Parallel Paths

I have four different methods of managing my data for my immigration.  I have cute little notebooks that I have yet to sully with information.  I have my database, David, whom I drag around as much as possible to remember everything for me in Spanish.  This post will describe the paperwork needed to get the appointment to get the appointment to get the appointment to marry.  This data comes from a pamphlet from the US embassy that reeks of week-long project by an admin and microsoft publisher.

Marriage Formalities in Spain lists the following documents:
1.  Application form (sounds suspiciously straight forward)
2.  birth certificate (this is really at least three things).  I was proactive enough two months ago to ask to have my birth certificate sent to me from my file in Arizona.  It took about a week to get here and another few days to pick it up, as it was sent registered or certified or something that required the attention of the addressee, David.  At the embassy they innocently informed me that I needed
2a. an apostille stamp in accordance with some 1964 Hague conference thing.   In the US births and such are handled by the state, not the Federal government, so the embassy could not give me this stamp.  In my case I need to send it to Springfield Illinois.  Spoke with Springfield via my pal Kim in Michigan.  They take cash.  (Thank god as I had two dollars floating around in my travel wallet)  They also want a self-addressed stamped envelope.  This was the hard part.  No american postage available in Spain.  I had hoped that DHL/fedex/UPS might be an option for a speedy solution to return postage, but at prices starting at 90€ one way, this went belly up.  Went to the post office and spend 33€ to send my birth certificate, letter requesting apostille stamp, and two dollars, plus 20€ for kim to cover the shipping to priority mail first three aforementioned items PLUS priority  SASE back to Madrid.  Time elapsed, five days.  Two days to Springfield.  Five to seven business days for the lovely ladies in Springfield, and maybe a week or two back to Madrid.  Will keep you posted.  The state of Illinois does not create international documents in Spanish.
2b.  Translation of Hague apostille stamp into Spanish from a certified translator of such things.
3.  Divorce, annulment or death certificate not needed in my case.  Bless you if you need this, see item two, including sub a and sub b, I would guess.  kisses
4.  Proof of freedom to marry.  Fortunately the embassy can do this for me.  There is no document that says you aren´t married.  I think that they should generate one when you are born and attach it to your birth certificate with a little pink or blue paperclip. 
5.  Certificate of residence  This will be tricky.  If an American is not a permanent resident in Spain he can sign an affadavit before an American Consul indicating his place of residence for the past six years.  This would be fun, since I haven´t had one of those since early 2008.  However, I learned a valuable lesson from the Peace Corps:  lie.  I have held a permanent residence in Hawaii since 2001.  Done.  Call the Consul.  I hope she is nice.
6.  Posting of Banns.  A declaration of intent to marry.  A notary is required.
7.  Certificate of Consular Inscription.  A letter with personal data given once I have registered with the embassy.  Registration can be done online.  I haven´t registered yet as I hesitate to create any documentation of my entry date, in case I need to lose my passport at some point. 

4,5,6 and 7 can be done in one (long) day at the embassy.  Once I have the seven documents we can walk into the marriage registration office and make an appointment to marry.

The other path we were considering following is getting my NIE, which is an indentification number for foreigners.  I will try to relearn this and I will consult my Spanish database, David for clarification, and I will post what we know about the NIE later.