Residencia Spain For Thai Wife

[shiatsuman]

My wife and I (UK citizen resident in Spain), came to Spain end of March with a 3 month "Regupacion de Familiar" visa.

Since then have been trying to process the documentation for her to get a residents card.

some warnings

the officina de exjanero makes itself completely inaccessible by not having an email address and not answering phone or fax,

eventually after visiting the officina (cattle shed) found out the way to get through the web site to make an appointment on line.

6 week wait for appointment

thrown out of officina by guard with stick because appointment was made for "Regupacion de Familiar" (as per passport) but should have been made for "cuidadando" (citizen)

so refused to deal with it.

2nd wait for 6 weeks for "cuidadando" appointment

objected to the legalisation procedure

which consisted of

Thai marriage certificate and English translation

letter from UK consulate saying marriage was legal in UK

legalisation from Thai Foreign office BKK with English translation

Legalised translation into Spanish of all of the above

The officina claimed that the marriage had to be legalised in BKK by the Spanish embassy and also in madrid by the spanish foreign office and that they would only accept a letter from the british consulate in Malaga not Chiangmai

however on my insistence they took the paper work and issued a reciept

and there the matter rests the wife is technically illegally in Spain but we have proof that the authorities have the paper work.

We come back to Thailand end of September with the intention of returning to Spain for next years summer season

It looks like going through the whole schengen application procedure again together with the marriage legalisation procedure at spanish embassy.

I am hoping to find a Gestor to handle the Spanish side before we return to thailand

a lot of Spanish have to use a Gestor because the beaurocracy is so (deliberately) unhelpful.

Hope this information may be of use to some other couple, any ideas on how to proceed from here welcome.

[VisasPlus]

I would have thought that, if you were issud with a " family reunification" visa by the Spansih Embassy in London ( or elsewhere) you would already have shown the required documents. Spanish Embassies and Consulates are supposed to insist on the original documents, plus legalised translations, before they issue the intial entry visa. If you did produce all the required documentation, then you should still have copies, and this should be sufficient ? I know that doesn't help you much, but that is the way it seems to me.

Edited August 4, 2011 by VisasPlus

[jack31]

Hi Shiatsuman - I have sent you a PM.

For the benefit of others going through the same process things have changed. To Summarize here is what you need to do - Because Thailand is not part of the hague conventions your Thai Marriage Certificates needs legalizing and must bear 4 Stamps else it will be rejected.

1) Get your wedding certificate stamped by the local amphur in Thailand. You should have these stamps already if not it must be done prior to going back to Spain.

DONT FORGET Your wedding certificate must be less than 90 days old else they will not accept it in Spain. If it is more than 90 days old just ask the Amphur in Thailand to print you a copy but make sure its stamped with todays date.

2) Get the Thai Wedding Certificate stamped by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand. They do offer an express Service same day. Beware they are a very busy office in Laksi Bangkok

3) Get the Thai wedding certifiate translated in to Spanish. This must be done by a recognised translator who is on the approved government list. You cannot just use any old translation office in Sukumvit.

4) Then go to the Spanish Embassy in Bangkok and request they stamp your Original and the Translated Certificate. Its a 5 day wait but unlike there friends in Spain they are most helpful.

5) Then off to Madrid to get the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Stamp both the original and translated Wedding certifiatest.This is free of charge and can be done in 1 hour but you need an appointment and cannot just turn up.

6)Then go to the British Embassy in Malaga and ask for the foreign recognition Certificate. You and the wife will have to swear on oath before its issued. They bind them all together for 175 euros

6) Once you have done the above present it to your lcoal foreign office in Spain and you will be ok. You dont need an appointment providing your in the first 50 in the queue, failing that you will not be seen unless you have an appointment.

This link is very useful and it kind of tells you what to do as previously mentioned above. http://ukinspain.fco...oreign-marriage

Any questions please ask.

Edited August 6, 2011 by jack31

[Thanyaburi Mac]

FYI, not knowing what a "Gestor" is, I did a Google and came up with this helpful explanation, plus this looks like a good www site for folks thinking about live in Spain:

http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/information/the_gestor_gestoria/

Mac