Well, I’m a 22 year old US citizen who is madly in love with her Spanish citizen boyfriend and planning on marriage, but due to my birth and upbringing I’m in a bit of a gray area.
I arrived in Spain in June and am about to finish up my 90 days (*sigh*). I met my boyfriend last year as my parents used to live in Spain and we’ve been dating since. We’ve already decided that we’re the right ones for each other and want to get married so we can stay together. This is naturally where the problems start. We’ve started working on paperwork for the civil ceremony, but I am so going to end up exceeding my 90 days between Spanish bureaucracy and the wonderful world that is wedding planning.
1) *Could this be problematic legally and end up in my getting booted before I get to wear my dress? I went through my stamps and apparently I have no stamp saying when I arrived in Spain. This is cool, but don’t these people keep a record of entries when you fill out those immigration forms or when they scan your passport?*
I was originally born on the US Navy base in Rota, Spain. This means I have a US Department of State Certification of Birth rather than a standard American birth certificate. Also, I just found out that the Spanish registro civil of Rota has my Spanish (!) birth certificate. My passport indicates my place of birth as Spain. Not US Naval Base, just Spain.
2) *Would I be eligible to claim Spanish citizenship on my own, regardless of marriage, and how long does that process usually take? Or does it not count as my parents bore me under military status?*
The registro civil also said that because it’s a Spanish certificate it won’t need an Apostille (score!).
The documentation from the Consulate of Seville are still confusing me. The embassy website gives general information but nothing specific.
3) *-A Declaration of Legal Status: Do I just show up and tell them I’m single, can they stamp something? Or is it something I need to make an appointment for and wait for months to process and have them mail it to me?*
4) *-A Declaration of Residence: Does this mean in Spain or the US? Legally I’m not living in Spain, I’m just residing in my boyfriend’s apartment, but I have no documentation to verify this except a letter from my great aunt Nelly. Do I need to use my American address as stated on my NY driver’s license and does this count as evidence for that document? Also, I have not lived in NY for 2 years. Previously I was a resident of Massachusetts for college. Would I have to use an old bill or get my college to send me a random document saying I was there? Or would the Consulate be able to access all this on a nifty computer on their own or take my word for it? How long does something like this take to do?*
5) In general, should I book an appointment with the consulate or just show up and cross my fingers?
Because my parents were residing in Spain up until last year, until 2 years ago I had a Permiso de Residencia card which expired and I never renewed because I was in the States.
6) *Is there any way I could simply reactivate this on my own before marriage so I could actually live and work here legally until then?. I still have my moped license which is valid until 2012 that states my old residence number*
I’m registered to take a CELTA course in October until December.
7) *Does this make me valid for a student visa and could I achieve it from Spain or would I have to go back to the US?*
Any suggestions about time frames, especially that between turning in all the paperwork, having the registro civil get back to you, and choosing a date, would be very helpful.
BONUS 8) How do you convince your family you’re marrying for love and not for papers…
