½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Hi seamus452,

Nice to e-meet you! What the Spanish attorney said is true. The Apostille of the Hague is a procedure that gives your documents legal validity in order to be accepted abroad, in this case: Spain.

I'm sure there should be agencies with legal support that can help you with this matter.

Cheers!

@Cesar Alejandro Yepez

Hola @Cesar

Thank you for your reply.

I thought I saw a reply of yours in which you suggested an email contact, but that seems to be gone.

Did you edit your response or did this site edit?

No worries, it's OK, but I just want to be sure that I wasn't imagining things.

Again

Thanks!

Seamus

@seamus452

Yeah.

We needed it our mariage certificate, and that was from México,  ie, in ¡Spanish !

@seamus452

Ah, you're married, this is another issue.

I replied to your Green NIE questions in your separate thread/topic. Your EU Citizen Registration Certificate is what you need, and this is your FIRST step.

Your wife (assuming she is not dual citizen with EU passport like you) is done AFTER you are a legal resident (with your Registration Certificate). The process is called "Family Reunification". The guidance is here:

This requires a proof of the family relationship (e.g. marriage certificate). Foreign certificates need the Apostille AND (if not in Spanish) a CERTIFIED Spanish translation. The marriage certificate can be Apostilled when you are back in USA. Or you can do a Google search for Apostille USA and find an agency who can get your certificate apostilled. Once it's apostilled, you need to give it to an official Spain-registered translator. It's expensive as you have cost of apostille itself, an agency helping you, an official translator, and multiple courier shipments as the document goes through the different steps. It is, for sure, a Pain in the proverbial.

You'll also find that the address needs a PROOF, unlike for your initial EU Citizen Registration Certificate. You'll almost certainly need an official rental contract (or deed, if you buy a property) and your padron certificate (town hall registration) showing BOTH your names.

This process is necessary for your wife to be a legal resident.

To be clear, this means there are TWO distinct immigration processes that have be done in order. The first, for you, as an EU Citizen. The second, for your wife, as the family member (spouse) of an EU citizen (and Spanish resident). Both steps need you to provide your residence address, but only the 2nd step requires you to have PROOF. Therefore, you also need to formalize your new home in Spain before you do this 2nd step.

After you are BOTH legal residents you can investigate public health insurance / social security contributions, and you can look at the tax residence implications. You can (probably) choose to remain non-tax resident by spending less than 183 days per year in Spain. I suspect your attorney is mentioning the Marriage Certificate/Apostille in reference to the Family Reunification step, not the tax resident / tax paying step.

Hola, Cesar, Seamus, Edward,

We apostilled our documents from New York State and other States for two different countries.  Like Cesar and Edward have staid it is the procedure to allow to use documents internationally.  It was established to facilitate authentication of foreign documents.  It's a straight forward process, overwhelming if you have to do it with multiple documents.   While we were in the US we did it directly with the NYS Apostille office via fedex, they returned the documents by mail.  When we were away the service that we had used  to translate and certify documents, also did the apolistille. That was costly.  Lawyers that specialize in this will probably have alternatives.  Good luck and lot's of patience.   Pia

@gwynj

Thank you

I have a husband, not a wife.

And he is a EU citizen as well. We both have our Irish passports.

I wondered about the marriage certificate both for tax reasons and for reasons or permanent residency.

Seamus

@seamus452

My apologies. In this case, even easier, you only need the EU Citizen Registration, one for you and one for your spouse. Just note that the Cita Previa folks are insistent that they can't do 2 things at the same appointment... you have to book two separate ones.

Your marriage certificate is not strictly necessary for the Registration step. But perhaps it is necessary later if you want to file joint tax returns or similar.

I recommend you get the Registration out of the way ASAP, so you'll be a legal resident and you'll have your NIE (on your Certificado). Then you're in position to look at the social security / public healthcare issue and/or buy a property and/or become a Spanish tax resident / tax payer. None of these are strictly necessary, but all are fairly standard if you intend to live in Spain.

After 5 years from your Registration, you can apply for Permanent Residence. Again, you're both entitled to do this independently (if you both have the Certificado) so the marriage certificate should not be required for this either.

Good luck to you both with your move!

@gwynj

Hello

No need to apologize.

As always, your answers are super informative and we appreciate the time and effort you put into each and every response.

Gracias!