si0077

Hi,
I am hoping that someone can help us out with some advice. My girlfriend is from USA and I am from UK, we met up in USA and as I live in the Canary Islands, we came back here. We have a 5 month old son together and have been trying to get residencia for her for almost 1 year now, but have been declined due to the fact that our original civil partnership paper was cancelled because of a corrupt office in Fuerteventura, they cancelled all civil parterships after June last year, we had ours in May! We are against marriage, this is something we want to do later in life rather than now, the reasons are wrong to rush into this for paperwork to keep the Spanish government happy! My son has also been refused residencia, although born here in the Canary Islands and I have resedencia and have been paying my taxes and social security. He has 6 months only on my social security and then we need a UK passport so he can still receive free medical care. Basically, even when paying taxes, we were entitled to almost nothing. I have since cancelled my autonomo as it was too expensive to simply throw away money to the government here for nothing. I also learnt that the ayuntamientos here have been double paying themselves! If anyone can help us with some advice, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Simon, Jennifer and Daniel.

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

londonbee

I'd say do the paperwork, what's the point of making yourselves unhappy just for a principle? You have a son already so you have all the negatives of marriage (i.e. alimony settlements on divorce) but none of the benefits.

pwwm

Seem to be very anti marriage, wonder why? we have , well almost have 45 years under our belt this year and wouldnt want it any other way, it was how we could show each other our commitment and love

Anyway your choice, hope you get things sorted

cricketman

Oh dear, where to start...

Your wife is from the US, US citizens can only live in Spain if they are married to an EU citizen, so you are essentially harbouring an "illegal immigrant". If you had done the same, but in the US and had been caught then you would have found yourself deported or in prison by now.

As for cancelling your autonomo, I presume you are still working? So again this is highly illegal, you could end up with a massive fine and/or prison sentence.

What choices you make are up to you, it sounds to me like you are trying to play the system.

You should get everything in order now, or you may have big problems when you try to find a school place but the government has no record of you having any income and wont even recognise your son as resident in Spain

snikpoh

Surely as your child was born here, he can take Spanish nationality?

Fred James

Not until he is 18.

La filiación o el nacimiento en España, cuya determinación se produzca después de los dieciocho años de edad, no son por sí solos causa de adquisición de la nacionalidad española. El interesado tiene entonces derecho a optar por la nacionalidad española de origen en el plazo de dos años a contar desde aquella determinación.

Domino

flame proof jacket on.......

bet there wouldn't be all this problem if they were GLBT

Pocaloca

If they are against marriage on principle, why would it make any difference whether they were the same sex or not?

si0077

There is actually a lot of corruption over here in Fuerteventura. The reason I cancelled the autonomo is the simple reason, I can not afford to pay it with all the bills I already have and we are not entitled to any support. As for being illegal, we are still waiting for a letter from the government after making an appeal, so my girlfriend is entitled to stay, as long as we are in dispute.

I would have thought that my son would have automatic residencia having been born here though. I reckon if he turns out to be a top footballer, the Spanish will suddenly want to give him residencia to play for Spain!!

We do not want to get married yet and the principle is, why should anyone have to get married for the government? Should it not be the most sacred thing in a couples life? We would also like our son to understand marriage when we do it eventually and be our page boy! Right now is the wrong time for us.

Thank you all for the advice, glad I joined this forum. If anyone has any more info, please post, thank you.

decon.YA

You seem to have a way to make things easier, ie getting married now-ish or suffering while you wait untill your son is a page boy and can understand and truly appreciate why he has to get all togged up in a navy blue," Little Lord whats his face" suit.

Domino

that appears to me as a male of a certain age to be rather hypocritical - you have a child out of wedlock and you want him to understand marriage ??

Why not do the decent thing, marry the woman, and save your pennies for a nice church celebration and he can be page boy when you confirm your vows. Perhaps by then you may also have someone to carry the wife's veil.

coming out of autonomo and by inference working on the black also seems to me to be a bad influence.
`

cricketman

Absolutely, the OP is obviously at the heart of the corruption and fraud in Fuerteventura, working on the black and harbouring an illegal immigrant

The excuse that "well we dont get any government support" is an incredible one. Although I do have pity if you simply can't make ends meet, your whole family is not officially anything at the moment. I would be doing all I can to become legal within Spanish society, otherwise your son will have very few opportunities growing up

londonbee

I think it's pretty obvious that OP needs to get married. If he's not prepared to help himself then we shouldn't expend much energy ourselves here.

decon.YA

Forget about the "criminality" of the situation ie, harbouring and illegal and working on the black.

The biggest crime here seems to be to have a kid who is old enough to reason having to attend his parents wedding as a page-boy and wearing velvet.