Question
Has anyone else had a problem getting their marriage certificate accepted for residencia? We have been married for over 40 years and were asked to get our marriage certificate legalised which we did earlier this year. We were then told that an up to date marriage certificate was needed. We provided a copy in November (it was identical but printed in June this year).
We are now being told we need a more recent copy as the one from June is not recent enough. We applied over a year ago and fulfilled all the necessary requirements re medical, financial etc and my husband has been given residencia but despite our home, bank accounts etc being in joint names the marriage certificate is still not being accepted. Is anyone else facing this problem?
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“We had our marriage certificate apostilled and everything was fine, we’ve been married 37yrs and it wasn’t as problem, it was less than 3 months old though.”
“A member of my family had to get a brand new one written by the present vicar at the church he was married at 20years ago. His wife wasn’t asked to do this. Crazy. Was given 10days to get it which he couldn’t do so they archived his application for residencies and had to start again. Took months to sort out, his wife took 6 weeks.”
“They make it up as they go along! I bet there is no written rule about the age of the certificate if you challenged them. Or show them the Youtube video showing a Spanish jobsworth civil servant demanding ever-more obscure documents from a helpless punter. https://youtu.be/2wtbQUaC9mE“
“We had same, it has to be no more than 3months old and then it has to legalised and translated.”
“We had to order a new certificate from registrar at home UK. So it was recently dated, then sent it to be legalised in the uk. Once this was done we got our residency.”
“I can see ust a little sense in the marriage certificate being very recent, because divorce is always a possibility, but they insist on the same for a birth certificate, and as far as I know, once you are born, that information stays the same for the rest of your lives! And to get a documento nacional de identidad, the birth certificate has to have a rubber stamp which says “issued for the acquisition of documento nacional de identidad”. How daft is that? You can´t argue with spanish red tape! I’m trying to get the “tutela ” for my husband as he has dementia, and the marriage certificate must be less than three months old. I’ve sent for three now, and by the time they arrive, they are ALL out of date. given up now. United Kingdom certificates are usually quicker than spanish ones though. best of luck, and keep harrying them!”
“We had problems with Residencia , my husbands’ was approved because he was paying Spanish tax .. but I had to prove our marriage certificate was legal .. This was a year before the Brexit deadline .. we were married in Las Vegas and had to get a copy translated into Spanish and Apostilled to prove that Daphne the Registrar in The Vegas Wedding Chapel was indeed legal .. we’d already paid the city hall in Vegas money for an up to date version and that wasn’t accepted so hence the translation and apostille stamp on the second one it’s so time consuming, costly and stressful .. there must be an easier system”
“All we did was had our marriage certificate ( original from way back when) appostled in the UK (£35) and that was sufficient.”
“It’s frustrating, but the stale dating of documents has always been a danger/ challenge for 3rd Country Nationals applying. It’s clearly stated on their website:”We will not accept certificates issued more than 90 days prior to the application date.””
“You need to get a new copy thats dated within 3 months of your appointment at the consulate. The original or a copy of it isn’t acceptable. We’ve been married 39 years .. i can’t really see how a new one proved we are still married but thems the rules”
“I applied for mine on line , it’s basically a copied cert, with the date stamped on it , they accepted this , but it was a couple of years ago. My husband was given his residencia I had to wait until the certificate came back it was about 3 weeks”
“The problem is not the Spanish bureaucracy, but the different paperwork involved with some foreign weddings, particularly the change of name of the female half. A couple with the same single surname in Spain could be brother and sister, and not husband and wife.”
“The three month rule is commonplace but what BS. If a 20 year document is legalised it should stand. Welcome to Spanish BS bureaucracy.”
“I had to do the same thing. My argument was that it was still going to say the same thing and it did!!! I had to call Northumberland county council, pay them over the phone, have them send the certified copy to a friend who then used DHL to send it here. Immediately off to the gestor so it could be apostilled then back to the government here. I had 10 days.”
“Yes within 3 months.And easy compared to a Spanish death cert for a UK life insurance claim”
“We didn’t need our marriage certificate for residency.”
“Sorry, they are being anal about this. The new copy AND the Apostille AND the translation all not older than 3 months.”
“We used our original marriage UK certificate two years ago when we got our residencia. We had no problem at all.. live and bought our apartment 7 years ago.”
“3 months is a magic number in Spain for official documents. So it must be dated within the last 3 months, apostilled and then officially translated. 30 days is another magic number here for Nota Simples of properties etc. I am being facetious but it is true”
“Another point about this “annoying” 3 months ruleAs I remember it (tell me if I’m wrong)something like this ………..For example on a Spanish Birth Cert.If there have been any changeseg to a name or a name has been added etcthen I’ve noticed a notation will be placed in the margin on the left hand side of the original document and therefore on subsequent official copies.This can happen when a baby is miss -named , because eg Brits don’t understand the difference between a Nombre and an ApellidoSusan Smith becomes Smith Susan, or a spelling mistake Smiith or a name added has been Smith Jonesand so on there are various reasons.A Spanish document can reflect this, where as a British document will not as that would require another separate document to complete the chain of eventsSo a Spanish document can be more of a record of events (up to 3 months ago)Working in reverse and just for example – when “Smith Susan” applies for a UK passport that is what she will get – Smith Susan’s passport not “Susan Smith’s” that would require an amendment to the birth cert.So Spanish rules apply in Spain. Documents must current .. get over it”
“Less than 3 months has been a recurring requirement in the Alicante province.”
“We had to get an up to date marriage certificate ordered it online took 2 months to come an then had to have it translated”
“it needs to be less than 3 months old.”
“Are you under the wa? We didn’t need it for ours, seeing some of the things others are being asked for seems we had an easy ride”
“Mine was two years old and they took it. Maybe it is a region thing.”
“The ‘problem’ in spain is they do not understand a uk birth, marriage certificate etc always remain the same.Because of that misunderstanding they ask for one dated no earlier than three months previously.Another ‘oddity.’ When my Filipino wife renewed her Residencia she had to prove we were still married. Whilst that’s simple in the Spanish system with the Family Book, it’s impossible for some other countries, including uk.”
“we were married in Argentina and they have an online system for updating the certificate but not so good as the cert has to be collected in person at Buenos Aires – kinda defeats the object but we got a solicitor mate to do it then post to Spain – your certificate needs to be updated with a date stamp or a new apostille or a notary certificate to attach”
“Mine had to be less than 3 months old. I didn’t need it for my residencia application though, because I applied for that in my own right, but I needed it when registering the s1 for healthcare, because I had that on the back of my husband being a state pensioner.”
“Try up to date, as in hand it in before it’s 3 months old, preferred within a month.?Marriage certificate to gov.uk. for apostille 30 plus 5 postage ( gov will send to anyone in UK even Spanish embassy)Ensure embassy gets it by post direct or take it personally .June to Nov long time ( over 3 months , seriously in Spain. 3 months max for accepting official docs.”