Hi there,

I am attempting to obtain my Spanish nationality this year. And the first step is proving the chain of the family to me, so that I can request my 1 year residency visa.

I have my birth certificate, I have my mother's and now I need to see about finding and obtaining a copy of my grandfather's (he was born in Spain; my mother and I in the US). I do know where he was born and his birthdate.

Does anyone have any experience in how to go about this? I am currently in a graduate program for which I am living/researching in Europe (Paris for 4 more days and then Florence Italy- before moving to Spain in July to begin my residency). I will be requesting my residency visa sometime in May or June, so I would like to get the certificate before then.

Anyone with any experience in doing this sharing their information or details is highly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance,
Kayla

You can request your grandpa's birth certificate online, if the Civil Registry Book where he was registered has been computerized. The URL is Registro Civil

In case it hasn't been yet, in the same link there's an alphabetic list of all Registries in Spain with their phone numbers. In case you don't find his birthplace in the list, post its name and I can try to help to find the appropriate Registry.

HI there,

I am looking around in that site right now but not seeing anything. My brain is a bit shot so I could be missing it, just in case though here is the information on it:
He was born in March of 1903 and my mother has it listed as Matienzo, Santander.

Thank you so much for your help!!! That would be phenomenal should I be able to find it online and/or request it online.

Cheers!

Matienzo is a small village (pop. 374) that belongs to the Muncipality of Ruesga Website of the Municipality of Ruesga For its location, I guess that its Partido Judicial (one of the Administrative Divisions of Spain, the relevant one for the Registro Civil) should be either Santander or Laredo. Try both just in case. If you have difficulties with the text in the form, ask and I'll try to translate.

You are on top of it, and wow I never knew it was that tiny. Look at all I am learning.

As for the form I have been able to figure out what the basics are that they are requesting, but I am undertain as to which type of certificate to apply for. More importantly however is what about the DNI it wont let me apply with out that. And I dont know what it is or have one.

I have managed to find it on line under Calabria for Santander. Since that is listed as his county and I didnt see anything for Loredo.

Thanks again!!

Just one more thing: I've digged in the Justice Ministry Website (the ministry responsible for this paperwork) and the Partido Judicial corresponding to Ruesga is, definitely, Laredo, so forget about Santander and concentrate in Laredo. Even, in the Website there is the mail address of this office and their phone numbers. It can help in case of the online procedure doesn't work. This is the URL where one can find these data for any village in Spain: Search for Partido Judicial

Hi stinkerbell! Please keep us posted on how things go. I also am considering obtaining Spanish nationality. In part, I need to wait for my dad to get his Spanish citizenship back (he's an immigrant to the US, both countries are now more lax about dual citizenship than when he naturalized). His "quest" is being slowed down due to (a) his being born in a small town (b) many of the town's records were lost during the civil war. Have you found any websites particularly helpful when considering dual citizenship?

Good Luck!

Does anyone know how to apply with out a DNI for this??

As far as I can tell you dont get a DNI until you are a citizen, ironically I need this form to get me the birth certificate, which theoretically entitles me to the visa which will help me to become a citizen with a DNI

Vicki- feel free to keep in touch on it, I will make sure to let people know. I am hopeful that the records will have survived the civil war, he was from a REALLY tiny village though. Oh and enjoy Seattle as much as you can, its my US "home" and I miss my Ave and Nasai

Torrales-
Thank you SOOOO much for all your help too!!! I have hope that I will get my citizenship one day I really do and I cant thank you enough.

Sangria for you!

hi!

There's another way to try finding a birth certificate. As you say, your grandfather was born in a very small village in 1903. At that time, birth/ baptism registers were kept in the local churchs.

Try contacting the Matienzo church and they could give the information about the steps you have to take to get the birth certificate.

Thanks I had been told that might be a possibility alos. I will see if I can find it through the registry and if not next try the churches. The family is catholic so I can hope

I just hope I can do it with out having to actually go. as I will be in italy and researching with out much time for side trips before I want to actually move to Spain in July.