Sworn translations for language assistants in Spain

The programme, in one page

Each school year Spain's Ministry of Education places more than 4,000 North American language assistants in state schools, teaching 14 to 16 hours a week. For applicants from the United States and Canada the programme is NALCAP, and applications go through the PROFEX 2 portal in a short window: for 2026-2027 it ran from 2 to 30 June.

Your carta de nombramiento isn't the finish line. With it you go to the Spanish consulate for your state and apply for a student visa, because the stay runs past six months. That's where the translations come in.

This page isn't a guide to the programme or the visa — the Ministry and your consulate cover those. We handle our part.

The requirement that sinks the most files

Your background check must be the FBI one, issued by the US Department of Justice. State and local police certificates are not accepted.

It sounds like a technicality. It isn't. Every year assistants order their state background check because it's faster and cheaper, apostille it, translate it, and get it handed back. They've paid twice and lost weeks they didn't have.

If you already hold a state check, don't translate it. Order the FBI one first.

Which documents need a sworn translation

• FBI background check (Identity History Summary), apostilled by the Department of State. It's translated together with its apostille, inside the same sworn translation.
• University degree. Still studying? The programme accepts students from their second year, so your enrolment certificate or transcript does the job.
• Medical certificate, required because the stay exceeds six months.
• Letter of appointment, if your consulate wants it translated.

If you're thinking of staying on after the school year, keep the translations. Your transcript and degree will come back into play for homologación or another visa.

Order matters: apostille first

The FBI issues the certificate. The Department of State apostilles it. Only then do you translate the whole thing, certificate and apostille inside one sworn translation.

The apostille is a page attached to the original and forms part of it. Translating before apostilling means starting again, and with a consular appointment already booked that hurts.

One more calendar note: the FBI check and the medical certificate expire. Don't order them too early or leave them to the last minute. The sweet spot usually sits between your appointment letter and your consular appointment.

How we do it

Upload a scan or a clear photo, pick English→Spanish, and see the price immediately, VAT included, with no later adjustment. A translator appointed by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs does the work, then seals, signs and certifies that it faithfully matches the original.

Every translation is printed on official Spanish stamped paper, numbered and bearing the coat of arms, then scanned, so the PDF already shows it, and separately signed with a digital certificate. If your consulate wants the paper original, we courier it.

The window between appointment letter and consular slot is narrow, and in July and August everyone needs the same thing at once. We run 24-hour delivery and same-day express for when the date can't move.

Why us

Because we recognise an FBI Identity History Summary on sight and know exactly how the Spanish administration expects to see it: codes, seals and apostille transcribed precisely. One mistyped detail on that document stalls the whole file.

We don't advise on the programme or the visa, and we don't decide whether you're accepted. What we guarantee is that your two key documents reach the consulate in Spanish, properly done and on time.