Sworn translation for Spain's non-lucrative residence visa

What the non-lucrative visa is

It's permission to live in Spain without working here. The underlying condition takes one sentence to state and real effort to prove: you must show sufficient means of your own — income, pension, savings — to support yourself and anyone coming with you. It's the route for people retiring to the sun, living off passive income, or spending a long stretch in Spain without depending on a Spanish job.

If what you want is to keep working remotely for a company abroad, this isn't your route. That one is residence for international remote work, the so-called digital nomad visa.

The process starts at the Spanish consulate for where you live. Under Real Decreto 1155/2024, the immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025, the initial authorisation runs for one year and renewals are granted for two. You apply to renew in the two months before expiry, and filing in that window keeps your current permit valid until a decision comes.

We don't advise on the application itself. We handle one compulsory piece of it: the sworn translation into Spanish of everything that arrives in another language.

How much money you have to show in 2026

The bar is tied to the IPREM index, which in 2026 sits at €600 a month, €7,200 a year. On that reference:

• Main applicant: 400% of the annual IPREM → €28,800 a year (€2,400 a month).
• Each dependant: another 100% → €7,200 a year (€600 a month) per person.

In practice: a couple needs €36,000; a couple with one child, €43,200; with two, €50,400.

There's a widespread confusion worth clearing up. The IPREM has two annual readings, one over twelve payments (€7,200) and one over fourteen (€8,400). This calculation uses the twelve-payment figure — Spain's Supreme Court settled it. That's why the right number is €28,800 and not the €33,600 still doing the rounds. If someone has asked you to prove more, check it.

And you prove it on paper: statements, bank certificates, tax returns, pension or benefit letters. All of it in Spanish, so budget for the translation.

Which documents need a sworn translation

The consulate requires foreign documents to be translated by a translator appointed by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On a non-lucrative file that usually means:

• Criminal record certificate from the country or countries you've lived in, already apostilled. Depending on origin, the FBI Identity History Summary, the UK ACRO Police Certificate or the French bulletin n° 3.
• Medical certificate stating you are free of diseases with serious public health implications under the 2005 International Health Regulations.
• Proof of means: bank statements and certificates, tax returns, pension or Social Security benefit letters, investment portfolio statements.
• Health insurance policy or certificate, where it's written in another language.
• Family documents if dependants come with you: marriage certificate, children's birth certificates, notarised consents.

One detail that sinks files: the apostille is part of the document and gets translated too. Apostille your police certificate, translate only the certificate, leave the apostille in English — and it comes back incomplete.

The insurance small print is where most files fail

A travel policy won't do. The regulation asks for cover equivalent to the Spanish public system, with no copayments and no waiting periods, taken out with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain.

A lot of refusals start there: perfectly good international policies that carry a deductible, or impose six months' wait for certain treatments, or come from an insurer with no Spanish authorisation. Check those three points before you have the policy translated. Translating a policy that doesn't qualify means paying twice.

How we do it

All online, start to finish:

1. Upload your apostilled documents. A scan or a clear photo works. The price appears immediately, VAT included, with no later adjustment.
2. We fit the deadline to your consular appointment. Tight on time? There's 24-hour delivery and same-day express.
3. A translator appointed by the MAEC signs, seals and certifies that the translation faithfully matches the original.
4. You get the PDF, already printed on official Spanish stamped paper and scanned, and separately signed with a digital certificate. Need the paper original too? We courier it.

Your statements and personal details travel encrypted and go nowhere else.

Why us

For this file, a MAEC sworn translation is the only one the Spanish administration accepts. A foreign certified translation, or an agency translation without accreditation, won't do — and that's one of the most repeated reasons for rejection. Rebuilding the pack against a fixed appointment is expensive.

We know the apostille gets translated, that medical and police certificates expire quickly — don't request them too far ahead — and that rushing with the appointment booked costs money. So you get a clear deadline from minute one, a closed price, and a real person when a question comes up.

Gather your apostilled originals and order the translation. They'll reach the consulate in Spanish, properly done and on time.