Hello.  My fiance and are planning on getting married and one of the documents that I will have to provide is some sort of Police record.  I inquired about this in my home state and my local police suggested two options:  I could request a Clearance letter (or certificate of good conduct) or could go through a private company and have a back ground check.  The Clearance letter would be a simple letter from my local police stating that I had a clean record in that particular city.  The back ground check would not come from any government office but would provide thorough information about my legal status, credit reports, etc.  Which one is more acceptable?  Does anyone know?  I have the Clearance Letter from my local police already, but this particular requirement is a bit confusing because there isnt one collective agency known as “The American Police”.  Any information would be helpful.  Thank you.

I just moved from NYC to Barcelona to get married to a Spanish citizen. I had to get the following:

?  An original copy of my birth certificate, apostilled and then translated by an official translator
?  A certificate of proof of residency from your city of residence, apostilled and then translated by an official translator
?  A certificate of non-impediment to marry (proof that you are not currently married) from your city of residence, apostilled and then translated by an official translator

An apostille is like an international notary public to make the documents valid in all countries that subscribe to it. Spain is one of them.

We have submitted all of these documents undergone the interview process and are waiting for the final approval of our request to get married. Then we have to find a court house that has a time slot available for us to reserve. Then we can make our announcements etc.

To get EU residency after we are married, I was told to get the following by submitting official copies of my finger prints:

?  Proof of no criminal or arrest record from your city of residence
?  Proof of no criminal or arrest record from your state of residence
?  Proof of no criminal or arrest record from the FBI

It can take up to 18 months to get this from the FBI unless you make a special rush request which I did and it took about 6 weeks.

I do not yet know if I have to get these last three documents appostiled and don’t know if they have to be translated or, into what language they would have to be translated.

I hope this helps and doesn’t scare off from marriage in Spain.

Best of luck to you!

Danny

Thank you Danny.  I wish you the best of luck.  Its not scary (the process) but just a bit confusing.  Thank you for your help!

There is a company that offers this service now by post. Their website is http://www.goodconductcertificates.co.uk