Hello all,
I?m a Canadian who is planning to marry a Spanish woman and to live in Spain.

We understand that it is easier to get married in Canada and register the marriage through the Spanish Consulate/Embassy in order to get a a libro de familia.

Does anyone have any tips? Pitfalls to beware of?

Ex: How long does the process take?(From marriage liscence, to wedding, to marriage certificate, to libro de familia?.and then to living legally in Spain)?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Peaches76

First of all congratulations, have you tried the Canadian Embassy?

Do you want to be come Spanish?

I’m English and married to a Spanish girl. Can’t offer much advice but, when we got married we had to do a Marriage course, seriously, no joking. Two days, first day all love and respect and all that type of stuff, the second day, had an American bible basher, in Spanish tell us all about abortion was the work of Satan, one of the girls on the course was Dr. specialising in this, it went on for hours, it was hell!

Good luck!

Thanks for the reply!

We’ve heard about the marriage course. Sounds like a story to tell at least!

Cheers!

get married in spain!! canada did not sign the hague apostille in 1961 and there is a process of authenticating and legalizing the marriage certificate with the spanish consulate in canada that may or may not be recognized in spain.

I am also a Canadian who married a Spanish girl.  We married while living in Germany, directly at the Spanish consulate so our certificate is valid in Spain and we got a Libro de Familia right away, but we didn’t have to jump through nearly as many hoops as if we married either in Spain or if we married via a normal German ceremony.  You should check if it is possible to marry at the Spanish Consulate in Canada, if so this would almost certainly be the best way to go.  I think it took 30 days or something from start to finish, and that was only because they have the rule they have to post for X days that you intend to marry in some public place or something so people can object or some other bull.  We certainly didn’t have to do any course or stuff like that.

I will worn you however even if you can do that, if you move to Spain it will still take ages for the Spanish government to process your residence permit.  This has nothing to do with your marriage certificate, it is just they are slow at doing everything.  This can make getting a job in Spain quite a pain, until after all that is worked out.

i’m in the same situation as you… except that i’m currently living in australia. But it’s basically the same. Getting married in Canada shouldn’t be easy and fairly quick, if you have a civil ceremony. Depends on your local municipality. Then you get the consulate to register the marriage and give you the libro de familia. We’ve been told that should take about a month but you should ask them. Then you can go to Spain and be a tourist for 3 months and that SHOULD be enough time for them to process the residence permit, we’ve been told, and I believe you can stay there anyways while they do it if it takes longer. But I’m not at that point yet so I don’t know for sure.

But you’ve definitely got the right idea about the easiest way to go about this. Actually the consulate here was very nice and direct about telling us this. You should contact them although no guarantees they will be as helpful of course.

When I’m done the whole process (sometime next year…) I’ll put it up on here cause I know anyone in this situation is keen to know about other experiences!

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all your helpful input!

Drzeehd: I’ll take heed from your advice

TG: I’ll look into getting married at the Consulate itself.

P: Thanks so much!

Cheers,

Peter

Hi all. I’d like to come in with my story. I’m British and have a Spanish fianc?e. We are in Madrid . Went to the British consulate yesterday and were told to look on the internet to book an appointment . I know what documents we need. What do we have todo to get an appointment? Have read the website but are both very confused and stressed. We have been together nearly 8 years and are very much in love.
Please help, don’t know what to do . Unsure if our dream of marrying in Spain will be reality. Or if marrying in the UK best. Were considering pareja de hecho or civil union which is for both heterosexual and homosexual couples in Spain but not in UK (just homosexuals) . We are heterosexual. We wanted to do pareja de hecho as a supposed way of getting me a healthcard renovation in Madrid as Im disabled.
Please help