I am from the US met my Moroccan fiance in while studying abroad and now I came back to Madrid where he currently lives and works in order for us to get married and then bring him back with me to the US. I made plans to do all of this planning to go back on Nov. 22 not knowing that it takes so long to get married in Madrid. Is there a place in Spain where we can go to get married that won’t take so long? Please help me!

Hi,
Sorry, but fast marriages as you have in some states in USA don’t exist in Spain.
Best regards,

just wondering how your situation turned out… I am also a US girl to marry a Moroccan in Spain. I saw on the US gov website that you can bring him to the US on a fiancee visa to marry in the US- hope that helps if you?re still trying to resolve things. good luck in your marriage- let me know if you have any advice!

Hi there, I have to concur with one of the posters above. The idea of “fast” marriages, especially when the persons in question are foreigners is an alien concept here.  I am an American, like many Americans, who is a son of immigrants.  We tried to marry during a period of 2 years and faced numerous paperwork obstacles in order to marry.  It might be easier for you to marry your Morroccan partner in Morrocco than Spain, though I do not know if civil marriage is possible in Morrocco. That is, your marriage might have to be religious. If he or she is Muslim, then your marriage must be religious.  Also, the non-Muslim partner would have to convert to Islam, otherwise, the marriage is void.

good luck.

meghan - 07 February 2008 09:42 PM

just wondering how your situation turned out… I am also a US girl to marry a Moroccan in Spain. I saw on the US gov website that you can bring him to the US on a fiancee visa to marry in the US- hope that helps if you?re still trying to resolve things. good luck in your marriage- let me know if you have any advice!

Meghan,

Are you and your husband-to-be wanting to immigrate to the U.S. or Spain?

We are not planning on moving to the states- if we move from Spain- we will live in another country in EU. We are both working on getting work contracts right now. I have a residence permit until June 08 from a student visa and want to legally come back to live here with work contract after graduation in August 08. If I cannot get a work contract and he has a contract here- when we marry, will I be able to have a work permit, too or no? Would I have to go back to the states to apply for one at the Consulate of Spain after we marry?

Meghan,

There’s a website called migrar.org where immigrants in Spain can pose questions in a Forum to immigration lawyers who volunteer for the Cruz Roja Espa?ola.  You have to formulate your query in Spanish.  They will respond to your query, initially, with a series of standard information sheets that correspond to the area of inquiry. 

If your partner has a legal residency and a work permit here, given certain conditions (such as his demonstrated ability to support you financially, and his length of legal residency here in Spain), you are able to apply under what is called “Reagrupaci?n Familiar”.  However, this only gives you the right to reside here and NOT the right to work (which is a whole other deal).  This is why he must demonstrate that he is able to support you financially. 

Good Luck

We married in Spain, both being Ex pats and there is no quick way about it.
You need to go to your local town hall for a list of what they require you to have - this can vary from region to region, but typically includes:
Translation of birth certificates from whatever language to spanish (all translations must be bonafide ones, done by a legal translator and stamped). Cost varies, I think we paid about 25 euros per document.
Copies of passports
Translations of all previous divorce documents (if applicable)
Certifcate of no impediment (we got this from our British consulate, where we filled out a form and they put the ‘banns’ up publically for 3 weeks, if no one objected then we went back and claimed the certificate, cost about 100 euros)
One of us had to have lived in this town for at least 2 years - registered on the padron, so they checked back on that. 
Plus some places may ask for other bits.

Once we had all this they then sent it off, we gave ours in to the town hall in September, and got the ok in February for our April wedding.  They all thought we were crazy organising things with no guarantee that the papaerwork would come back ok. I’ve has friends marry who have only got the ok the same week as their weddding.  If the papaerwork isn’t right they send it back and you start again,.....

If your fiance hasn’t registered on his local padron, then I think you’ve very little chance….its always worth asking tho.
Good luck

About birth certificates needed in order to apply for marriage:

If you were born outside Spain, your birth certificate, if written in a language other than Castilian, must not only be translated by a traductor jurado or a translater who translates official documents… IMPORTANT: the birth certificate must be legalised in your country of origin.  In my case, I had to get my birth certificate attested in the City Hall of the city where I was born. Then, it has to be attested by a department in the Ministry of the Interior.  Then, it had to be taken to the Spanish Consulate in my city… after collecting numerous stamps and seals, then it was translated by a traductor jurado here in Barcelona. 

Quite the drama… spending quite a bit of money for a silly piece of papaer.

albaqaahuna - 08 March 2008 10:26 PM

About birth certificates needed in order to apply for marriage:

If you were born outside Spain, your birth certificate, if written in a language other than Castilian, must not only be translated by a traductor jurado or a translater who translates official documents… IMPORTANT: the birth certificate must be legalised in your country of origin.  In my case, I had to get my birth certificate attested in the City Hall of the city where I was born. Then, it has to be attested by a department in the Ministry of the Interior.  Then, it had to be taken to the Spanish Consulate in my city… after collecting numerous stamps and seals, then it was translated by a traductor jurado here in Barcelona. 

Quite the drama… spending quite a bit of money for a silly piece of papaer.

This is a good example of the varying regions, ours didnt require the apostile stamp on our birth certificates.