If the spouses (or spouses-to-be) are from different countries, once the marriage or birth takes place, be sure to take the certificate to the expat’s consulate, so the marriage/birth can be registered with that country. If you don’t, you may regret it eventually.

A child born in Spain is not automatically a Spanish citizen - though, with a few rare exceptions, any such child has the right to receive Spanish citizenship.

Suppose you are a legal resident of Spain, and you return to your country of origin to give birth. Once you return to Spain, you may ask for residency for the child, based on reagrupación familiar.

When marrying a Spaniard in Spain, you can choose between a religious ceremony or a civil ceremony. Before the wedding you have to show proof of identity, and proof that you are not currently married. If you’re a Christian-but-not-Catholic foreigner getting married in a Catholic church in Spain, you may find the paperwork is easier than it is for your Catholic partner: you won’t need to show a Baptism certificate. The process of getting married starts with edictos (initial announcements of the wedding). If no one presents proof to the contrary, the ceremony can take place about 20 days later.

After the ceremony, you have to register in the Registro Civil, where the Spanish government will give you a Libro de Familia. This is the universal proof of your matrimony and of the children that you have, as well as other family conditions. Don’t forget to report your wedding at your own country’s Embassy or Consulate.

If you are married outside of Spain and one of the spouses is a Spanish citizen or legal resident (that is, with an NIE), the non-Spanish spouse does not automatically receive Spanish nationality. This person can get a reagrupación familiar visa before going to Spain. Once they are in Spain, the application process for the NIE will be easier. It will also take less time if they want to become a Spanish citizen. After the wedding, the Spanish citizen has to report the matrimony to the Spanish Embassy or Consulate, so it can be registered and validated in Spain. The Spanish Embassy or Consulate then gives you the Libro de Familia.

We started getting ours done 2 months ahead (on the advice of the British consulate) and very nearly had to cancel the wedding..."

Not Spanish? Eloping in Spain

You can get married in Spain, even if neither of you are Spanish, but it’s complicated. Following is a list of documents that are normally requested:

Application form
Birth Certificate
Proof that both parties are free to marry
Divorce/Annulment Certificate of any previous marriages.
Certificate of Residence. If not a permanent resident in Spain, you can sign an affidavit before a Consular Officer indicating your place of residence for the last 6 years, as well as your temporary residence in Spain.
Posting of Banns (a public declaration of intent to marry)
Certificate of Consular Inscription

We received the following from a fellow expat about her marriage experience, offering advice to get started with any paperwork earlier than you might initially consider:

You should add a note to your bit about marrying in Spain that you should start getting the paperwork done at least 6 months ahead of the wedding (even if your own consulate says you should wait) because of all the documents and official translations of documents you need. We started getting ours done 2 months ahead (on the advice of the British consulate) and very nearly had to cancel the wedding (cue tears in the registry office and lots of pulling hair out). Also that the requirements for foreigners getting married vary from province to province - Granada, for example, asks for additional paperwork from the consulate/embassy of the foreign national.

Separation is a legal process in Spain. After a year, you may divorce, but you can generally get legal separation validated as divorce in other countries.

Last updated 11 04 2006

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Expat Talkback

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13/Apr/2009:
Paulam said:

Hello,
I am Canadian and hopefully on my way to getting married soon!!! I believe that I have all my papers but now because of the red tape on the Spanish side of things people have told me that my birth cetificate from Canada, which has been translated and stamped only has a 3 month validity? Is this true? If anyone has any information on this topic, please help. Thank you
Paula

27/Mar/2009:
elvismustafa said:

BY THE WAY THE WHOLE PROCES I MEAN FROM DAY I GOT MARRIED IN MY COUNTRY AND UP TO THE DAY I GOT THE N.I.E IN MY HANDS LASTED THREE MONTHS AND HALF.

I hope this was helpful for you all
Good luck

27/Mar/2009:
elvismustafa said:

presenting in embassy have to be shared with you and your wife/husband) the all process of waiting is only up to 60 days because so says the European law no more than 60 days.

Note: once the embassy has given you the "libro de familia" you don't worry for anything else because you decently have been granted the visa.

27/Mar/2009:
elvismustafa said:

spain and to get the visa) they will tell you what documents you need to process for the visa (remember there will be an interview between both of you it is a bit provocative be careful). The presentation of the papers is split in two parts one part is to register the marriage in the embassy and present all the papers requested for that part and then wait for an answer which in my case I waited only two weeks and half, you will receive a call from the embassy that they say you marriage has been approved and you have to go to the embassy to pick up the so called "libro de familia" and a marriage certificate. Now we have the part two to present which is for the visa application, the embassy will tell you what type of documents you need for the visa (remember all the documents that you are

27/Mar/2009:
elvismustafa said:

hi! here are some information to all the foreigners they live abroad and that wishes to get married to a Spanish citizen. First you need to get married in your country of origyn and after the marriage you need to take a "marriage certificate" and some other personal documents that the embassy will request. After your marriage you go to the embassy and they will offer you two options 1) is to register your marriage in spain through your wife (you can't go to spain it has to be your wife doing all the paper work in spain and the process lasts up to one year) 2) the embassy offers you to register the marriage there in the embassy which (remember the embassy works faster to register your marriage in

15/Nov/2008:
canadiense said:

hello, I am a Canadian who has submitted my application to marry my Spanish partner in Zaragoza, Spain. Unfortunately our marriage will not likely happen until next May. My tourist visa is about to run out soon. I am wondering if I can stay here illegally while waiting for my marriage date. Or if I will be punished by being refused marriage in Spain as well as deportation?

19/Jun/2008:
kelvinator said:

Hi shellibel,

The document that they are refering to is called single status document. It's a proof to show that you have not married before. I'm a Malaysian so I don't know where you can get it in US but I got mine from the National Registration office.

The proof of residence is quite tough to obtain. I was leaving in Irleand for the past 8 years before I moved to Spain & I had to ask the Irish embassy here in Madrid to issue me a letter after I had submitting papers to proof that I lived & worked in Ireland legally. The immigration office in Dublin refuse to issue me any letter that leave me no choice but to consult the embassy here.

It's a long & 'exciting' experience here. Loads of patience & make sure you have every single document ready & translated before you go to the office before your marrigae registration.

Good luck

13/Jun/2008:
Randybsj said:

Hi Michelle,

I assume you are in Madrid. You will have to ask your Consulate to help you with the documents you need. Tell them that you are planning to get married and you have been asked by the Registro Civil to provide this information. These documents do not exist in my country (South Africa) but the Consulate was able to draft a letter confirming my identity and stating that I was unmarried and free to enter into a marriage with my partner. It also helps if you are registered at your Consulate/Embassy as they can then confirm you address details, etc.

04/Jun/2008:
shellibel said:

Hi all
I am not an EU citizen and plan on marrying my Spanish boyfriend in Madrid in September. I was born in New York, and I do not understand a few of the documents I am supposed to present:
-proof that I am not currently married (how do I come up with that?)
-proof of residence (I always thought that my passport counted)
Thanks so much for all your help!
Michelle

05/May/2008:
Kamila said:

Hi everyone!
I have an question and hope somebody can help me.
I am Polish and I want to marry in Madrid with my South African boyfriend who stays in his country at the moment.
Can he arrive to Spain on visitor/tourist visa and marry me in Spain ?
Can he apply for NIE from South Africa or he must wait till after marriage?
Is there any possibility to start the marriage process like application etc. in Madrid before he arrives ?
THANK YOU

14/Jun/2007:
Linka said:

Hi
I have just found your site on The internet and wish I had found you a year ago!
My question is, My partner and I have been living in Spain now for nearly a year. We have bought a house and would now like to get married. I need to know where I should go to get the information and forms I need to start the process. I realise it could take a while and being that we are living here We don't have a problem with that. I am divorced with two teenage children, My partner has never been married. We would like a civil wedding.
We live on The Costa blanca coast In a town called Benissa.
Thank you very much for your help.
Linka

27/Jul/2006:
kelvinator said:

I am a non EU citizen currently living in Dublin,Ireland. My girlfriend (Spanish national)and myself are planning to move to Madrid this fall and get married in October but after discovered this site and seeing so many people have so many problems with the Spanish bureaucracy,we afraid that our dream autumn wedding is almost impossible.

We haven't submit any applications or documents yet but we were being told the whole process took about 2 months. We hope it is true.

Do you think it is much easier and quicker to married in fall compare to other seasons in the year?

Could somebody tell me what is a Certificate of Consular Inscription and Certificate of Residence? Why nobody told me before that I needed those papers?

Can I live and work in Spain legally after the marriage without the work permit??

15/Jul/2006:
Randybsj said:

Finally, after a rather long wait and so much paperwork we have now been given a date for our marriage (18/10/2006). Thank you to everyone in the Forum.

All the best and good luck.

Randy and Jose

06/Jul/2006:
jan said:

Hi Artemisa,

Spanish embassy in Hong Kong got our application for "libro de familia". Now what we can do is wait. Hope it will not take 10 months like Ady's case. God bless us.....

04/Jul/2006:
artemisa said:

Hi ady;
you don´t need anything else unless you want to get a copy of your kid's birth certificate, which is a good idea and free.

Have a good day

04/Jul/2006:
artemisa said:

Hi jan,
You don´t need a fiance visa, since you are already married what you have to do you can do it in the spanish embassy in Hong Kong, it is validate your marriage certificated and get your libro de familia there...so when you get to spain you will have your nie

Hope that will help you

04/Jul/2006:
jan said:

Hi Artemisa,

Many thanks for your reply. We will act now.

According to my case, one more question is do I need any special kind of visa (apply to spanish embassy in Hong Kong) to stay more than 90 days in Spain ?? as I read in this site, some people mentioned "fiance visa", "residency visa"...
(I'm holding Hong Kong SAR passport it allows me entry Spain no visa needed and can stay not more than 90 days)

I'm worried that these 90 days are not enough time for me to get my "NIE" and other papers apply inside Spain which allow me to stay more than 90 days.

Thanks.

03/Jul/2006:
ady said:

Me and wife are non-european living in Spain,our child born in Murcia and for the registration proceses have took me nearly 10 month to be clear. Now I just collected 'Libro de Famlia' from the registro civil. Question is there any other document that should I collect at the registro civil?

03/Jul/2006:
artemisa said:

Hi jan:
The first you have to go to the spanish embasy in Hong Kong , I am sure you will be able to do your "libro de familia" there, what really is "your spanish married certificate " and since your husband is spanish you won´t have any problem, well a lot of papers and translation, all the papers must be translated officialy into spanish or wait till you are back in Spain but if I was you I would start now.....since take long time......
Good luck

01/Jul/2006:
jan said:

hi all,

I'm holding Hong Kong SAR passport and was married with my spanish husband in England 2002. (so our marriage certificate was issued from England).

Now we need the "Libro de familia" (as the Expatriator said we regret it eventally didn't get it once the marraige). The problem is now we are living in Hong Kong.

What will be the possible way to get our "libro de familia" ?? how long will it take for this application ? (we would like to move back to Spain in this Setp)

Thanks.

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