Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

MARRIAGE

What foreigners need to know before marrying a Spaniard

The paperwork and requirements, the types of unions available, the benefits, the risks of tying the knot for reasons of convenience - these are all the factors foreigners planning on marrying a Spanish national should be aware of beforehand.

Published: 11 October 2023 13:34 CEST
What foreigners need to know before marrying a Spaniard
You can get an extra paid day off work for your own wedding if it falls during the week. Photo: Stocksnap/Pixabay.

If you’ve moved to Spain and made a life for yourself here, finding a romantic partner might’ve played a role in that as well as your plans for the future. So, if you are considering marrying a Spanish citizen in Spain, there are several things to consider.

What type of marriage should it be? What are the potential residency and tax benefits for life in Spain if marrying a Spaniard? What are the requirements and documents needed to actually get married in Spain?

Here’s what you need to know.

READ ALSO: Spain is the second most expensive country in the world to get married

What are the different types of marriage in Spain?

There are generally three types of marriage in Spain:

Civil marriage: This is a legal marriage without a religious aspect. A civil marriage gives rights of property, inheritance, pensions and adoption and can be between heterosexual or same sex couples.

Civil partnership: Civil unions and registered cohabitation between same-sex people. These allow for kinship, inheritance and property rights.

Religious marriage: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim marriages can be celebrated in Spain without requiring a second civil marriage. Religious marriages have the same legal status as civil unions – that is to say, they must be registered with local authorities.

If you want a religious wedding (and remember, when marrying more traditional Spaniards, this could be the case) make sure your wedding official is licensed to perform weddings and check to see if they will register it with the town hall themselves or if they will give you the documents to do it yourself.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about getting a prenup in Spain

What benefits do you get when you marry a Spaniard?

So, you’ve decided what type of wedding you want — what are the benefits of marrying a Spaniard for a non-Spanish citizen?

If as a foreigner you marry a Spanish citizen, you enjoy the following benefits:

Simplified route to citizenship: by marrying a Spaniard the requirements of years of legal and continued residence in Spain necessary to be able to apply for Spanish nationality are reduced to only one year.

Residence and work permits: You will be able to get a residence and work permit for 5 years (the EU community card) thanks to being a family member of a European citizen.

Tax benefits: By marrying a Spaniard, you can file joint income tax returns (known as IRPF or impuesto sobre la renta de las personas físicas), which can put you at an advantage.

What are the requirements for marrying a Spaniard?

For a marriage between a foreigner and Spaniard to take place, three main requirements must be met:

Prove that it is not a fake or fraudulent marriage for convenience: You must be able to demonstrate that it is a real relationship, and both members of the couple show their legal consent to formalise the union at a legal level.

Prove both parties are legally single: Both people in the couple must be legally single at the time of marriage, something that must be proven through paperwork (more on that below).

Legal status: Of course, the non-Spaniard in the relationship must legally reside in Spain, and be able to prove it with valid residency documents.

Why do I need to prove my marriage isn’t a fake marriage?

As The Local reported last year, in Spain fake marriages (often referred to as ‘marriages of convenience’) have seen an “exponential rise” in recent years according to the Central Unit of Illegal Immigration Networks and Fake Documents (Ucrif).

An increasing number of non-EU citizens are striking deals with Spanish or other EU nationals in Spain as a surefire way of obtaining residency in the country and acquiring practically the same rights as a Spaniard. Individuals may be willing to accept the offer of a fake union, whether it’s to help a migrant out, for mutual convenience or financial gain.

How do I prove this?

In some cases, in order to finish the process and prove that it is an authentic marriage, it is possible that both members of the couple will have a small interview.

According to Spanish legal experts ImmigrationSpain.es, it is a small questionnaire that both members take separately and involve simple personal questions about the life of their future spouse and about their life together to date.

For example, they could ask about how they met, if the other person has children, the name of their parents, what their partner does for work, how long you have lived together, when you decided to get married, and so on. All questions that should be easy enough to answer if yours is an authentic marriage.

READ ALSO: Fraudulent marriages to obtain residency spike in Spain

What happens if I am caught trying a ‘marriage of convenience’?

Faking a marriage or civil union isn’t generally classified as a crime in Spain, which means that the bogus couple are unlikely to end up behind bars, but it is still considered a fraudulent act that can carry fines of between €500 and €10,000, according to article 53.2B of Spain’s migration law.

Criminal penalties are generally only applied in cases in which there is profit or forced documents. If it can be proven that the only reason behind the fake marriage was that one of the spouses obtained the residence permit or the right to family reunification, that permit will be denied or the renewal will not be carried out if it had already been granted.

Which documents do I need?

Keep in mind that the procedure and the required documents could differ slightly according to where you live in Spain.

However, generally speaking you need the following documents to register your marriage in Spain:

Identity document (passport in the case of the foreigner, and ID or passport in the case of the Spanish citizen).

Birth certificate of both members of the couple.

Proof of martial status: Documentation that proves the marital status of each one (whether single, divorced or widowed). In Spain this is known as a Certificado de Fe de Vida y Estado.

If either of you are divorced, you must also provide a final judgment of divorce letter or document.

Address documents: Proof of where both members lived during the last two years before the application.

Certificate issued by the Consulate of the foreigner’s country of origin that accredits your freedom to marry.

Keep in mind that any documents from abroad must be officially translated into Spanish.

Can I marry a Spaniard outside Spain?

Yes, but if the marriage takes place abroad, the Spanish citizen is legally obliged to register the marriage in Spain when you get back, or this process can be done at the Spanish Consulate located in the foreigner’s home country.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

PROPERTY

Property in Spain: What happens when there’s a divorce?

It's something of a nightmare scenario but one that happens to a lot of married couples. You've bought a property together, perhaps have a mortgage, but now you're getting divorced -- what happens next?

Published: 13 October 2023 14:53 CEST
Property in Spain: What happens when there’s a divorce?

It’s far from ideal but something that unfortunately happens to many married couples: a divorce.

Of course, divorces can be complicated by all sorts of different things. Is it amicable? Do you have children? Did you sign a prenup? And, of course, do you have property together?

READ ALSO: What you need to know about getting a prenup in Spain

Property in particular — who owns it, who is legally entitled to it, who will keep it, who takes on the mortgage — can cause friction in what is often an already tense time in many people’s lives.

So, what are the rules, and what happens to property in Spain when there’s a divorce?

What happens to property when there’s a divorce in Spain?

The short answer is, it depends.

In the simplest scenario where there are no children and the spouses each own equal shares of the property, there may be an agreement to sell the property and divide the proceeds equally.

What happens to the mortgage?

Maybe you’ve got a mortgage. Maybe it’s shared, maybe it’s in one person’s name. So what happens to it in the case of a divorce?

Technically speaking, if the loan agreement is signed under both names then both people should continue to pay the monthly fees and the financial institution may claim the payment from both holders. Josep Vera, director of business development of Hipotecas.com, told El Economista that “the people who appear on the loan and own the home will continue to maintain their obligations whether they are married or divorced.”

In simple terms, the people who signed up to the mortgage contract and appear as debtors on the loan agreement must pay it, regardless of whether they are married, divorced, or in the process of getting divorced.

However, it’s not exactly that simple, and there are legal options to work around this. In this case, both spouses can agree on the distribution of assets and decide who keeps the mortgage. If one person assumes the loan, you may be best served to ask the bank for a mortgage restructure. However, note that some banks may reconsider the terms of the mortgage offer depending on the different financial positions of each party and how the change in contract could potentially affect the repayment of the loan.

What about the kids?

If you have kids, they can also play a role in property division.

Put simply, child custody (and who has it) directly affects the use of the house and the mortgage. As a general rule, in Spain children stay in the family home with the parent who has been granted legal custody, although the payment of the mortgage, in these cases, will be borne by the owner whether or not he resides in the house or has custody or not.

So, in theory, you could be the mortgage owner but if you don’t have custody of your children, you will be paying the mortgage on a property you don’t live in.

READ ALSO: Civil union or marriage in Spain: which one is better?

Extinción de condominio

Another option and something fairly common in Spain when it comes to property and divorce disputes (and in shared properties more generally) is an extinción de condominio. We can translate this roughly as liquidation or dissolution of co-ownership, although it is sometimes referred to a dissolution of joint property ownership.

What is an extinción de condominio?

An extinción de condominio essentially means liquidating the common ownership of a property. There are generally two ways to do it: through an amicable agreement or through a legal procedure that leads to the forced sale of the property.

With an agreement

One of the possible solutions is an extinción de condominio with an agreement if one party decides they want to sell their part and is financially compensated by the other.

For example, if your ex-partner wants to keep the property and you don’t, one possibility is the transfer of your part to them in exchange for the financial equivalent. This is one of the simplest ways to do it.

Of course, you could also decide to sell the property and split the profit between you.

Without agreement

This is where things can potentially get a bit messy. An extinción de condominio without a prior agreement likely means a legal dispute and auctioning of the property in front of a judge.

Spanish legal experts recommend that it is always better to reach an agreement before it gets to this point. This is basically when one party does not agree and legal proceedings for an forced dissolution of ownership begin.

Tax benefits

However, there are some potential tax benefits of getting an extinción de condominio. Although one of the co-owners “acquires” the part of the other, from a tax point of view this is not taxed as “a sale” in the way a typical property purchase would be.

Whereas property sales can be taxed at roughly 6-10 percent, depending on the region, an extinción de condominio is only taxed at 0.5-1.5 percent (again depending on the region).

Making an extinción de condominio with an agreement for tax purposes is one of the most common arrangements for divorcing couples who co-own a property together in Spain.

SHOW COMMENTS