Brighton67

Hi I'm new to this forum - hello everybody. I am at the early stages of organising a pareja de hecho in Madrid with my Spanish partner (I'm from the UK and we've been together for a very long time and have decided post Brexit its better if we formalise our relationship and in due course I will become a Spanish resident). Its difficult at the moment as all of the offices are closed and the British embassy in Madrid is, well, not that user friendly. The problem is that the exact rules and requirements differ from region to region and its hard to get any specific facts involving a UK national and doing it in Madrid. Has anybody gone through this process recently in Madrid and if so do you mind getting in touch and hopefully give me some handy tips or give me the details of a professional who can help me?

The very specific question I have is about the proof needed to show that I'm not already married etc to somebody else. Thats easy to get if you are Spanish but we don't have such a specific document in the UK. The British embassy says that I may need a Certificate of No Impediment or a marital status certificate or a no trace letter. They say I should ask at the relevant registry office which one they accept but its impossible to do that at the moment. Also getting these documents is a lengthy and quite expensive process and I don't want to get the wrong one and then have to start all over again. I have lots of other questions but that is the most pressing one at the moment. Any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

DLC

So here's the link for Madrid:

https://www.comunidad.madrid/servici...-uniones-hecho

It says in the "¿Qué documentación debo presentar?" section it needs a "Certificado de capacidad matrimonial o certificado de soltería, según lo que establezca la ley de su país."

And in the on the British embassy's website:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial...eason-in-spain

"a No Trace Letter from the Certificates Section of the General Register Office in either England and Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland, translated and legalised"

I just checked the GRO's website and it looks like they're still issuing certificates but but replies are slow, although the embassy says you need to order by telephone and mention that you need it for Spain.

If you want this so you can apply for a tarjeta familiar de ciudadano de la UE, I think you can also show that you've lived together with bank statements, utility bills, and so on, but you're probably going to need advice from a lawyer if you go that route.

Brighton67

Thanks. The problem is at the moment I can't get any definitive answers from anybody because nobody is picking up the phone. Eg the registry office in Madrid just says what they require and will not give a view on the equivalent UK docs, the Madrid embassy will not answer calls and you just automated responses to emails - the section you quoted has another section before it which talks about 2 other types of docs and the relevant office just holds you in a queue and I call them every day (I am currently being held in a queue). The only information I can get from them is that no trace letters come in blocks of 10 years (so do I go for 1 letter or say letters that cover all of my life) and they do not cover the period of the last 18 months. So I could have got married to somebody in the last 18 months and the letter would not cover it. I foresee that will be a problem in Madrid.

We have been informed that we have to take all of the paperwork once we have it and if its all correct they will give us a date. It therefore seems that we will only find out if it is right after we have done everything. Currently it takes about 3 months to get this no trace letter, get it legalised and translated and if its wrong then thats at least 3 months and quite a bit of money wasted.

Ideally I just need to find a Brit who has gone through this process in Madrid in say the last year or two or find an adviser who regularly does this sort of thing for clients but thanks for the time you have spent looking at this.

breakfasttea

Hi there! Yes I’ve been through this myself. Here’s the link:


https://www.gov.uk/government/public...plication-pack

if you need to now anything else just pm me 👍🏼 It’s a relatively smooth and quick process inMadrid , so let me know any further pains you’re having!

Brighton67

Thanks. I do have a couple of questions for you so I will PM you directly. I am new to the forum and I've read somewhere that I can only PM after I have sent a few posts or a particular amount of time. Anyway, if I have any problems I will send another response on this thread.

breakfasttea

Forgot to add - this is all done remotely no physical presence required to attend any offices at all 👍🏼

LondonGuy2013

Hey Breakfast! Saw your post and have a few questions on this - hoping you can help! Will try and PM you!

Biscuit67

Hi there,

I am shortly due to go through this same process (albeit, for Castilla y León), and have come up against the same issue regarding the marital status certificate. One of the requirements seems to be an Affirmation signed by a Notary Public in Spain. I am currently in the UK, and was hoping to gather all necessary documentation in advance of going to Spain to save myself valuable time. Has anyone got any advice about this? I have noticed the same issue regarding the time-lag issue of the No Trace Letter (rendering it, seemingly, useless).

Many thanks in advance,
Andrew