Thousands of people come to Spain each year to teach their language in a Spanish school. And nearly all of them discover the same thing halfway through: the acceptance letter does not open the door, because the visa is a separate file, with a separate list and a separate authority.
This guide separates the two and focuses on the documents that have to be apostilled and translated — which is where the time and the money go.
Two files, two authorities
| Who decides | What it looks at | |
|---|---|---|
| Programme acceptance | The Ministry of Education, through its annual call | Nationality, studies, a declaration of responsibility, sex offences certificate |
| Student visa | The Spanish consulate in your country | Consular paperwork: criminal record, medical certificate, insurance, means |
The confusion arises because both ask for "a background check", and they are not the same document, nor requested the same way.
The programme's call requires a negative certificate of sex offences, which may be requested at any stage of the process and which renewing assistants obtain from the Spanish police. It also requires a declaration of responsibility — Annex I — confirming that you have no illness or condition preventing you from carrying out the role.
The consulate, by contrast, asks for general criminal record certificates from the country or countries where you have lived, and in many cases a medical certificate. Different documents, different issuers.
The visa: long-stay, for study
If you are staying longer than 90 days — and a school year is longer — you must obtain a long-stay study visa beforehand. It is not something you can sort out on arrival. What it covers and the paperwork it takes, in the language assistant visa.
Timing matters. The Spanish consulate in Nador publishes a resolution period of 38 days for language assistant visas. That is not a universal figure: each consulate publishes its own. But it gives you the scale, and explains why your documents need to be ready weeks before you fly, not the week before.
The criminal record trap
This is the point that most often forces people to start over, and it is worth reading carefully.
The Spanish consulate in Washington requires, in addition to the certificate from your country of nationality, criminal record certificates from every country where you have lived for more than six months in the last two years. Each with a Hague Apostille and, where applicable, a sworn translation into Spanish.
In real cases:
- You spent a year on exchange in Germany and are applying from the United States: two certificates, two apostilles, two translations.
- You worked eighteen months in Ireland before moving home: two countries, two documentary trails.
- You have not left your country in two years: just one. That is the easy case, and it is rarer than you would think.
And if the country issuing the certificate is not party to the Hague Convention, the apostille route does not apply: the document has to be legalised by that country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then by the Spanish embassy or consulate there. More steps, more weeks.
What that document is exactly and how to request it, in sworn translation of criminal record certificates. And if your certificate comes from the United States, the apostille has a quirk worth knowing first: federal or state apostille.
The sex offences certificate is a different thing
It deserves its own paragraph because it is constantly confused with the one above.
You will be working with minors, so alongside the general criminal record there is a specific requirement to evidence that you have not been convicted of sexual offences. Spain maintains its own register for this and the document is distinct. We cover it in the sex offences certificate for working with minors.
If you are renewing and already in Spain, that certificate is requested from the Spanish police. If you are arriving for the first time, check your call and your consulate to see which document they accept as the equivalent from your country.
The order that saves money
For every document, always the same order:
- Obtain the certificate from the issuing body, complete and recent.
- Apostille or legalise it, depending on the country.
- Translate it into Spanish, by sworn translation, once the apostille is on it.
Swapping steps 2 and 3 is the expensive mistake: the apostille is text, and a translation produced before it arrives leaves the document incomplete. The reasoning, in more detail, in the Hague Apostille and sworn translation.
A note on your degree: the call accepts applicants who are still studying or who have completed at least their second year, so many candidates do not need their degree translated yet. If your consulate does ask for it, see translation of a university degree.
Two checks before ordering anything
The current call. One year's requirements do not have to repeat the next, and places depend on there being a bilateral agreement with your country. Read the call for the year you are applying to, not last year's.
Your consulate. The document list, the processing time and the way you submit are set by the consulate that covers you, and they vary. Whatever your consulate publishes overrides any general guide, this one included.
With those two in front of you, you know how many certificates you need and from which countries. And that is the figure a translation is quoted on.
Send us the complete certificates — with their apostilles — and the consulate they are going to, with your appointment date, and we will give you the exact price and turnaround.