Changes in the law: Marriage by a notary in Spain

Good news for those planning to legalize relations in Spain.
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Couples can significantly shorten the time it takes to get married by going to a notary.
This option appeared back in July 2015 thanks to the implementation of the new Voluntary Jurisdiction Law (Ley de Jurisdicción Voluntaria 15/2015). From that moment on, everyone could legally formalize relations in the presence of a notary. In practice, however, the process remained slow.
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The reason is that a notary can legally only formalize the union and register it with the local registry office. But the preliminary documents required for marriage must be processed by the Registro Civil authorities. This can only be done by the spouses themselves through their self-filing at the place of residence of one or both partners.
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The purpose of this procedure is to check compliance with the legal requirements with regard to future spouses, that there are no obstacles to legalizing the relationship. This delays the process by 2-3 months, and in some cases it can go up to six months. The term depends on the population of the city and the workload of the registry office.
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From April 30, 2021, the marriage initiation function is available to any notary in Spain. From now on, couples will not have to go to the Civil Registry if they decide to register their marriage through this specialist. The notary will do everything for them. As a result, the procedure for getting married in Spain will be much faster.
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The timing of the wedding at the notary public with this change shortens the process. This is due to the elimination of long queues awaiting the submission of documents from the couple.
The notary, having the authority to process the initial documents, will be able to expedite the procedure and shorten it to two weeks.
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This innovation may be especially interesting for international couples. The sooner they can officially register the relationship, the sooner the non-resident partner can begin the process of applying for and obtaining a residence permit in Spain.