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✎ EN HELP please! Non-EU married to EU in Spain Residency Issue

Discussion in 'Spain' started by lgault, Nov 28, 2005.

  1. lgault

    lgault Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2005
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    City:
    Madrid, Spain
    I have posted a couple of times throughout this immigration process, and I have run into one more problem. I am a US citizen married to a Greek citizen and he is a resident of Spain. I applied for the Schengen Visa while I was in the US (getting married) this summer. The Spanish consulate told me that I no longer needed the Visa - to just go to the police/immigration here and apply for a resident card. When I arrived here (about a month ago), I got the forms that I needed to fill out and worked on gathering, translating, legalizing all of my documents. I went today to immigration - and after 2 hours in line, was told that the date of the marriage registry needs to be within three months of today's date. My Spanish is pretty awful, so I asked her to repeat it a few times, and asked her which date she was referring to. She pointed to and said July 3rd - which is the date that we got married (in the US). But how can that date be required to be within 3 months of today? It is completely illogical, but do we have to get married again? I'm so confused. Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Lindsay
     
  2. Plaga

    Plaga New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2005
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    Igault

    I am Spanish and had to go through this process for my husband (non EEA national). What they need from you is a copy of your marriage certificate dated within the last three months. It does not matter when you married, but the marriage certificate needs to be no more than 3 months old.

    The only option you have now is either requesting one from the US embassy/consulate wherever you live in Spain (I am not sure if they can provide you with one) or get someone from your family to get a new marriage certificate, legalise it and then send it to you. This requirement is a "must" as they need prove that you are married around the time of making the application (they want to avoid applications from people that have divorced, for example).

    I know how frustrating it feels to get misinformed by the Spanish consulate as they should have given you these details. Once in Spain the process is slow and the Spanish Immigration authorities are not too helpful, but be patient and everything will turn out the way you want. It will take a bit longer than expected, that's all.
     
  3. alabama

    alabama Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    Gender:
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    Living In:
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    Nationality:
    British (GB)
    Languages:
    English, Français
    I found the same issue when dealing with the French Consulate - any certificate, whether it be marriage, birth, etc. - has to be dated within the last three months otherwise it will not be accepted. I think this rule can be applied to most countries in Europe at least to avoid bureaucratic hassle.
     
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