If you were born in the Philippines and now need to marry, register a family member or apply for residence in Spain, almost every file will start with the same request: a civil-status certificate from the PSA. Filipino documents follow their own logic, and getting the sequence right the first time saves weeks. Here is how PSA certificates work and what Spain expects from them.
What the PSA is and what it issues
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is the central body that keeps the national civil register. It absorbed the old National Statistics Office (NSO), so a document you may still hear called an "NSO certificate" is today a PSA certificate. The four that matter for Spanish procedures are:
- PSA Birth Certificate — your birth record with full filiation (parents, date, place).
- PSA Marriage Certificate — the record of an existing marriage.
- PSA Death Certificate — used in succession and widowhood matters.
- CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage Record) — the Filipino certificate of single status, and the key document for marrying abroad.
A helpful detail for Spain: PSA certificates are issued in English. That does not remove the translation requirement, but it does mean the source language is one that a MAEC-accredited translator handles directly.
The CENOMAR: the certificate of single status
The CENOMAR certifies that the national civil register holds no record of a valid marriage under your name. It is, in practice, the Filipino "proof of freedom to marry", and Spanish civil registries treat it as the equivalent of a certificado de capacidad matrimonial evidence for a Filipino national.
Two things to keep in mind. First, the register can also issue an Advisory on Marriages (a fuller marriage history), and some officers ask for it alongside the CENOMAR. Second, the CENOMAR has a short practical shelf life: because it reflects a status that can change, most Spanish offices want it issued within the last six months. Order it close to the date you will actually file.
Security paper and how it looks
PSA certificates are printed on SECPA (Security Paper): watermarked, serial-numbered stock with anti-copy features. Do not laminate it, and do not present a plain photocopy — the office wants the genuine SECPA document, and your translator works from that same original so the certified translation matches what you hand in.
Apostille at the DFA
The Philippines joined the Hague Apostille Convention in 2019, which retired the old "red ribbon" authentication. Today a PSA certificate destined for Spain is apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The apostille is attached to the PSA original and certifies the signature and capacity of the Filipino official who issued it.
The order of operations is the part people get wrong. First the apostille, then the translation. The sworn translation must cover both the certificate and the apostille as a single set, because the apostille is part of the official document. An apostille itself never expires, but remember the underlying certificate — especially the CENOMAR — still needs to be recent.
Sworn translation into Spanish
Even though PSA certificates are in English, Spain requires a sworn translation into Spanish by a translator accredited by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC) for the document to produce legal effect. The translation reproduces the full content: filiation, register entries, remarks, and the apostille.
A few points that decide whether a file is accepted:
- Name spelling must match your passport. Filipino records often carry a full maternal surname and multiple given names; the translation transcribes exactly what the PSA prints, and any divergence from the passport should be flagged, not silently harmonised.
- Date format. PSA uses the US month-day order; the translator transcribes the date faithfully so a Spanish officer does not misread it.
- The whole set travels together. PSA certificate plus apostille plus sworn translation, presented as one file.
Which procedures ask for these
- Marriage in Spain. A Filipino national marrying in Spain typically needs the CENOMAR plus a PSA Birth Certificate, both apostilled and sworn-translated. See our guide to getting married in Spain as a foreign national.
- Registering a marriage celebrated abroad or before a consulate, in the Spanish civil register: registering a foreign marriage, where the PSA Marriage Certificate is the core document.
- Family reunification and residence — birth and marriage certificates of the family members concerned.
- Spanish nationality — birth certificate of the applicant and, where relevant, of minor children.
For criminal-record checks Filipino authorities issue a separate NBI Clearance, which follows its own apostille-and-translation path; treat it as an additional document, not part of the PSA set.
In short
PSA certificates are well-made, English-language documents — but Spain still asks for two steps: an apostille from the DFA and a sworn translation into Spanish, in that order, with the CENOMAR ordered fresh. At Textualia we prepare sworn translations from English into Spanish of PSA birth, marriage and death certificates and the CENOMAR, apostille included, ready to file before Spanish civil registries, courts and immigration offices.