A post was made about this subject on the April 2008 by an Australian in Barcelona, which I found extremely helpful! I?m also going to write my experience which has been in Madrid, as the more information the better.

I?m from Australia and married a Spaniard last November. My 90 day Schengen visa had already expired at the end of July (so by 3.5 months). I was a little worried about traveling but in October I did go France (but by car, not through an airport).

The getting married part was relatively simple (in hindsight!).

Step 1: Firstly I recommend going to the Registro Civil de Madrid at Calle Pradillo 66, 28002 Madrid (tel 914 936 630) and getting the forms which tell you exactly what you both need to take to the first interview. We tried several times to call to get information, make appointments, but never got through.

Things you need (some take a while to get):

1) Original Australian Birth Certificate, stamped with an Apostille of the Hague from the DFAT in Australia (My mum got this for me and posted it over). Then we had to get it translated by an official registered translator in Spain (you can get a list from the Aus Embassy in Madrid)

2) Certificate of no impediment to marriage & a certificate of where you?ve lived the last 2 years. I got these from the Embassy in Madrid (call them first to make an appointment), it costs about 90 Euros and only takes about 1/2 hour but you need something to prove the address you claim. I used my Aussie driver?s license. For the certificate of no impediment you need to sign a statutory declaration at the embassy.

3) passport

4) Also one of you needs to be “empradonarse” registered in the place you want to get married. In any case you will need to get your Certificado de empadronamiento from a Junta Municipal (find your closest one, there’s lots). First make an appointment and you will need something to prove your address, like your lease (my husband had to fill out a form stating I lived with him, as I?m not on the lease).

Step 2: Once we had all this together we went to back to the Registro civil de Madrid (calle pradillo) together for the first interview. You can?t make an appointment for this and we arrived half an hour before opening time and there was already a huge line. Also with us we had to take a witness and a translator (for me).  We used the same translator as translated my birth certificate, I think he charged around 100euros. They told us to come back in two weeks to find out if our marriage had been approved.

Note: There was a two month waiting list to get married at calle pradillo, so in these two weeks we called around to find a place with a shorter list.

Step 3: After the 2 weeks I went back to Calle Pradillo to get our approved wedding documents and went with them and one of our witnesses for the wedding to Galapagar (where we had decided to get married, as it only had a 2 week waiting list) to make an appointment for the wedding, which was then 2 weeks later (you’ll need two winesses but only one needs to go with you to make the appointment as long as you take the ID of the other).

Note: The day after the wedding we flew to Australia for our honeymoon. I had nothing to prove I was married and was a little nervous (as I had well overstayed my 90day visa). In the end I had nothing to worry about, as the Spanish customs didn?t even look through my passport.
The problem came when I left Australia as the airline would not let me on the plane without a return ticket or visa for the country of origin. I did have a colour copy of my marriage certificate and family book (emailed by my parents in law) and that was enough for them.

When I reentered Spain, again customs didn?t check my passport.

NIE/Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union

Step 1 was to make an appointment with the Oficina de Extranjeria on tel. 902565701. We did this when we got back form Australia in December and was told our interview would be in May (5 months later!!).
I was lucky in that my father in law has a friend of a friend of a friend (or something like that) so I could get this meeting in January instead of May. To avoid this problem I recommend calling as soon as possible (even before getting married), as they asked for no proof of marriage to make the interview.

I had to take with me the following:
- a completed EX-16 form (Solicitud de Certificado de registro como residente comunitaria o Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union) + copies
- Libro de Familia + copy
- my passport + copy
- my husband?s ORIGINAL DNI card + copy
- my certificado de empadronamiento
- Three passport photos
They took my finger prints at this meeting and then told me I will get a letter in 1 to 1.5 months stating where I can pick up my residence card.
.
We got the forms from http://www.map.es/servicios/servicios_on_line/extranjeria/modelos_oficiales_solicitudes.html (except for the forms for paying the taxes which they gave us in the various offices).

I hope this is helpful to someone, as in the beginning I think I wasted a lot of time in confusion and stress due to a lack of information.

Good luck.

Thanks mate, this has been very informative and helpful. Much appreciated for the effort.

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH 😊 I?m a kiwi just married to my spainish hubby…and your info re: the residency papers has saved heaps of stress….. Hope all is smiles for you….

Thanx again

Sarah

Olivia,
Thanks so much for the info—it is really helpful!  I was just wondering though about the tarjeta de residencia process—-I thought you had to leave the country and apply for a ‘reagrupacion familiar’ or something like that at the Spanish consulate before you could get the tarjeta de residencia.  Am I mistaken?  If you get married here in Spain, can you apply for the tarjeta de residencia (with rights to work, etc.) without returning to your home country?

You are an Angel! Thanks So Much! I might not be Australian but this is still percet Information. :coolsmile:

Hey thanks!
I’m Canadian and I’m planning to get marry to my Spanish bf of 5 years! Why is this so complicated? Thanks for the info anyways. 😊

Hello to all,

I see this form is very helpful. My partner and I have been trying to get married in Spain for past 1 and half years. I am from San Francisco and my partner is from Valencia, Spain. We have been together for past 7 years.

We both tried our best to get info from the Gov officials but we always got different wrong answers. Finally after 1 and half years, I managed to get all the documents from the US.

Now, we have been approved to get married on the 13 Jan 2010. But right after our wedding, I have to go back to work in Dubai.

The questions are.

1: What is the next step?

2: How do I establish myself as a good citizen here in this country (Spain)? (eg: in the US the first thing you need is to get Social Security number and start working and file tax.)

3: When can I apply for DIN? How long does it take?

4: Since, I work in Dubai. Can I apply for my DIN at the Spanish consulate in UAE?

5: Do I need to apply for NIE?

6: Do I have to pay tax here? Even though I work in Dubai, which is tax free country.

If any one would kindly answer my question will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Its appreciated & admire you for cool post , I’m loving it !