Sworn translation for recognising foreign secondary studies in Spain

What this recognition procedure is

Moving to Spain with teenagers raises the question sooner or later: do the school years they completed abroad count here? The official answer is called homologación y convalidación de estudios extranjeros no universitarios —the recognition of foreign non-university studies— and it is handled by Spain's Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sport. Do not mix it up with university degree recognition, which is a separate procedure with its own rules. This one covers ESO (compulsory secondary, ages 12–16) and Bachillerato, the Spanish upper secondary years.

And here is the part that rarely gets said out loud: to enrol your child in a Spanish primary school or in any year of ESO, there is nothing to validate. The Ministry itself states that placement is by age, arranged directly with the school. A 13-year-old arriving in September simply joins the year that matches her age.

The paperwork begins when a qualification is at stake:

• Recognition as the Spanish Graduado en ESO, if your child finished compulsory secondary education abroad —GCSEs, for instance— and needs the Spanish equivalent to keep studying or, later on, to work. This one is free of charge.
• Recognition as the Spanish Bachiller, for those who completed upper secondary: A-Levels, a US High School Diploma, a Canadian provincial diploma, the French Baccalauréat. This one carries a Ministry fee.
• Validation of 1º de Bachillerato, if the equivalent year was passed abroad and your child wants to go straight into the second and final year.

Which documents need a sworn translation

The Ministry requires every document to be official, legalised and accompanied by an official translation into Spanish. In practice, that means:

• The diploma or certificate earned abroad: GCSE and A-Level certificates, the High School Diploma, the Canadian provincial diploma.
• The academic transcripts (report cards, statements of results) listing subjects and grades: the last 4 school years for the Graduado en ESO, and at least the last 3 for the Bachiller.
• Legalisation, where it applies. Documents from the EU, the EEA and Switzerland are exempt. Documents from the United Kingdom, the United States or Canada take a Hague apostille. And mind this: the apostille itself gets translated too.

The official translation into Spanish must be signed by a sworn translator authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC). That is exactly what we do.

The conditional enrolment slip

The Ministry takes time to decide, and the school year will not wait. That is what the volante de inscripción condicional is for: the stamped copy of your application lets your child enrol at the school, or sit official exams, as if recognition had already been granted —on a conditional basis. For enrolment purposes it is valid for a maximum of six months from stamping, so it pays to file a complete application first time round: every requirement letter about a missing translation is lost time.

How we do it at Textualia

Everything online, start to finish:

1. Upload the diplomas and transcripts as PDFs; a legible scan or a sharp photo does the job. The price shows up instantly.
2. We confirm the turnaround, matched to the enrolment calendar or to the date you plan to file the application.
3. A sworn translator-interpreter authorised by the MAEC signs and stamps every translation, faithful to the original.
4. Delivery as an electronically signed PDF, fully valid before the Ministry. If a paper copy is requested, we issue it on official stamped paper (papel timbrado) and post it to you.

Your children's records are handled confidentially: they travel encrypted and are shared with no one.

Why Textualia

School records are a genre of their own: grading systems with no Spanish counterpart (A*–E letters, the American GPA), subjects that do not map one-to-one, stamps and apostilles that must be rendered into Spanish as well. And when you translate several years of report cards —or several siblings' files— the terminology has to stay consistent from the first page to the last.

That is our daily work. You get a fixed price from minute one, a clear turnaround and a real person on the other side if a question comes up. And if the parents need their own qualifications recognised too, here is our guide to having a university degree recognised in Spain.

Gather your children's diplomas and transcripts and request the translation: we will get them to the Ministry in Spanish, done right and in time for enrolment.