I am british and my spouse is Mexican.

I am a resident in Spain. We are trying to get him paper so we can go and live there with my parents who are also spanish residents.

But the problem is the Spanish Embassy here in Mexico is saying that since 2005 they dont issue the family regrouping or the community residence visa.  We have driven to the embassy and spoken to a different 5 people on the phone all of them saying the same thing that my partner has to apply for the residence card and all the papers in Spain at the foreigners police station.

When we call the foreigners police station they say that my partner has to get a visa from the spanish embassy in Mexico, and that they do everything in Mexico!! So we are going round in cirlces.

My parents found an immigration lawyer in Spain and she called the embassy here in mexico and apparently she spoke to someone saying that they do issue the visa in Mexico, but when we called the embassy back someone apologized and told us that the lawyer had been given the wrong information and they didnt issue any visa similar.

I really need some advice, Ive been reading so many websites and I know my husband as a non EU citizen can work in Spain, I just dont know how to go about it now.  The last thing I want is for us to arrive in spain and find out he has to return to Mexico.
We are planning on going in Feb to have our baby there.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Karen

We cant have confusion and stress on this site!

I down loaded some info that might assist you the other day - if you would like a copy drop me an email details on our site.

Good luck.

My husband is british and I am non-european citizen. We have moved to spain early this year from london. So we had to apply my spanish visa in spainish embassy in london.  That visa is only for entry visa for 3 month, once you move spain you need to go to foreigners police station ,present all the paperwork(marriage certificate, british passport, non-EU passport ,etc)  to get your spouse residency card.

Why don’t you visit web site of spainsh embassy in london ?
There is a lot of information for spainsh entry visa for non-european spouse. The web site has spanish language as well, so you can ask spanish embassy in mexico to look at it.

http://edit.maec.es/Consulados/Londres/en/MenuPpal/Servicios/Visados/

You can check the info of ‘Family Reunification for dependants of NON EU nationals’.

And also you can check mixico spanish embassy website as well.

http://edit.maec.es/Consulados/Mexico/es/home

It took me a month to get this visa from Spainsh embassy in london and 6 month to get my residency card in spain.

Hope everything works out well.

Good luck
Joanne

Thanks Joanne for your comments. I appreciate it.

I have looked at the website for the spanish embassy in London and its really clear what we have to do and it says that you cant change a tourist visa to a resident permit while in Spain. But the problem is that we have told the spanish embassy here in mexico all this, and called a number of times and they say they stopped issueing the family regrouping visa and community residence visa since 2005.

On the website for the Spanish Embassy in Mexico, it even says on their website on visas they stopped issueing it in mexico and it has to all be done in spain.

’‘REAGRUPACI?N FAMILIAR CON ESPA?OL Y COMUNITARIO (Residencia de extranjero casado/a con espa?ol/a o ciudadano comunitario)
A partir de 2005 se dejan de tramitar visados para reagrupaci?n familiar con espa?ol o ciudadano comunitario, ya que para residir en Espa?a no precisar?n de dicho requisito.

Son beneficiarios de los derechos de libre circulaci?n y residencia los familiares de los espa?oles y de los nacionales de otros Estados miembros de la Uni?n Europea, de otros Estados parte del Acuerdo sobre el Espacio Econ?mico Europeo y de Suiza, que se relacionan a continuaci?n’‘

When you were waiting for the residence permit were you allowed to work while you were waiting?? and could you stay in Spain?

Have you heard that anyone has been able to change a tourist visa to a residence permit while in Spain?
Do you think that maybe Mexico could just have a different law and mexicans can do all their paperwork in Spain, im starting to think this may be the case, it would make sense of all these contradicting statements?

thanks so much.
k

Sorry Joanne, i forgot to ask what nationality are you?

Hi,Karen. My nationality is South Korean. I could enter to spain without visa for 3 month but I just wanted to make sure to follow procedure(get spanish entry visa for residency)
However when I went to foreigner police office, they were not interested in my entry visa, they wanted me to present every paperworks I did in London.
So I think it can be okay if your spuse just enter to spain with tourist visa.

When we went to foreniger police office we met the british guy who married to Mexican and came for applying his wife’s residency card. But he said his wife in Mexico were waiting for him to send her residency card to Mexico.

At that time I didn’t ask him details but maybe because of the rules of spanish embassy in mexico she couldn’t get the visa from mexico.

Somewhere I’ve got all the paperworks needed to apply my residency in Spain.. I will check again whether they needed copy of entry visa or not.
And the mobile number of british consultor in Spain who we got a lot of help from.

Keep you info shortly.

Joanne

Another thing, as soon as you go to foreniger police office (register office) for apply someday they give you NIE number but I am not sure whether it is valid until you get residency card.(I am not working…)  In my case took little bit longer because they need more paperworks. But normally it will take 3-4 month.

Joanne

Here is “DOCUMENTACION NECESARIA”

1> SOLICITUD MODELO OFICIAL EX-16 (ORGINAL Y COPIAS)
2> PASAPORTE VALIDO Y EN VIGOR DEL SOLICITANTE. EN EL SUPUESTO DE QUE EL DOCUMENO ESTE CADUCADO, DEBERA APORTARSE COPIA DE ESTE Y DE LA SOLICITUD DE RENOVACION.(ORIGINAL Y FOTOCOPIA)
3> 1 FOTOGRAFIAS TAMANO CARNET CON FONDO BLANCO.
4> CERTIFICADO DE EMPADRONAMIENTO ACTUALIZADO DE AMBOS CONYUGES.(ORIGINAL)
5> DOCUMENTACION ACREDITATIVA, EN SU CASO DEBIDAMENTE TRADUCIDA(POR INTERPRETE JURADO O CONSULADO) Y APOSTILLADA O LEGALIZADA, DE LA EXISTENCIA DE MATRIMONIO O UNION REGISTRADA QUE OTORGA DERECHO A LA TARJETA(CERTIFICADO DE MATRIMONIO O DE REGISTRO QUE DEBERAN HABER SIDO EXPEDIDOS CON UNA ANTELACION MAXIMA DE TRES MESES A LA FECHA DE PRESENTACION DE LA SOLICITUD DE LA TARJETA) (ORGINAL Y COPIA)
6> CERTIFICADO DE REGISTRO DEL CIUDADANO COMUNITARIO AL QUE ACOMPANA O CON EL QUE VA A REUNIRSE, PRESENTADO JUNTO CON EL PASAPORTE O CARTA DE IDENTIDAD, EN VIGOR, DE ESTE. (ORGINAL Y COPIA)

Joanne

Joanne thank you so much, which police office did you go to???  Do you remember the guys name there you dealt with?

Hopefully it will all work out, you have made me feel a lot more relaxed now. thanks so much.

Karen

Glad that you feel more relaxed. I live in Valencia so I had to go to Valencia OFFICINA DE COMUNITARIOS(C/JOAQUIN BALLESTER NO.39).
But it depends on where you live. Where are you going to live in Spain ?

Joanne

We live 45 mins from Almeria in Vera. If we call the place in Valencia that you went to they should all have the same answers shouldnt they, even if we have to do the papers in Almeria??

I think that is good idea.

963 079 486 - Officina de cumunitarios (mon-thu :9am to 5pm, fri :9am to 2pm) : you can speak to anyone there.

965 216 022 - British Consulate (mon-fri : 8.30 to 1pm) : you need to speak MS LIBI ( we got a lot of help from her - Especially if you got married outside of EU country, you need to get some paperworks from british consulate)

Joanne