Hi,

I'm new to this board and have a couple of questions regarding marriage in Spain- I'm a US citizen and my boyfriend is Spanish; we've been living together here for several years and are thinking of getting married to make paperwork etc. easier, mostly. My main issue/interest right now is health care..does anyone know whether marrying a Spanish resident will automatically qualify me for universal health care here in Spain? Or would I need to be a citizen, not only a resident (seems that, once married, you are classified as a resident for 2 years before being allowed to become a citizen) to get this benefit?

thanks for your help!

laura

Hi Laura! Welcome to the board!

I too am an American married to a Spaniard and living in Spain. First let me recommend that if you are planning to get married, that you do so in the USA. The process is much quicker and there is less paperwork hassle. Just make sure that you register your marriage at the nearest consulate so that they can process for your libro de familia right away (necessary to obtain Spanish residency.)

Upon marriage, residency is not automatic, you must apply for it. To do so, you must have a few documents lined up.

1- Libro de Familia (the family book issued by the Spanish government) where your marriage is registered as well as subsequent offspring, etc.

2- Visa to reunite a family. To get this visa, you must return to the USA to pick it up. However, if you get married in the USA, then you can apply for it (and the Libro de Familia) at the consulate and pick it up before returning to Spain.

With these documents lined up you should be able to apply for residency in Spain. If you do a search on this board, this topic has been discussed in several threads.

With respect to healthcare. Yes, being married to a Spanish citizen gives you the rights to the healthcare system. Likewise, if you are working legally and your company is paying your social security, you also have rights to the healthcare system. If you are working independently, you should be paying your freelance employment tax (approx. 45€ a quarter) and social security (approx. 200€ a month). Doing so gives you the rights to the healthcare system.

Hope this info helps you in your decision making process!

In addition to what Chica said, no, you will not qualify to become a citizen after being married to a Spaniard for only 2 years. You don't acquire nationality because you marry a citizen, if you don't have a spanish parent, or were born there, you'll have to live there legally, as a foreigner for 10.

However, don't worry about becoming a citizen, the permiso de residencia will give you all you need to live there legally, work permit and the works! When your time comes and you want to become a citizen, then go for it, but being married to him, you live and enjoy the same rights as a spanish citizen anyway !

Chica and Espe,

Thanks to you both for the informative messages. It's good to see that this forum works! And to hear another voice from the US (sometimes I miss that here in Seville)...

I did do a search on residency, citizenship etc. & you're right, they were very helpful. I'm still a little confused, so thank you for bearing with me. To clarify: it seems that the best way to go about this would be to do the following, in the following order:

1) Obtain a copy of my birth certificate and send it away to get stamped
2) Gather the documents my boyfriend will need to take with him to the States from Spain in order to get married there (and maybe get a copy of the book outlining marriage steps from the consulate here in Seville or from the Embassy in Madrid).
3) Make the appropriate arrangements for a US wedding.
4) Return to the States, get married, wait at least a week, then apply for the Libro de la Familia and the Visa to Reunite a Family, pick them up within a couple of weeks, and return to Spain.
5) Once back in Spain, apply for residency and work permit. And get them immediately?? Or does one have to wait another month or so?

Aso, I'm not officially working in Spain at the moment (I'm finishing my dissertation), but that shouldn't affect my residency or health care access, should it? I mean, does having access to health care in Spain depend on residency, and if so, would there be any reason for the Spanish govt to deny me residency here once married? I just can't imagine how that could be the case . I mean, married is married! Oh, I'm rambling...

Anyway, thanks for your responses
¡y buenas noches!

saludos,
Laura

Hi Laura,

I'm an American married to a Sevillano too so I guess I can say "been there, done that"! (Chica and Espe's advice has been right on the money so far.) We were married in the US too but my marido did a fiancee visa and then moved here.

Your list/sequence sounds right on the money except if I were you I would apply for my residency/permiso de trabajo in the US before going back to Spain. The consulate should be able to process them for you in a couple weeks' time from what I've been told. I suppose it all depends on how long you 2 are planning to spend in the US for your wedding. Are you planning a big wedding or just a wedding for the "papeleo"? (We were married by a Justice of the Peace for just over $100 with a few close friends as witnesses...someday I'll have my big dream wedding at the catedral de Sevilla....)

We are currently in the US but planning on living in Sevilla eventually. What are you planning on doing for work after you've finished your dissertation?

Saludos & write anytime!
Sarita

<MadridMan's scribbling down notes quickly....>

Sarita, it's nice to know there are at least two of us! Seville and the Sierra Norte have grown on me during the past few years, although to be honest I would still prefer to live in either Barcelona or Madrid...I miss the big city As for work, my plans are still very open-ended. My boyfriend teaches at the university here, because of which I'm sort of wavering between looking for something acceptable but perhaps not "academic" within Spain (lately I've been thinking about translating, tho' anything related to language and culture would be fine, really), and looking for a university job in the US. Since the job market is so lousy here, neither of us wants my partner to have to give up his job until one or both of us happens to find something even better. So, I'll just have to wait and see. . .maybe I will have to create my own work in the end.

As for the marriage thing- I'm starting to wish we'd just bitten the bullet and gotten married three years ago! But anyway, we're just going to have a civil ceremony --mybe at some point in the future we'll do a real wedding celebration, but for now that's all we have the time & money for. Since he's teaching, we'll have to do this during the winter break and even then I'm not sure we'll have enough time for all the paperwork to go through (he gets about 4 weeks), so we may yet end up marrying here instead. It can't be *that* much more time-consuming than marrying in the US, can it?

But back to business: you suggested applying for residency in the US before leaving for Spain, and actually I'm glad you brought this option up --I was just about to ask those who have done this how long they had to wait for their residency to go through. Is the process faster or easier from the US than it is from Spain? On a related topic, I'm still wondering whether I will have immediate access to Spain's universal health care once I'm married (ie the next day), or whether I'll have to wait until my residency goes through. This is an important detail for me, because my budget is fairly tight this year and, with this marriage business, expenses are starting to add up. It woud be good to know exactly how many months of private medical insurance I should plan on paying. Any thoughts??

Sorry I am being so "pesada" with my lengthy questions, and thanks to all for your replies!

Laura

Hi Laura,

I´m not sure what the exact difference in time between applying for residency in Spain or in the US, but it can´t be too much of a difference. Do what makes sense for your specific plans.

I do advise you to look into doing your civil ceremony in the US. I remember when my husband asked the Ayuntamiento how quickly we could arrange for a civil ceremony in Sevilla, they told him it would take at least 5 months to get an appointment for a ceremony! That was one of the reasons why we decided to get married in the US. I hear you on the having time and money thing. My older sister just got engaged and not only is her wedding going to cost her an arm and a leg, but it is going to take 24 months to plan! My father keeps thanking me for doing what Pepe and I did....the "short and sweet" version, he calls it. I'm still waiting for my diamond ring and bridal gown...algun dia quizas....

So what brought you to Sevilla in the first place and where in the US are you from?

We're planning a visit over there for navidades and fin de año....how is everything in Sevilla? We miss it so much. Can't wait to get back to the bustling streets of our beloved Triana.

A possible career in language/culture...what specifically are you looking to do? Sorry for being nosy but I am career-soul-searching for my move to Sevilla so I am interested to know what other Americans are up to for work in Spain...especially Sevilla. I'm not particularly interested in teaching but would love to do perhaps some cross-cultural communication work in the business arena...my background is in HR.

You are not being pesada at all! We are all here to help each other so ask away...I hope we can continue to be of a resource to each other.

Saludos,
Sarita

Hi Laura,

I´m not sure what the exact difference in time between applying for residency in Spain or in the US, but it can´t be too much of a difference. Do what makes sense for your specific plans.

I do advise you to look into doing your civil ceremony in the US. I remember when my husband asked the Ayuntamiento how quickly we could arrange for a civil ceremony in Sevilla, they told him it would take at least 5 months to get an appointment for a ceremony! That was one of the reasons why we decided to get married in the US. I hear you on the having time and money thing. My older sister just got engaged and not only is her wedding going to cost her an arm and a leg, but it is going to take 24 months to plan! My father keeps thanking me for doing what Pepe and I did....the "short and sweet" version, he calls it. I'm still waiting for my diamond ring and bridal gown...algun dia quizas....

So what brought you to Sevilla in the first place and where in the US are you from?

We're planning a visit over there for navidades and fin de año....how is everything in Sevilla? We miss it so much. Can't wait to get back to the bustling streets of our beloved Triana.

A possible career in language/culture...what specifically are you looking to do? Sorry for being nosy but I am career-soul-searching for my move to Sevilla so I am interested to know what other Americans are up to for work in Spain...especially Sevilla. I'm not particularly interested in teaching but would love to do perhaps some cross-cultural communication work in the business arena...my background is in HR.

You are not being pesada at all! We are all here to help each other so ask away...I hope we can continue to be of a resource to each other.

Saludos,
Sarita

Sorry Laura, I forgot to respond to one of your questions.

I am almost certain that the second you have your DNI in hand (like a US social security number, this will come with your residency), you will be eligible for Spain's free national health care benefits. (What a country!)

Hasta luego,
Sarita