I am U.S. citizen who has received Spanish citizenship through the Law of Historical Memory. My wife is U.S. Citizen. What do I need to do to register the marriage so that she may live in Europe with me legally?

lorenzo1 - 21 January 2012 05:55 PM

I am U.S. citizen who has received Spanish citizenship through the Law of Historical Memory. My wife is U.S. Citizen. What do I need to do to register the marriage so that she may live in Europe with me legally?

which country in europe do you plan to live in?

Good Afternoon,

Italy.

Thanks

lorenzo1 - 22 January 2012 11:40 PM

Good Afternoon,

Italy.

Thanks

normally usa citizen do not need a visa, they can go with their eu spouse and carry out the paperwork in the eu country to get the residency in the eu country. do you have your spanish passport and dni? since you are going to italy,you ask the italian consulate what the italian police needs to issue your wife an italian resident permit for eu spouse.

i have a Spanish / EU passport. dni? not sure. would the dni number be on my passport or perhaps another document i received. thanks

lorenzo1 - 23 January 2012 03:43 PM

i have a Spanish / EU passport. dni? not sure. would the dni number be on my passport or perhaps another document i received. thanks

the dni is issued in spain, it is the national id card. most eu countries have their respective national id cards. europeans usually carry national id cards, unlike americans. if you life in spain, it has your address with you and it is very important to carry it with you at all times. if you live outside spain you have to be issued a document by the spanish consulate so you can be issued one. ask the spanish consulate to inform you about it. it subsitutes a passports when you travel within the eu.

I would check with the Italian side, here is a link that may help: http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/view/10930/
I could be wrong but if you are living in the U.S. now, your wife may need to apply for a certain type of visa before going to Italy. You will need to have your marriage certificate translated into Italian by the Italian consulate in the U.S.

I am a U.S. citizen married to an Italian citizen and we are now living in Spain. I first received permanent residence in Italy and then after we decided to move and I have now received residence in Spain. I know when I moved to Spain, I needed to be coming straight from Italy with residence there, otherwise they would need me to have a visa for Spain issued in the U.S. so I am wondering if you are going to run into the same problem in Italy.

Do you have a job in Italy? As it is not the country that you have citizenship in… you may have to have a job and be paying into social services before they let your wife have residence and work. The way I saw it was… as a Spanish citizen, your wife has a right to live with you in Spain if you are working or not, but if you want to live in Italy, that right is not the same. I could be wrong but this was my experience. Also be aware that it is a long process that could take up to 6 months or longer. We got married in March and I still did not have my identity card when we moved to Spain in November!

Hope that helps and if you have questions about the Italian way of things, let me know! Which city in Italy are you thinking cause that will make a difference?

Thanks to all for the replies, The city is Florence and I will be interviewing for a position to work there. However, I / we have travel insurance, a rental lease or contract for an apartment and sufficient funds to sustain us for the intended stay. We depart in 3 days and at this point after arriving intend to visit the Spanish Consulate for DNI information after that try my best to resister at the Ufficio Anagrafe in Florence. I am sure it will most likely be a task that will take time and patience. thanks again.