This is the thing, I am a Canadian dating a Spanish for over 2 yrs now of back and forth.

I want to live with her in Spain, in Malaga.  One problem there aren’t many options to do this.

1) You need to be married (to apply for a residence permit)
2) you need to get a work visa, I am not in the EU (did I mention unemployment in Spain is 20%)
3) you need to get a study visa (ya that will work for 6 month - a year, but what about after?)

Now any people who are in a relationship that both live in the EU can go where ever the hell they want in the 27 country bloc, unfortunately, being a Canadian does not entitle me to this.

Now, let’s say we got married in Canada and decided to move back to Malaga (their is a Canadian consulate there, ya I am surprised too) 

A) can I apply for a residence permit (in Malaga) because I am married
B) would I have to apply for it at the embassy here in Canada
C) is there any other way I can stay in Spain without one of these work/study visas? like a civil union; common law partnership (im not saying I dont want to get married just curious)
D) would it be better to get married in Spain? not a catholic marriage, by the way in case your wondering

thanxs for the read, i hope somebody has experienced my situation, o and by the way I am a professional gambler and I am not sure how well the Spanish government would feel about giving me a work permit for that, in case your wondering how I make a living, that is for now, I will be taking some spanish classes to get to a more advanced level where I could possibly teach, since I think my BA would allow me to teach english if my spanish is at an intermediate level or higher

Other options could include, taking the ferry to Morocco, or just flying back through another non-EU country, I mean could I do that? or just stay there as long as I want and then if I decide to go home (to Canada) what woudl they say? when they saw I arrived 5 yrs ago? thanxs again

ml02kr,
if you get married (civil, religious, or civil union) to an eu citizen, you can get an eu family residence card.
you can try checking the other replies as this has been discussed thoroughly.
and have your fiancee read this
http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/modelos/extranjeria/modelos_extranje/ex_16.pdf

Arn`t there better options for you both to live in Canada.

Santi, you could only say that having not lived in Canada. 😉

ml02kr: try Getting married as a nonEU to a Spaniard

thanxs aritz i will send it to her,

santi, of course there are better options in Canada, mucho mas! but we have a place to ourselves rent free (a summer home that never gets used, besides 6 weeks in the summer) and I would also like to learn and live in the spanish culture for a while for language purposes, for myself; the weather is better, dont get me wrong i love Canada, but 14 degrees in Spain vs -8 avg. February in Canada wouldnt be all that bad 😊 plus she would like to pursue a career as of right now in Spain, and with my current situation, I can pick up and go to where ever as long as I have the Internet and an address.

Expa, I have looked at that document, but it seems kind of complex, the residence part mostly, they know I live in Canada it says so on my passport, so why the hell would they need to verify that?  if i got married, it would be here i think, so i should be able to shave off a few steps that you have, but, wouldnt i be able to apply for residence through the consulate in Malaga, with all the certificates, marriage, birth, etc…

Your passport does not declare your “residency”, only your nationality. Your residency is determined by where you live or have a right to live. You will have to first get married, then get the Libro de Famlia through which you can apply for residence.

Libro de Familia? what is that? ahh yes, your right with the residency but if I get married do i still need it?

Yes, that’s the key piece. Your girlfriend is probably familiar with it.

alright ill see what i can do, thanxs

Hi ml02kr,

Was wondering, have you got your empadronamiento? Apparently its important to have it for getting married since you’ve been here to prove you’ve been living here.  My US fiance didn’t till recently so we’ve been a bit worried about it.