Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Question
Need some legal advice. I’m moving to the states to get married but I have had a “pareja de hecho” here for 2.5 years from my previous girlfriend. We broke up but we never went to sign the document officially and I don’t mind that she lives here still.
It would hurt me to make her sign the papers of a separation since she got a job here so my question is will this pareja de hecho be a problem for me if I go to the United States and get married? Is that something that they check? I’m not sure how serious this pareja contract is so any advice can give me clarity
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These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“As per my understanding, the US does not accept/follow Common Law principles… The only legal form of a joining of a couple is Marriage.“
“PdH is not recognized in the US. It’s not a marriage. No problem for the US. But some friendly advice is to not leave loose ends like that and try to get it resolved before leaving.“
“PDH is not a civil marriage, you can dissolve it one side by sending a request through “registro” and your ex will be fine, all she needs to do is to modify her residence from “ regime comunitaria” to “ régimen general “ bit please do tell her if you are going to dissolve the PdH, and she will have to do the modification within 3 months or earlier.“
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Explore Cities →“In both situations of dissolution of pdh and you leaving the country, your ex will have to leave the country unless she either has permanent residence (this is normally after 5 years) or change the type of residence (which may be impossible depending on her job).“
“pdh gets extinguished when you stop living together, somebody dies or marries… you don’t need to do anything really if you have not kids or property“
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