• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Family Move Abroad

Inspiration and Information to Move Your Family to Spain

  • Home
  • Residence Visas
    • Find Your Spanish Consulate Where You Apply
    • Spanish Non Lucrative Visa
      • Boston
      • Chicago
      • Houston
      • Los Angeles
      • Miami
      • New York
      • San Francisco
      • Washington D.C.
    • Proof of Financial Means
    • Find a Translator
    • How to Complete Your Spanish Non Lucrative Visa Forms (Guide)
    • Spanish Health Insurance
    • Get an Apostille
  • Visa FAQs
  • Blog
  • About Jackie
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Purchase Guides
    • Available Guides
    • View Cart
    • View Purchased Guides

Sworn and Certified Spanish Translations

All Spanish residence visa application documents are submitted in Spanish. Therefore, documents issued in English, such as your criminal background check, marriage certificate and bank statements, must be translated into Spanish by a certified Spanish translator or a sworn Spanish translator.

In other words, you can’t just ask for help from your Spanish speaking friend (unless she happens to be one of the above.)

Sworn translators are individuals officially recognized by the nation(s) that have certified them. Their translations follow a precise protocol and are considered official and acceptable by legal authorities in that country. Since you’re applying for a visa to move to Spain, any sworn translator registered with the government of Spain will be acceptable for translating your documents. There will be no question of the authenticity of their translation and therefore, no concerns about the legality of the use of your translated documents for use in Spain. The Spanish Consulate of Los Angeles requires all translations be completed by a sworn translator.

As with just about every other official individual or entity in Spain, sworn translators have an official seal. Each page of every translation will bear their stamp and their signature. The final page of each document will also include a copy of their oath or a legend declaring that their translation is a complete and faithful representation of the original.

Certified translators are a little different. The US doesn’t have a certifying body for translators, either at the state or federal level. Therefore, unlike in Spain, there is technically no “sworn American translator.” However, certain private bodies in the industry issue their own certifications. They don’t bear any legal distinction, but in theory, should better ensure accurate and acceptable translations of your documents.

If you opt for a certified translator as opposed to sworn, ask the translator to provide a notarized statement attesting to their execution and accuracy of their translations. The act of notarizing their translations effectively “certifies” them for legal use. They should be acceptable at all consulates except Los Angeles.

How to Find a Certified Translator

This file, downloaded from the Spanish consular websites, contains a list of all Certified Spanish Translators officially recognized by the government of Spain as of May 2017.

Your translator can be located anywhere in the world, so long as they have that official seal. If you want to work with one specifically in the United States, jump directly to page 610. There, you’ll find the start of the individuals and business entities who translate from English to Spanish based in the States.

If any of your original documents were issued in a language other than English, you’re in luck. This list contains translators working all over the world across a variety of languages. You can find certified individuals to translate from German (alemán), French (francés), Italian (italiano) and even Korean (coreano). As this document is written in Spanish, you’ll need to search for the language in question using the Spanish word for that language. Then scroll through the pages to see which country the translator who works in that specific language is located.

Contacting Translators to Get a Quote

I recommend interviewing at least two people, preferably three.

Be sure to tell them your time frame and the number of people on your application.

Ideally, find a translator with experience specifically for visa and immigration purposes. Their familiarity with the process will help. Mine caught an error and also gave me advice on our financial means documentation.

Once you get a good feel for someone, ask for a quote and turn around time. Most translators charge by the page, others work on a package price. Some will discount pages that are almost identical, such as Apostille seals, which literally only vary in name and record number. Others not.

Finally, verify their delivery protocols. Your translator can work from a scan of your original. Ideally documents are relayed through a secure, shared cloud drive or email. However, you must provide the original translation with your application. For peace of mind, make sure your translator sends you your originals by some type of tracked mail, even if it costs a bit more.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Primary Sidebar

Free Guides

  • Finding Health Insurance in Spain
  • How to Get an Apostille for Your Visa Application

Guides For Sale

  • Sale Bundle of All Guides - 10% Discount $17.90 $16.11
  • How to Complete Your Spanish Non Lucrative Visa Forms $9.95
  • How to Organize Your Spanish Visa Application Paperwork $7.95

Before Footer

Recent Posts

  • Top Phone Tips for Expats
  • 4 Ways Expats Can Feel More at Home
  • College in Europe vs America: 9 Ways They’re Different
  • Moving Our Family Overseas: Two Years of Expat Life in Spain
  • Moving to Spain as an American Family – 7 Tips for a Smooth Transition
  • How to Move Abroad as a Family: 7 Tips For Choosing a School
  • Living Abroad for a Year as a Family: How We Moved to Spain
  • How To Move to Spain from the US as a Family – Our Expat Story
  • Expat Education: An Expat’s Guide to Choosing a School Overseas
  • Our 10 Biggest Mistakes Moving to Spain – And What We’d Do Differently Next Time
  • Your Child’s Move Abroad: 5 Factors Affecting How They Cope
  • First Day of School in Spain – A Family Expat Story
  • Why Move Abroad — Our Family Expat Story
  • 20 Culture Shock Symptoms Every Expat Should Know
  • Our Epic Journey to Get a Spanish Non Lucrative Visa
  • How to Cope with Culture Shock – An Expert’s Guide
  • 10 Files Every Expat Should Save to a Cloud Drive

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2023 Family Move Abroad

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT