Frequently Asked Questions about Spanish Apostille services
- Can Spanish documents be legalized by Apostille?
- What types of documents can be legalized in Spain for use abroad?
- How long does it take to obtain an apostille on a document in Spain?
- I need an apostille for my Spanish birth, death or marriage certificate - do I need to provide an original certificate?
- I need an apostille for my Spanish criminal record certificate - do I need to provide an original certificate?
- Where can I see reviews of Isarey's Spanish Attestation and Apostille Services?
- I need to submit a Spanish Certificate of no impediment to authorities abroad. Do I need an Apostille?
- I need to submit a Spanish Criminal Record Certificate to authorities abroad. Do I need an Apostille?
- I need to submit a Spanish Birth, Death or Marriage certificate to authorities abroad. Do I need an Apostille?
Can Spanish documents be legalized by Apostille?
Yes - Spain is a member of the Apostille Convention.
Spanish documents can be legalized for use abroad with an Apostille Stamp when destined for other signatory countries without additional certification by the destination country.
When Spanish documents are required for non-apostille countries, such as United Arab Emirates - Taiwan - Malaysia - Thailand - Zambia - Qatar they need additional authentication by the embassy of the destination country.
For further information see:
Spain Apostille Services
Submission within the European Union
Certain Spanish documents do not require Apostilles when they are presented to authorities of other European Union countries (the receiving authority should accept the original or a certified copy).
When applying for certain public documents, a multilingual standard form may be requested to accompany the original. A multilingual standard form must always be issued and signed by a Spanish authority, providing a translation aid designed to help the receiving authority to understand a public document which is in a language not accepted by the receiving EU country.
See: EU Multilingual standard forms
Spanish documents not requiring Apostilles include birth, death, marriage certificates, absence of a criminal record (a clean criminal record of a Spanish citizen), certificates of nationality and residence:
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/1191
Other Spanish documents, including academic certificates, still require Apostille certification and certified translation to be valid in other EU countries.
Civil status certificates (multilingual extracts from the civil status registers)
Spanish birth, marriage and death certificates) issued in accordance with the conventions of the International Commission on Civil and Civil Status should not require Apostille Stamps when being submitted to one of the following countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cape Verde, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey.
Multilingual certificates of no impediment to marriage
Spanish certificates of no impediment to marriage are exempt from any formality for submission to the following countries (Munich CIEC Convention):
Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Switzerland, Turkey.
What types of documents can be legalized in Spain for use abroad?
Official documents that can be legalized in Spain with an Apostille stamp include birth, death, marriage certificates, divorce certificates, criminal record and police certificates, company registration and tax documents, court documents, university and academic diplomas, certificates signed by registered doctors etc., documents issued by government authorities. Other documents may require prior certification by a notary or other authority.
Documents required for submission to countries which have not acceded to the Apostille Convention will require additional attestation by the embassy of the recipient country
To confirm whether your document is eligible for legalization in Spain, contact us and we’ll check your document free of charge.
For further information, see:
Spain Apostille Services
How long does it take to obtain an apostille on a document in Spain?
Apostilles on Spanish documents can be obtained in 1 - 2 days. If new originals are required, e.g. birth certificates or criminal record certificates, allow an additional 1 - 3 weeks.
I need an apostille for my Spanish birth, death or marriage certificate - do I need to provide an original certificate?
If you need an apostille for a Spanish birth, marriage or death certificate, we can obtain a newly issued copy from the register. This normally takes 1 – 2 weeks. Then we’ll obtain an apostille from the Spanish Ministry of Justice (1 – 2 days). Certificates in Spain must be less than 3 months old in order to obtain an apostille.
Spain issues certificates in Spanish only and multilingual certificates (valid in countries party to the Vienna Convention). Certificates needed for presentation to the authorities of another European Union state should not require an Apostille (see Regulation (EU) 2016/1191).
For further information see: Certify Spain Documents
I need an apostille for my Spanish criminal record certificate - do I need to provide an original certificate?
If you need an apostille for a Spanish Criminal Record Certificate, we can obtain the certificate for you from the Ministry of Justice. This normally takes 1 – 2 weeks. Then we’ll obtain an apostille (1 – 2 days). Certificates in Spain must be less than 3 months old in order to obtain an apostille.
Certificates needed for presentation to the authorities of another European Union state should not require an Apostille (see Regulation (EU) 2016/1191).
For further information see: Certify Spain Documents
Where can I see reviews of Isarey's Spanish Attestation and Apostille Services?
You can see reviews from past clients who have used our attestation and apostille services:
I need to submit a Spanish Certificate of no impediment to authorities abroad. Do I need an Apostille?
Apostilles are not required when submitting Spanish certificates of marital status to the authorities of another Member State of the European Union.
A multilingual standard form may be requested to accompany the original. A multilingual standard form must always be issued and signed by a Spanish authority, providing a translation aid designed to help the receiving authority understand the certificate when in a language not accepted by the receiving EU country.
EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (EU GDPR)
Apostilles are not required when submitting Spanish Multilingual certificates of no impediment to marriage issued to the authorities of a country that has acceded to the Munich CIEC Convention. Members of the Munich CIEC Convention are as follows:
Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.
I need to submit a Spanish Criminal Record Certificate to authorities abroad. Do I need an Apostille?
Apostilles are not required when submitting Spanish Criminal Record Certificates to another Member State of the European Union when the certificate is issued to a Spanish national and when the criminal record is clean (no convictions). In other cases, the recipient Member State may require an Apostille.
EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (EU GDPR)
I need to submit a Spanish Birth, Death or Marriage certificate to authorities abroad. Do I need an Apostille?
Apostilles are not required when submitting Spanish birth, death and marriage certificates to the authorities of another Member State of the European Union. A multilingual standard form may be requested to accompany the original. A multilingual standard form must always be issued and signed by a Spanish authority, providing a translation aid designed to help the receiving authority understand the certificate when in a language not accepted by the receiving EU country.
EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (EU GDPR)
Spanish birth, marriage and death certificates (multilingual extracts from the civil status registers issued in accordance with the conventions of the International Commission on Civil and Civil Status) should not require Apostille Stamps when being submitted to countries that have acceded to the Vienna CIEC Convention. The following countries are contracting states of the Vienna Convention:
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cape Verde, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.
How can I get a quote to certify my documents?
To receive a quote, you can upload your documents using our online quotation form or send us your documents by email. After reviewing your documents and requirements, we will get back to you with a quotation:
If you don’t have the documents available, just describe the documents you need to certify, and we will get back to you with an estimation of cost and delivery times.
Using our quotation form, your documents will be uploaded over a secure connection and immediately encrypted on our server. For added protection, you can upload password-protected files ( PDF, Office Documents, RAR folders) and provide us with the passwords separately.
PERSONAL DATA: If your documents contain personal data belonging to people outside your household, please ensure that you are authorised to share this data before uploading your documents. If your documents contain sensitive personal data, such as biometric data, medical data or data on criminal convictions, please ensure that you indicate this when prompted, upon submitting your documents. For further information on our processing of personal data contained in uploaded documents, please see:
Privacy Policy (Customer Inquiries)
For further information on confidentiality in our handling of document content please see:
Confidentiality (Client Content)