Don’t forget the stamp! Spanish Bureaucracy….ministro a ministro.

I am in such shock that I just had to write about my experience today on my blog! I got to work this morning at 10:00 AM after telling Boss 4 via SMS the night before that I would be late as I had to deal with Spanish bureaucracy to renew my social security medical card. He wished me luck and usually luck is what you need. In Spain, there is literally a paper for everything and in order for it to be valid, it must be stamped and duly signed. I find the stamp thing funny as there is no “official” stamp. Once a company or whatnot is created, the name approved, and the VAT number is received, you get a stamp made. That stamp needs to be stamped on everything for it to be valid – in my office; I am the “official stamper”!!

So, this morning, I woke up late as most government branches do not open till 9:00 AM and took a deep breath. Usually getting anything done within the Spanish Bureaucratic Systems makes you want to pull your hair out and yell at anybody who may interfere with the frustrating process. When Ismael and I got married, I think that we actually spent more money and time on getting the proper paperwork to get married than the actually wedding. We had a shotgun wedding so to speak, not because I was preggers or anything but due to date availability at the Civil Registry, or lack there of, our current residency in Tel Aviv, and my legality in Spain! To get married, all of my papers had to have The Hague stamp and then be translated by a traductor jurado, an official translator. The Hague stamp is actually quite nice – it is a raised golden or red seal.


To get married, we had to hand in my birth certificate, a police report, a medical report stating that I had no weird disease, the Spanish census certificate, a bunch of other papers along with a document stating that I was soltera. This document stating that one is “single” does not exist in the States – so yet another appointment, another line. I had to go to the US Embassy and state before a notary of the public that I was single. That costs about 70 bucks. The US Embassy actually staples a letter stating that such document doesn’t exist in the States, no wonder why those of the First Church (Mormon’s) got away with polygamy. Ismile’s paperwork was less extensive. Mind you, any “official” document in Spain is only valid for three months once it has been dated, signed and stamped which meant my mom had to get the police report from our local police station twice and get it stamped with the Hague Stamp twice, and FedEx it to me twice – now that costs even more money.

Once you hand that stuff in, you have to get a witness to state that you have been together for some time. We asked Carmina, Ismile’s mom, to be our witness. We were quite surprised as we were the only young couple in the room. Most of the other couples consisted of a viejo verde (dirty old man) and a foreign woman. Once that was done, you get a paper, with the stamp and signature; let us not forget that part, only then you can get married. By that time, your patience gets tested and you can see how your partner handles the situation and if all that work was truly worth it.

So, we said our sí’s, signed a document, it was stamped and then we were officially married. Once you are married, you are given a Libro de Familia, something that obviously lived on after Franco died and according to an article in El Mundo will cease to exist.

And once you have your libro, once again, lines and more paperwork to get my residency card which included finger printing. Unfortunately, my tarjeta de residencia expires this year on November 22nd. 5 years. I am now eligible for the “Permanent Residency” but yet, even that needs to be renewed in 5 years time. I already have a knot in my stomach just thinking about the entire process.


But anyhow, back to the bit of restoration of faith I had in the Spanish Bureaucratic system, this morning it took only 30 minutes to renew my social security medical card which entailed 3 stops at different Ministries; first I had to get a census certificate that verifies my address, then I had to ask for the renewal request at Ministry of Social Security by showing them the census certificate, and I had to show both the census certificate and the request at the outpatients’ department. The medical card will expire the same date as my residency and the woman behind the desk kindly explained that once I have the temporary residency card in November that I will have to file for a temporary medical card and that once I get the official residency card that I will have to reapply for an official medical card. I am tired just thinking about it.  At about 9:40AM, Boss 1 was texting me from inside an aircraft asking me if I could change his return flight that afternoon because the take-off was delayed.  So, off I went running to work to resolve the problem which as it turns out, I told him to get off the plane and attend the conference via phone.  If it could only work like this in Spain on a daily basis, everyone would be happier.