For years, a British citizen who fancied working from Málaga simply went to Málaga. Today that sentence has got longer, and the difference is not procedural: it is a change of legal category. Since Brexit, the United Kingdom is a third country, and its nationals enter Spain under the same rules as an American or an Australian.
That has a consequence people find hard to internalise: a tourist stay is time-limited and does not permit work — even if the work is for a British company, paid in sterling, with no connection whatsoever to the Spanish market. Working remotely from a terrace on the Costa del Sol is still working.
The digital nomad visa is the route designed for exactly that.
At a glance
| UK document | Where to get it | Apostille | Sworn translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal record | ACRO Police Certificate | ACRO Criminal Records Office | FCDO | Yes |
| Qualification | Degree certificate | Your university | FCDO | Yes |
| Experience | Employment reference letters | Your employer | Case by case | Yes |
| Employment | Contract of employment | Your employer | Not usually | Yes |
| Company | Certificate of good standing / Companies House | Companies House | FCDO | Yes |
| Marriage | Marriage certificate | GRO | FCDO | Yes |
| Birth (children) | Full birth certificate | GRO | FCDO | Yes |
ACRO, not DBS
This is the number one mistake in British files, and it is easy to see why: in the UK, when someone says "background check" they almost always mean the DBS check. It is what British employers ask for.
But the DBS is designed for an internal purpose — assessing someone's suitability for a role, particularly with children or vulnerable adults — and it is not the document Spain recognises as a criminal record certificate. The one required here is the ACRO Police Certificate, issued by the ACRO Criminal Records Office.
Ordering the DBS by mistake costs money, costs weeks and, worst of all, tends to be discovered late. If someone tells you the DBS will do, they are thinking of a British job application, not a Spanish immigration file.
And remember the general rule of this visa: it is not one certificate, it is as many as the countries you have lived in over the last two years. A British applicant who spent eight months in Dubai before Spain crossed their mind also needs the Emirati certificate.
The apostille is back
While the UK was in the European Union, much of the movement of documents benefited from EU simplifications. That is over: a British public document intended to have effect in Spain now needs a Hague Apostille, stamped by the FCDO.
Two practical consequences:
One about the calendar. The apostille has its own processing time, and it is added to the document's. An ACRO Police Certificate takes what it takes, and the apostille only starts counting afterwards. Build your calendar by adding, not overlapping.
One about order, and it causes the most repeat work: apostille first, translate second. The apostille is part of the document and is translated with it. Send the certificate for translation before apostilling it and the sworn translation will not include the apostille, so it has to be redone. It happens every week and is entirely avoidable.
A "certified translation" is not a sworn translation
There is a linguistic trap here that catches a fair number of British files. In the UK, a certified translation is generally a translation accompanied by a statement from the agency that produced it. That is a perfectly respectable standard there, and it does not work in Spain.
What Spain requires is a sworn translation signed by a Sworn Translator-Interpreter accredited by the MAEC, with their accreditation number. It is a different thing: it is not vouched for by a company but by the Spanish state, and anyone can check the Ministry's official register to confirm that the person signing is on it.
The advice: before ordering anything, make sure whoever will sign your translation is accredited for the English-Spanish pair, and ask for their number. If the agency will not give it to you before taking your money, that tells you something.
The rest of the file, in its British version
- Qualification. Your university's degree certificate, apostilled and translated. No homologation needed: for this visa the degree proves qualification, it does not license you to practise. If you have no degree, remember the alternative is three years of professional experience evidenced through employer letters.
- Company. It must evidence at least one year of real, continuous activity. For a British limited company, Companies House records are the usual route.
- Seniority. At least three months with the company if you are employed; at least three months with your clients if freelance, with a commitment that it continues for a year.
- Spanish clients. If you are freelance, work for companies located in Spain may not exceed 20% of your activity.
- Family. Spouse and children can come with you. Each brings their GRO certificate — the full birth certificate, not the short-form extract — apostilled and translated.
One advantage you do keep
It is not all losses. The British file has a virtue not every country offers: documents are quick to obtain, and obtainable online. The ACRO is ordered online, Companies House is public and free, and the GRO posts certificates within days.
Compared with systems where getting a certificate means travelling to a provincial office, the British one is among the comfortable ones. The bottleneck is almost never the document: it is the apostille, and then the order in which things are done.
So if you are thinking of moving, the first useful step is not flat-hunting. It is opening a calendar, counting backwards from the date you want to file, and putting the deadlines where they belong.
This guide reflects standard practice at the date of publication; your consulate's checklist and the UGE's criteria override any summary. Once you know which documents you will be filing, you can check the price of their sworn translation before ordering.