the same form again...


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

According to this page:








Solicitud de Certificado de matrimonio - Ayuntamiento de Madrid


Cómo realizar el trámite Lugar: Registro Civil Único. Hasta que finalice la actual situación sanitaria, no se admiten solicitudes presenciales. Por



www.madrid.es





The request must be made via web, in person requests are not possible:

"Los certificados deberán solicitarse a través de la página web del Ministerio de Justicia. No se admiten solicitudes presenciales."


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

I have no personal experience with this, but I have read on other forums that you can request a marriage certificate from the Spanish consulate where you had yours inscribed. Supposedly it's much quicker that way. I guess you have nothing to lose by reaching out to the London consulate and seeing what they have to say.


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## preguntasenpucela (11 mo ago)

Overandout said:


> According to this page:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's a bit confusing, but this applies to the normal Registros Civiles of Madrid, not to the special Registro Civil Central, which was closed to the public due to the pandemic until very recently but is now accepting appointments again.



kalohi said:


> I have no personal experience with this, but I have read on other forums that you can request a marriage certificate from the Spanish consulate where you had yours inscribed. Supposedly it's much quicker that way. I guess you have nothing to lose by reaching out to the London consulate and seeing what they have to say.


They weren't very helpful in 2017 (never answered the phone or replied to emails, after more than a week of constantly dialing their normal numbers, my husband got fed up and called the consular emergency line - this did the job but certainly did not endear him to the staff), but as you say, I've got nothing to lose but some mobile minutes by trying it!


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

The information I posted refers to the Registro Civil Único in Calle Pradillo 66. It is the only "Central Registro" that I know of. If there is another one which will attend to your request then I can't help you with that.


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## preguntasenpucela (11 mo ago)

Overandout said:


> The information I posted refers to the Registro Civil Único in Calle Pradillo 66. It is the only "Central Registro" that I know of. If there is another one which will attend to your request then I can't help you with that.


Thanks, the Registro Civil Central is at Calle de la Montera 18. As I understand it, its main function is to provide certificates of birth, marriage, and death that occurred outside Spain and were first registered at the relevant Spanish consulate.


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## BigFrank (Oct 12, 2016)

My case is not immediately comparable since I have an (old fashioned) Libro de Familia where our marriage which we performed in Spain is recorded.

On a number of occasions in the past few years, related I now recall to some of our children requiring the information, I have requested and received a simple A4 style *multi-lingual* form giving the details.

The marriage and registration was in a small provincial town far from Madrid where we currently reside and the piece of paper was to the best of my recollection, somewhat unbelievably I admit, produced with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of speed. If not quite on the spot then in very short order.

As I recall, close inspection of the paper produced showed all sorts of dire warnings to the effect that 'although this paper states what is in the register, it is not a legal document and should not be used to guarantee the marital status of the people named.' _*Or similar.*_

The state authorities of another EU state to whom our children needed to produce the paper were fully satisfied with it, however.

Given that you are forced to deal with HQ in Madrid in an almost post covid world, this example may or may not serve you well.

*¡ Suerte !*


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## preguntasenpucela (11 mo ago)

BigFrank said:


> My case is not immediately comparable since I have an (old fashioned) Libro de Familia where our marriage which we performed in Spain is recorded.
> 
> On a number of occasions in the past few years, related I now recall to some of our children requiring the information, I have requested and received a simple A4 style *multi-lingual* form giving the details.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info, this is interesting. Did you get the document at your local Registro Civil? Any chance you remember what it was called? In 2017 when I made my initial application, Extranjería were quick to let us know that the Libro de Familia itself is no longer acceptable as a proof of relationship (not sure if this is a national-level policy or just in the Valladolid office, as requirements seem to vary depending where you go), but at this point I'm willing to try it.


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## BigFrank (Oct 12, 2016)

I did indeed get the document from the local Registro Civil. In the town where our marriage took place and where we now live; so in that sense all was local and it was they who had produced the original Libro de Familia quite some years ago now.

As I said, the request was due to both of our children requiring proof of our mariage to overcome the same administrative hurdle in a 3rd EU country. Thus I passed on both copies to them and no longer have either.

The link below would appear to be the one you require though it is at least a little at variance with my memory.It appears to include a link for you to apply online.

´Sadly´the details there do seem to confirm that in your case, having marreid outside Spain, the certificate comes either from the Registro Central in Madrid or from the Consulado en Londres.

✓ ¿Qué es el Certificado de Matrimonio Plurilingüe o Internacional? - Trámites Certificados Registro Civil Ⓡ


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## BigFrank (Oct 12, 2016)

I checked with our children and #1son had made a scan

A single plain sheet of A4 without many flourishes. None at all on reflection. No seals or scrolls or, as far as can be gleaned from a scan, watermarks

Top left are printed the words:
_Ministerio de Justicia_

Top right:
_Registros Civiles España

Certificación del acta de matrimonio _is the heading in the main part of the form; with the same text translated to French just below.

The only slight give away as to 'which form this is' comes in a sub heading, slightly higher up, which merely describes the form as 

*'Fórmula B'*

Though I described it as multilingual, the body of the sparse document is in Spanish and in French only

In addition there is a key at the bottom of the form in 7 different languages for the contents.Which are sparse as I said.

Name of spouses, date & place of marriage, nothing else.

Not even the date of birth of the spouses; there is a space for it but the registrar where I obtained mine hadn't bothered to fill it in.

On reflection, my earlier comments about 'dire warnings' on the form are not there. Mea culpa.

Hope this helps.


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## Gest_A (7 mo ago)

If you need to request a *multilingual marriage certificate online*, you can do it either through the Ministry of Justice, free of charge, or through a document management company, 
at a cost.
I leave you the two options:


Certificado de matrimonio Ministry of Justice.
Certificado de matrimonio plurilingüe Document management company.

Do not complicate yourself.

Good luck


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## travforspa (2 mo ago)

very good information to help all of us who are a bit lost with the subject, another one that can be good is this page, Registro PRO I sent a message and they are kind, they help you with any doubts you may have without committing you to anything.


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