Getting married in Spain as a foreigner: papers and recognition

Getting married on the Costa Blanca sounds like a question of finding a beautiful venue. That is the last part. The first part is a file, and anyone who underestimates it gets stuck on a two-euro piece of paper.

The Spanish rules have changed, too. Since the Registro Civil act came fully into force, a notary can also handle the preliminary file and you can marry before that notary. And since 2019 your Dutch, Belgian, German or French birth certificate needs no apostille at all for Spain.

Below: which marriage counts legally, who may perform it, which papers you really need, which matrimonial property regime you choose without realising it, and how to have the marriage recognised at home.

Civil, religious or symbolic: what counts

Three kinds of ceremony are in circulation and only two of them make you married.

The civil marriage. That is the legal standard. It is recognised in every EU country, so also at home. This article is mostly about that one.

The religious marriage. In Spain a marriage celebrated in religious form has civil effects, but it reaches the Registro Civil through the certificate issued by the minister of religion. Without that registration you cannot rely on the marriage against third parties.

The symbolic ceremony. On the beach, at a finca, with a friend as celebrant. Lovely, and legally nothing. Couples who want both do the paperwork separately, often a few days earlier and in an office.

A common misconception. People assume a marriage in Spain has to be done over again at home. It does not. It does have to be registered, and that is a different thing.

Who may marry you, and where

The text of this article was last amended with effect from 3 April 2025, and the list itself has read this way since the Registro Civil act fully entered into force in 2021. Older guides no longer hold.

The Spanish Civil Code names three categories in article 51 that may celebrate a civil marriage: the alcalde of the municipality where the marriage takes place or a concejal he delegates to, the letrado de la Administración de Justicia or a notary of your own choosing who is competent in that place, and the diplomatic or consular officer abroad.

The justice of the peace is no longer on the list. The juez de paz still appears in many English-language guides. In the current wording of article 51 he does not appear among those who may celebrate. Do not simply assume it and ask the town hall.

And whoever handles the file partly decides where you marry. If the Encargado del Registro Civil dealt with it, the marriage must be celebrated before the alcalde or a delegated concejal. If a letrado or a consular officer did, you may choose. If a notary drew up the acta, you can marry before that notary, another notary or the alcalde.

That is not a formality but a planning question: it decides whether you stand in a council chamber or in a notary’s office.

The expediente: the paperwork beforehand

Before you may marry, it has to be established that you may. That happens in an acta before a notary or an expediente before the letrado de la Administración de Justicia or the Encargado del Registro Civil.

Where you file it. With the notary or the registry of the domicile of one of you. If you both live abroad, it goes through the consulate. That is why many foreign couples sort out their town hall registration first.

You are heard separately. The law requires that both partners be heard individually and in private, to establish capacity and the absence of impediments. That is not personal suspicion; it is what the statute says.

It ends in a decision. That decision authorises or refuses, and a refusal must be reasoned. You can appeal to the Encargado del Registro Civil and then to the Dirección General de Seguridad Jurídica y Fe Pública.

And it has a shelf life. If a year has passed since the announcements were published without a marriage taking place, that step has to be done again. So do not build a file two years ahead.

Papers from home: forget the apostille

This is where most guides lag behind, and where you save the most time and money.

Since 16 February 2019 a European regulation on public documents applies. Certificates covering birth and marriage, among others, are accepted between EU countries without an apostille. Your birth certificate from another member state therefore no longer needs an extra counter before the Spanish registry.

And often without a translation. You can ask your own municipality for a multilingual standard form to go with the certificate. It is a standard annex setting out the content in all EU languages, so a sworn translation is in principle unnecessary. Only in exceptional circumstances may one still be required.

Note what the regulation does not do. It governs the authenticity of the document, not the recognition of its legal effects. A certificate is accepted as genuine; what it means legally remains a matter of national law.

Outside the EU it is different. If one of you comes from outside the Union, the old rules apply: apostille or legalisation plus a sworn translation, and often a certificate of capacity to marry from your own consulate.

What you need in Spain itself is at least identification and, as a non-Spaniard, usually a NIE, plus evidence of your domicile. How that registration works is in our guide to the empadronamiento.

The property regime you choose without realising it

This is the section almost no wedding guide carries, and financially the most important one.

The Spanish decision fixes the regime. The law provides that the decision closing the file establishes not only capacity but also the applicable matrimonial property regime and, where relevant, the vecindad civil, the civil residence that decides which regional law applies within Spain.

And it gets registered. Alongside the marriage entry, the property regime goes into the register. If there are no capitulaciones matrimoniales, the Spanish equivalent of a prenuptial agreement, the default regime of the applicable law is registered.

Why that matters. The default regime differs between legal systems and even between regions within Spain. What you think you agreed and what ends up in the register need not be the same. On a divorce, an inheritance or the purchase of a house, that is exactly where it hurts.

What to do. Before the file, discuss with a notary or lawyer which law governs your matrimonial property and whether you want capitulaciones. Changing it later is possible, but then it is a separate deed.

If you then buy a house together, this carries through into the deed; see what you pay on top of the purchase price.

What it costs, and why there is no price list here

The figures circulating online contradict each other, and we are not repeating them.

The municipal tasa. Municipalities may charge a fee for celebrating a civil marriage, and it sits in their own ordenanza fiscal. For Dénia, Xàbia and Calp we found no reliable, current and official figure. What is online is years old. Search your municipality’s name plus “ordenanza fiscal matrimonios civiles” and check it in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Alicante.

The notary. Notaries work to regulated tariffs, the aranceles. Ask for a quote in advance; a notary who will not give one is the wrong notary.

The Registro Civil itself does not charge for the file the way a municipality or notary does. Your costs there sit in the documents and any translations.

The rest is market. Venue, catering, photographer and flowers have nothing to do with the law and everything to do with supply and demand. A July wedding on the coast is a different number from a February one inland. We publish no guide price per guest, because every figure you find online comes from one quotation in one year.

Recognition at home: registration, not a second wedding

Being married in Spain and being recorded as married at home are two different things.

Register in Spain first. The marriage is entered in the individual records of both spouses. That entry proves the marriage and its date and place, and makes it effective against third parties in good faith. Ask for a certificate of the entry straight away.

Living in the Netherlands? You have the marriage recorded in the Basisregistratie Personen at your own municipality.

Living outside the Netherlands? You register the foreign marriage certificate with the Landelijke Taken department of the municipality of The Hague. After that you can always request extracts, even if you never live there again.

Belgian nationals go through the municipality of registration or, when living abroad, the competent Belgian post. Ask them which form of the Spanish certificate they want.

Ask in Spain for the multilingual version. Just as with your birth certificate, the European standard form applies to the Spanish marriage certificate. That saves you a translation at home.

Frequently asked questions about marrying in Spain

Do we have to live in Spain to marry there? For the file the law attaches to the domicile of at least one of you. If you both live abroad, it runs through the Spanish consulate in your country. How a particular office tests domicile varies; ask them.

How long does it take? We will not put a number on it. The sources we found give both fifteen to forty-five days and one to six months, and none of them is official. Ask the office where you file, and start early.

Can two men or two women marry in Spain? Yes. Same-sex marriage is available in Spain, as it is in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Do we need witnesses? Assume so, and ask the office how many and what they require of them. That differs in practice.

Is a symbolic beach ceremony allowed? It has no legal status, so there is little to forbid; you will often need a municipal permit for a beach or any public space.

Does my surname change? Spain has no change of name through marriage. What happens to the name you use at home depends on your own law.

What if one of us was married before? Then the divorce judgment or the previous spouse’s death certificate belongs in the file, in the same form as your other certificates.

And if we want to work here too? That is separate from the marriage; see how to get your qualifications recognised.

About the authorLeonie

Leonie lives on the Costa Blanca. She writes about daily life on the coast: the markets, the walks and everything you only discover once you actually live here.