How to apply for Spanish citizenship: documents to translate

Applications for Spanish citizenship by residence are filed online with the Ministry of Justice, but the file requires documents from the applicant's country of origin. Almost everything coming from abroad and not written in Spanish will need to be filed together with a sworn translation. Here is a breakdown of the documents involved and which ones require translation.

Residence periods that grant the right

Before the documents, it is worth knowing which residence period applies to you:

• 10 years: general case.
• 5 years: refugees.
• 2 years: nationals of Ibero-America, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, or people of Sephardic origin.
• 1 year: born in Spanish territory, married to a Spanish national, widows/widowers of a Spanish national in certain cases, children or grandchildren of a Spanish national by origin, among others.

The period is counted from when you have legal and continuous residence in Spain.

Documents from the country of origin

These are the documents that in practice almost always require a sworn translation into Spanish plus The Hague Apostille (or diplomatic legalisation if the country has not signed the Convention):

• Long-form birth certificate of the applicant. If you have minor children also acquiring citizenship, theirs too.
• Criminal record certificate from the country of origin (and from any other countries where you have lived). It has a limited validity — usually between 3 and 6 months depending on the country — so request it close to the filing date.
• Marriage certificate if it is added to the file.
• Consular certificate from the country of origin on your civil status, in some cases.

Spanish-issued documents (no translation needed)

These are obtained directly in Spain and arrive in Spanish:

• Town-hall residence certificate (empadronamiento).
• Spanish criminal record certificate (Ministry of Justice, online).
• Residence card / NIE.
• Proof of fee payment.
• DELE A2 diploma (Instituto Cervantes) and CCSE test (constitutional and socio-cultural knowledge), with some exemptions.

The order matters

The most expensive mistake is order: always apostille first, translate afterwards. If you translate first, the apostille later placed on the original will also have to be translated (and you pay again). And check the time validity: an expired criminal record certificate forces you to start over, translation included.

Another frequent detail: proper names. The Spanish administration is strict about the applicant's name appearing identically across every document. If your birth certificate says "John A. Smith" and your passport "John Anthony Smith", clear up the discrepancy before filing — in some cases this requires a sworn translation with an explanatory note.

Procedure timelines

The legal resolution period is one year from the application, although in practice it usually takes between one and two years depending on the Ministry's workload. Once granted, you have 180 days to take the oath or promise and have it entered in the Civil Registry.

At Textualia we prepare sworn translations from English and French into Spanish for citizenship files: birth certificates, criminal records, marriage certificates and any other civil documentation. If your criminal record certificate comes with a consular stamp or apostille, we translate those elements as well so that the file goes through clean on the first try.