Question about marriage to a Spaniard, visas and residency. I’ve read through the posts on here and haven’t found anything about my question.

Is the Libro de Familia and certificate of marriage issued by the Registro Civil Consular of the Spanish consulate enough for getting the tarjeta de residencia?  Or is only the certificate issued by the Registro Civil Central in Madrid sufficient?

The situation:

I’m a non-EU citizen and want to marry my Spanish girlfriend. We plan to marry outside Spain.

I currently have no residency in Spain or the EU. I hope to get a Spanish residency card based on our marriage as soon as possible, so that I may begin to live and work legally in Spain.

The Oficina de Extranjeros has a document (http://www.graduados-sociales.com/extranjeria/48.pdf) which states that to apply for a residence card as the spouse of a Spaniard, you need:

“certificado literal de matrimonio expedido por el Registro Civil espanol, con una antiguedad no superior a tres meses”

(translation: literal certificate of marriage issued by the Spanish Registro Civil, not older than 3 months)

The issue affecting me is the interpretation of “expedido por el Registro Civil espanol”.

Does the certificate issued by the Registro Civil Consular of the Spanish consulate count as having been issued by the Registro Civil espanol?

The Consulado de Espana told me that they will issue me a Libro de Familia and a Certificado Literal de Matrimonio within a week of our marriage. They confirmed to me that 100%, absolutely 100% for sure, that these documents are sufficient to receive the Tarjeta de Residencia. They confirmed that the Registro Civil Consular is 100% the same as the Registro Civil espanol.

However, many forum postings from both individuals and lawyers are absolutely convinced that this is incorrect.  They say what the consulate gives is NOT sufficient. I need to get the Certificado Literal de Matrimonio from the Registro Civil Central in Madrid… and that this is taking at least 18 months right now.

And I can’t get any information from the Oficina de Extranjeros.  The most I got was a funcionario who told me that a certificado from the Registro Central will definitely work, but he doesn’t know about certificados from the consulates.  Great help, right?!

I’m really confused. If the Consulate documents are sufficient, I can apply for my tarjeta de residencia and begin working relatively quickly, say within a few months. But if I need to wait for the Registro Central to issue the documents, it will be at least 2 years before I can reside and work legally in Spain. It’s a huge difference, and really affects the lives of my girlfriend/future-wife and me.

Anyone have any idea what is correct, or any experiences with this? I’d really appreciate any help!

Well firstly congratulations!

I don?t think that obtaining the “Certificado Literal de Matrimonio” is so complicated. You can even apply for it through the internet. In any case within the first three months after the marriage, it?s enough with your libro de familia and the certificado literal de matrimonio is not necesary.

mij75, your problem have been discussed many times here. to add to the fire, here is my contribution, the spanish consulate of the country were you are now needs a copy of the marriage certificate of the marriage celebrated . the consulate will then send this to madrid to be registered in the registro central. once this is registered in madrid the registro civil central can issue a document.  the consulate, your girlfriend, you can now request this online or otherwise and this document is the one they will honor to issue you a libro de familia, and residence visa.