Almost everything we publish here runs in one direction: a foreign document arriving in Spain. This article runs the other way. You hold a Spanish degree, a Spanish criminal record certificate, a divorce ruling handed down in Spain, and the person asking for it is somewhere else.
The honest answer comes in two halves. Nearly always yes in common-law countries. Often no in countries that keep their own register of sworn translators, and France is inside that group.
Worth knowing before you order the translation rather than after.
The rule that explains almost every case
The world splits in two, and once you see where the line falls, the rest follows.
Countries with no register of sworn translators. The United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. There, "official translation" is not a category the state defines. What they ask for is a signed statement from the translator saying the translation is complete and faithful, with contact details so they can trace them. A Spanish sworn translation does not merely meet that standard; it exceeds it, because it also carries state accreditation, a signature and a stamp.
Countries with a register of their own. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland. And Spain. Here the body receiving the document usually wants a translator from its list. Exactly as a Spanish government subdelegation wants a MAEC sworn translator and will not take a French traducteur assermenté, however impeccable the work.
The symmetry is uncomfortable and should be said out loud: if we do not accept theirs, we should not expect them to accept ours.
United States: the rule is looser than anyone selling it admits
The federal rule here is 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). It says that any document containing a foreign language submitted to USCIS must be accompanied by a full English translation that the translator has certified as complete and accurate, plus the translator's certification that they are competent to translate from that language into English.
What it does not say matters just as much: no sworn translator, no professional body, no notary. It asks for a complete translation and two declarations. And competence is self-attested.
We will spell out the consequence even though it does not help us commercially. For USCIS purposes, MAEC accreditation adds nothing in legal terms. It works, comfortably. But if someone offers you a "special sworn translation for USCIS" at a premium, they are charging you for a stamp that rule never asked for.
What does have to be in English is the certification statement. If it appears only in Spanish, the officer reading it cannot check what you are certifying.
United Kingdom: one sentence, the date and your details
What the British government asks for is published and fits in a paragraph: the translator confirms in writing, on the translation itself, that it is a true and accurate translation of the original document, and adds the date, their full name and their contact details.
One curiosity about that list: it does not mention a signature, although it does require one for certified copies. We sign and stamp anyway. We have never seen anyone reject a document for carrying more assurance than was asked of it.
The part to get right is who decides. The Home Office has its own standard, but a university, a professional body or Ecctis may be stricter, and often are. For the academic case we go further in translating your degree and transcript for a UK master's.
Canada: the only one that writes it down clearly
This is the best news in the article, and hardly anyone reports it correctly.
IRCC distinguishes by where the translation is produced. For translations done outside Canada, its instruction is to use a translator who is accredited (officially recognised or authorised). A MAEC-accredited translator is precisely that: authorised by the Spanish state.
The nuance sits in another definition on the same page. IRCC describes a "certified translator" as a member in good standing of a professional association, with a seal or stamp showing their membership number. MAEC accreditation is not association membership; it is a state authorisation, stronger at source but different in kind. If the office handling your file holds to the letter of that second definition, the safe route is an affidavit: a sworn declaration by the translator as to the accuracy of the translation and their own language proficiency, signed before a notary.
And one prohibition worth reading in full, because it reaches further than people expect: IRCC does not accept translations done by the applicant or by any family member, and specifies that a family member who happens to be a lawyer, notary or translator does not qualify either.
France: here the answer is that we cannot promise you anything
France keeps its own register. Traducteurs assermentés are listed by a cour d'appel, and in practice the préfectures, the CPAM offices and the town halls want a translator from that list. An impeccable translation, signed and stamped by a Spanish sworn translator, can still be turned away for not appearing on it.
We looked for an official French source saying otherwise and did not find one. We are leaving this in the negative because that is what the evidence supports: we cannot guarantee that a MAEC sworn translation will carry you through a procedure before a French authority.
If your document is going to France, ask the exact body that will receive it before ordering anything. And if they tell you it has to be an assermenté from the list, then that is what you need, and it is not us.
There is one exception, and it is ours: our translator is on the list of the French Consulate General in Barcelona, whose consular district covers Catalonia, Aragon, the Valencian Community, Murcia, the Balearics and Andorra. For procedures handled by the Consulate itself, her translations do hold. That sentence is worth reading literally: the Consulate is not France. We set it out in sworn translation of French in Barcelona.
The reverse journey is firmly our ground: the French document arriving in Spain, through sworn translation from French into Spanish.
Before you order: two shortcuts that can bring it to zero
If your document records civil status and is going to another European Union country, you may not need a translation at all.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 allows certain public documents to travel with a multilingual standard form that removes the translation requirement between member states. Which documents it covers and how to request it, in public documents without translation in the EU.
- The multilingual extracts under the 1976 Vienna Convention do something similar for birth, marriage and death. We explain them in the multilingual civil status extract.
Ask your Civil Registry whether your certificate can be issued in that form. Five minutes spent checking may save you the entire order, and we would rather tell you that than charge you for a translation you did not need.
What to ask in writing, and how
A three-line email to the destination body settles nearly every question in this article. It works better if you ask about specifics:
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Do you accept a translation signed and stamped by a translator accredited by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs? | That is the exact description of what we will hand you |
| Does the translator have to be on a register in your country? | This is the question that separates the two worlds described above |
| Do you need the certification statement in your own language? | It decides what language the certification goes in, not just the translated text |
| Do you accept an electronically signed PDF, or do you require paper? | It decides the deadline and the shipping |
Keep the answer in writing. It is worth more than any general guide, this one included: every body sets its own requirements and changes them on its own schedule, and what we publish today may not be what they ask you for in six months.
Tell us which country the document is going to and which body is asking for it, and we will tell you whether our translation works for you. If the answer is no, we will say so just the same.