Most of our friends know that Mia and I are engaged to be married since April last year. That getting married in Spain would be a road with a few obstacles we of course knew upfront, especially since Mia is a not a member of the EU.
That the rules of the EU and the process of getting married in Spain would be so ridiculous and tedious we did not realize and now, 11 months after we set the process in motion there is still no light at the end of the black hole!
This morning I had to make another trip to Alfafar, the town where we have registered to get married (people told us it would be easier there than in Valencia).
As it turned out it was my documents that were a problem.
In general to get married you need your birth certificate and a document that proves that you’re single. According to the Convention of Vienna signed by most European countries including Spain on September 8th, 1976, you ask for the international version of the document in your country of birth and that’s that.
Two months after handing in those documents, I was told that my papers were not in order: they needed the original document with an Apostille (The Convention of Vienna replaced the earlier Apostille rule of the Convention of The Hague from October 5th, 1961) on it! Now that alone goes directly against the European Law and many people suggested us to start a legal procedure against the local Government of Alfafar!
We would probably win such a procedure, however it is highly unlikely that such a procedure takes under five years! That alone is the reason that they get away with imposing such ridiculous rules.
Anyways, after we finally delivered all correct papers sometime at the end of September last year, we could go into the next step of the procedure: the interview.
It seems that many people who get married for economical reasons “fall through the basket” during the interview; of course for us, it was more like a joke.
After the interview our “case” went to Torrent’s Police Station, one establishment higher than in Alfafar. Like real criminals our finger- and palm-prints were taken and again they checked if we were both legal in Spain. This was end of December 2009. An hour later our papers were on its way to the “Carta Roja”, some kind of High Court Institution that checks if the entire procedure is followed correctly.
Well, someone forgot something along the way, or they just changed the rules again, they now need a “traduccion jurado” an official legal translation of my birth certificate and proof of being single document!!!
THIS IS COMPLETELY INSANE!!!!!!!
They have the original documents.
The original documents both have an Apostille.
They have the official international version of both documents.
And now they need an official translation?!?!?! Mind you, the international document has Spanish on it for crying out loud!
And there is nothing you can do, but obey to this insanity and hope that by the time they finally approve our wedding plans we haven’t left this country already…
