Hi. I hope this is the right place to post, sorry if not. I am a British citizen with a Japanese wife who recently got married in Italy (long story!) I have accepted a position in Spain to start from October and our plan is for my wife to join me and apply for residency in country. My belief was that a copy of our original wedding certificate plus certified Spanish translation should be enough, however the Spanish embassy in Japan have suggested we need an original British wedding certificate. This is unfortunately somewhat impossible as the British authorities will not issue such a document or register weddings carried out abroad. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

radiostar2000,
you are a british citizen,
your wife is a japanese citizen, residing in japan, applying for a residence visa in spain.
you got married in italy.
you are going to reside in spain.
and the spanish consulate in japan is requiring your wife an original british marriage certificate.

where in italy did you get married, italian courts or british consulate?
why don’t you apply for a british residence for your wife instead?
there is a new law not requiring visas for non eu citizen family of eu citizen as long as they can show previously issued residence cards proving they are related.