Certificate of Non Marriage for Pareja de Hecho or Marriage in Spain

Last Updated on April 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi

Question

For those of you who have done marriage or PDH (pareja de hecho), what do you do when your state doesn’t offer a certificate of non marriage or non- impediment?

For context: I applied for PDH (in Galicia) but the Spanish government wants proof that I am single in the states.

My state doesn’t offer a certificate, so I wrote a declaración in Spanish saying I’m single and attached it with the letter from the embassy, and my partner and I also went to the Spanish notary and wrote I was single there along with my partner (who is Spanish).

So how am I supposed to offer proof of being single if the state doesn’t offer any certificate? Thank you so much.”

Answers

These are the answers of Spainguru’s Facebook group members:

“(Marriage in Galicia) I had to send an email to my county clerk, who wrote up a statement saying that I had no registered relationships in my state.

She signed it and I paid for it to get sent to get the Apostille deal & then had it mailed to a family member who then mailed it to me. I had to get it officially translated once I had it here with me in Spain.”

“For my marriage in Valencia – I printed off a verified document from the USA embassy saying that document doesn’t exist in the states. I would try that!”

“I went to the Notary (in Spain) with witnesses stating that I was single.”

“You need one in the city you are moving to in Spain. It’s done in person at the notary’s office.”

“I also did PDH in Galicia, and my state doesn’t have that document so I got a notarized sworn document from my city in Georgia, and a document from the states vital record office in Atlanta saying I had no marriage that could be found in their system.”

“You need to apostille documents itself not the translations. As long as you did it you are good. Marriage and birth certificates we did with Florida state department because our daughter was born there and we got married there too. Very easy.”

Conclusion

Navigating the requirements for a certificate of non marriage or non- impediment for pareja de hecho in Spain can be challenging, especially when specific U.S. states do not provide such documents.

Solutions shared by individuals who have undergone similar experiences suggest contacting local county clerks for a statement of no registered relationships or utilizing notarized sworn statements. Additionally, some have found success using verified documents from the U.S. embassy or obtaining a document from a state vital records office.

These strategies can help others in similar situations meet the Spanish government’s requirements for proving single status.

Bruno Bianchi CEO & Spain Immigration Expert

Bruno Bianchi is the founder and CEO of Spainguru, Spain's largest expat immigration community with 150,000+ members. Since 2014 he has helped thousands of people relocate to Spain through expert guides, webinars and vetted professional services covering visas, residency, taxes and life in Spain.

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