SpacemanP

Hi All,

I am getting married to my Spanish partner in September, I have ALL my paperwork (and more) and currently have a valid empadronmiento which states i've lived in Spain for 2 years.

Now, my Spanish itself is terrible and my fiancé and I are hoping to book our meeting with the Civil Registry, hand in our papers and I believe there will be a 2 hour interview with me in one room and her in another.... this to me seems overly excessive and actually quite off-putting.

I will need a translator, can anybody tell me, would I need to HIRE translator for this OR does the Civil Registry provide one??

I couldn't quite understand that part of the process today, when I went to verify that my papers were all okay.

Regards,

Px

scot47

Hire an interpreter.

dmu

Hi from the France forum. I'm amazed that there's an interview at all, let alone one lasting 2 hours. There was no such thing when I got married in France, but this might be a Spanish quirk.....
Can't your Spanish fiancée check that what you believe is true? And if you are in for separate interviews, find out what you'll be questioned on and then, as advised, hire an interpreter.

Chipmonk

I had one of these many years ago in Sweden in oreder for them to confirm the veracity of my marriage. Personally I found it disgusting. First it took the position l that I was guilty of a sham marriage. Secondly the question were personal. Thirdly I found the interviwer seemed to think he was some kind of Hollywood cop.
I am surprised they do this in Spain unless they had some reason to expect it was a bogus marriage. I would definitely find out if this a normal practice wherever you are and maybe ask a lawyer.

Joppa

There is a good discussion on prenuptial interviews in https://balcellsgroup.com/getting-married-in-spain/, with questions to be asked. They do recommend having an interpreter if you're not fluent in Spanish.

SpacemanP

Thanks for everyone's response.

Joppa, your in particular was a great link.

Chipmonk, the interview process is indeed common throughout Spain for anybody non-Spanish getting married here, so a 2 hour grilling is what I am anticipating and I will most definitely be hiring a translator, I am not bad with Spanish but my weakest point is listening to others speaking, so to be on the safe side I will hire a translator.

In regards to my fiancé she is as clueless and astounded by Spanish "paperwork" needs as I am.... it's definitely one of the worst countries for red tape legislations.

Joppa

Brush up on future in-laws' names and ages!
These kinds of interviews also take place in UK when a foreigner marries a UK citizen.

dmu

Fair enough, all. In fact there probably are prenuptial interviews in France if the "foreign" partner is suspected of desiring a marriage in name only in order to be able to live in France. But the mind boggles at such discrimination....
On the other hand, however clueless the OP's fiancée is, she does speak Spanish and could find out what's to be expected at the interviews. Maybe they should rehearse it all beforehand to make sure they give the same answers...
Good luck, anyway, to the OP.

missile

Sensible precaution to reduce the number of marriages of convenience.

scot47

Because we are honest. we should not assume that everyone else is. marriages of convenience are now common throughout the EU - and in the UKofGB&NI !

dmu

Quite agree, but this normally applies to "fiancés" from other Continents. I missed out "for a European citizen" after "discrimination" in my post above.