Apostilles and Sworn Translations for Spain: A Guide for Americans

An apostille and a sworn translation turn a U.S. birth certificate, marriage record or FBI check into a document a Spanish consulate or office will accept. The issuing state apostilles state records for $3 to $20, and the State Department apostilles federal ones, such as the FBI check, for $20. Spain has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since September 25, 1978 and the United States since October 15, 1981 (HCCH status table), so no embassy legalization is needed. Each office decides which translators it accepts, and consulates cap the age of some documents. This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

Why do Spanish offices turn away U.S. documents?

The official pages warn about five mistakes.

• The wrong authority. Federal records go to the State Department’s Office of Authentications (State Department). Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles reject a state apostille on an FBI check.
• The wrong signature. The apostille must certify the signature on the FBI check itself (Washington consulate), and the State Department says notarizing a federal original invalidates it.
• An old or channeled FBI check. Eight consulates want it issued within 6 months, and FBI channelers may not handle requests that need an apostille.
• A damaged original. Removing staples gets a check refused in Washington and, in Houston, invalidates the apostille.
• The wrong translator. A translation a consulate took for your visa may not satisfy an immigration office in Spain.

The apostille has no expiry date of its own: the HCCH Apostille Handbook says it may not be rejected for its age, and the Washington consular section adds that it is only as valid as the document underneath. The clock that matters is the document’s.

Who apostilles each U.S. document, and what it costs

The Hague Conference’s page on U.S. authorities, updated September 2, 2026, puts state fees at $3 to $20 per apostille.

State rules read on September 27, 2026:

• California: $20 per apostille, plus $6 per official’s signature in person; by mail, Sacramento was processing requests received September 14 on September 25, 2026. A birth certificate signed by a local Health Officer or County Registrar may first need the county clerk’s certification, or a new certified copy from the county recorder or the state health department (FAQ).
• New York: $10 per document, after the county clerk certifies local records; a New York City birth certificate needs a Letter of Exemplification and a $3 Manhattan County Clerk step.
• Texas: $15 per document; certified records such as birth certificates must have been issued within the past 5 years.
• Pennsylvania: $15 per document, about 2 to 3 weeks by mail; birth certificates must not be notarized.
• Florida: the 2026 Statutes cap the fee at $10; the Department of State’s fee page could not be read on September 27, 2026. A vital record takes two steps: a certificate from the Bureau of Vital Statistics, quoted at 5 to 7 business days, then the apostille.

Every party to the Convention must accept a valid e-Apostille (HCCH notice, July 1, 2026), and Royal Decree 1497/2011, article 9, gives electronic apostilles full validity in Spain. Montana and Kentucky issue them (HCCH chart). No consulate page cited here mentions them, so ask before relying on one.

The FBI check, step by step

1. Order from the FBI directly. The Electronic Departmental Order costs $18. The FBI’s channeler policy guide, revised October 1, 2019, limits approved contractors to requests “not requiring an apostille”.
2. Give fingerprints. A participating U.S. Post Office takes them electronically, with results in as little as 48 hours, possibly for an extra fee (request form). From Spain, the U.S. Embassy sends you to Spanish local police with an FD-258 card, while the FBI’s form names the FD-1164. For a mailed card, the FBI quotes about 10 days after it arrives and the embassy 4 to 6 weeks plus delivery; the FBI does not expedite.
3. Let the FBI authenticate it. Every result gets the FBI’s watermark and an official’s signature at submission, and earlier results cannot be authenticated (FAQ). Results arrive by emailed link, and the status page offers a mailed hard copy.
4. Get the federal apostille. Send the result with form DS-4194: $20 per document, charged even when the office answers with a letter instead. By mail it takes up to 5 weeks. The walk-in drop-off at 600 19th Street NW, Washington, open 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. Monday to Thursday, takes up to 7 business days (State Department). The form’s approval expires September 30, 2026, so check for a new edition.
5. Translate the check into Spanish.

One point is not settled. The FBI’s status page recommends printing your own results, to protect your information, and the U.S. Embassy in Spain says to mail the emailed PDF to the Office of Authentications. No page of the Office itself says it apostilles a printout, so requesting the mailed hard copy too covers both cases.

The 6 months run from the check’s issue date; Washington, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston end the count on the day you apply. For nationality, Orden JUS/1625/2016 treats a criminal record that states no validity as valid for 6 months from issue; the citizenship by residence guide covers that application.

Sworn translation: who may translate, and in what form

In Spain, an official translation is either certified by the Foreign Ministry’s Oficina de Interpretación de Lenguas (OIL, its language office) or made by a traductor-intérprete jurado (sworn translator-interpreter) holding the ministry’s title (Ley 29/2015). Royal Decree 724/2020, article 17, adds translations made or adopted by a Spanish consulate for an application filed there. Sworn translators set their fees freely, so no official price exists. They certify with signature and seal and attach a copy of the original sealed and dated on every page (article 18.5). Since March 8, 2025, Orden AUC/213/2025 also allows a qualified electronic signature over the whole file, original plus translation.

The OIL takes no private orders: you pick from the ministry’s search tool, which shows no update date. A sworn translation is valid in Spain on its own; a consular translation must then be legalized, free, by the Foreign Ministry (legalization page).

Consulates and offices in Spain apply different standards

For the visa, Washington, Houston, Boston and Miami name the American Translators Association (ATA); Washington also names the ministry’s list. Chicago and Los Angeles point to that list, and San Francisco takes only a sworn translator from it.

In Spain, Hoja 61, the Inclusion Ministry’s information sheet on legalization and translation (May 2025), accepts three kinds: a sworn interpreter authorized by the Foreign Ministry, one authorized by a region for its co-official language, or a consular translation legalized afterward. Hoja 7, on renewing non-lucrative residence, asks for a sworn translator. The Foreign Ministry warns that some Spanish offices may refuse translations made abroad by local translators, and the Science Ministry accepts a non-EU official translator for a degree only with a legalized signature.

For any document you will reuse after arrival, pick a translator from the ministry’s list: it is the one kind every page read from an office in Spain names.

When the apostille itself needs a translation

The HCCH Handbook says no translation of the apostille can be required, and for the visa Washington, Boston and Miami agree. The Washington consular section tells holders of an apostilled U.S. power of attorney to ask whether the apostille needs translating. The Science Ministry wants a degree file’s translation to include the legalizations, so have the apostille on degree and school files translated, as the degree recognition guide and the high school diploma guide explain.

What each Spanish consulate in the U.S. asks

The nine consulates’ non-lucrative visa pages show no date.

For nationality, the Justice Ministry’s FAQ says only the birth certificate may be more than 6 months old, so plan on a recent marriage certificate too, but Orden JUS/1625/2016 keeps the CCSE exam certificate valid for 4 years.

The Chicago consulate’s 2026 fee table prices a consular translation into Spanish at $63 per sheet of 24 lines, a signature legitimation for U.S. citizens at $50 and a general power of attorney at $35. No consulate page read offers the translation service itself, so ask before counting on it. Washington certifies copies free when they go with an application filed there, and charges U.S. citizens $50 per sheet otherwise.

Documents from another EU country

Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, applied since February 16, 2019, exempts one member state’s public documents, such as a German birth or marriage record, from the apostille in Spain; it never covers U.S. documents. For these documents, a sworn translation made under any member state’s law is accepted in every member state. With the EU’s multilingual standard form attached, a translation can be required only in exceptional circumstances (e-Justice portal, updated November 5, 2025).

Criminal records are the exception. The Regulation covers them only when a member state issues them to one of its own citizens, so an American’s certificate from Germany falls outside it. The Washington consulate, however, says a criminal record issued by an EU authority needs no apostille. Other consulates and Hoja 61 are silent: follow your consulate’s page for the visa, and ask any other office before you file.

Spanish documents for use in the United States

Spain’s apostille authorities under Royal Decree 1497/2011 are the secretaries of government of the regional High Courts of Justice (TSJ), the Justice Ministry’s citizen office and territorial offices, and the deans of the notarial colleges. Only the deans apostille notarial documents. Private documents cannot be apostilled, and U.S. embassies and consulates cannot apostille anything (U.S. Embassy).

• Online. The Justice Ministry’s e-apostille covers only a closed list of its own electronically signed certificates, among them the criminal record certificate and Civil Registry certificates with a CSV code (código seguro de verificación, a verification code). You log in with Cl@ve, Spain’s online identity system, and the apostille can be downloaded for 1 year and verified for 25 (e-office). The criminal record certificate has an apostille option in its request; its 3.86 euro fee, paid online through the tax agency’s gateway (form 790-006 serves in-person and mail requests), appears on the Basque justice portal, not on any Justice Ministry page read.
• In person or by mail. Other documents need a handwritten signature: take them to the central office in Madrid, a territorial office or a TSJ, or send them by mail to the central office or a TSJ.
• Fees. The Justice pages read state no fee. The HCCH’s Spain page, last updated June 17, 2013, says the TSJs and the ministry charge nothing and puts notaries’ fees at 3.50 to 7.50 euros. Today the Madrid notarial college charges 25 euros, 50 urgent and 65 very urgent, and Cantabria’s 18 and 28 euros, VAT included: plan on your college’s current price.

On the U.S. side, USCIS wants a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate (8 CFR 103.2). The U.S. Embassy says Spanish notarizations with the apostille, translated by a sworn translator, are recognized for use in the United States.

Your next step: one list, one authority and one clock per document

This week, list every document your consulate asks for, with the authority that apostilles it and its age limit; the pre-move checklist lists the Washington documents and the order of the steps. Order state records first, since county steps take time. Then time the FBI check so it is under 6 months old on the day you submit; the non-lucrative visa guide covers the income and renewal rules.

If you are still in the United States, you can do all of this alone: the forms are short, the FBI request starts online and the translator comes from the ministry’s list. Get help in three cases:

• you are already in Spain and need fingerprints and the federal apostille by mail;
• a U.S. divorce needs exequatur under Ley 29/2015, where the law requires a lawyer (abogado) and a court representative (procurador);
• an office refuses your translation.

EasySpainNow’s paid apostille and sworn translation service, run with a U.S. partner, is quoted per document; the rules and conclusions in this guide stay the same whoever does the work.

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