The quest for Spanish citizenship: Day 2

Last summer I made my first half-hearted attempt to start the Spanish citizenship process, and today I tried again take the first step, which is to get an appointment to get an appointment.

Sant Cugat depends on Rubi for nationality services, so you need to go to the Civil Registry in Rubi to get your appointment.

Juzgado de 1ª Instancia e Instrucción Nº 1 Registro Civil
Carrer de Pere Esmèndia, 15
08191 Rubi, Barcelona
935 883 041

So I went this morning at 8am to stand in line… turns out I was far too late. There are only 20 spots per day and people had been standing there since 6am. You got to wonder if Spain only wants citizens who are unemployed and can spend hours pwasting their time standing in line.

Tomorrow morning I will go at 6am and see what happens.

Current score: Spain 2, Me 0

The quest for Spanish citizenship: Day 1

Since I am married to a Spanish citizen, and we’ve been living here for a couple years, I decided to see if I could get my Spanish citizenship. I think it’s generally a good idea to be a citizen of a country you intend to live in for the foreseeable future, and you never know how hard it will be to get all the documents together at some point in the future.
The main documents you will need are:

• Birth certificate. It needs to be with Apostille and translated by a legally certified Spanish translator. I used Ibidem Group (they were fast, but a bit expensive)
• Marriage certificate: if you were married outside of Spain, the best thing to do is to register the marriage at the Spanish consulate that corresponds to where you were married. That way, you get the same Spanish marriage certificate that a normal Spaniard would have and save yourself on legalization, and translation.
• Certificate of good conduct from your country of origin: this needs to be a certificate (also with Apostille) from the police from the country you were born, listing any crimes you may have commit. This also needs to be legally translated.
• Proof of being able to support yourself: social security statement, employment contract, that kind of thing.
• The usual other stuff that you probably already have (Spanish birth certificates for your kids, NIE card, passport, empadronamiento showing you living with your spouse)

First I went to the civil registry in Sant Cugat, but they told me that they don’t do nationalization, so I’d have to go to the civil registry in Rubi. Naive as I was, I collected my papers and drove over to Rubi.
Walking into the place I realized perhaps I had been a bit optimistic in paying for a full hour of parking. There were no tickets in the turn dispenser, and they don’t offer a “cita previa”, instead, I was told, you are expect to hang around the door at 8:45am and hope to get a spot for that day. Perhaps they want to make sure that only unemployed people are able to apply for citizenship.
I was told that once I secured a spot, they would tell me which documents I was missing, and then make an appointment for some day in the far future to see me. A couple sitting next to the turn dispenser piped up: “that was two years ago!” Shit.
Perhaps I should see if I can find a lawyer with enchufe…
Current score: Spain 1, Me: 0