Sworn translation for Spain's non-lucrative residence visa

What the non-lucrative residence visa is

It is the permit to live in Spain without working here. The underlying condition is easy to state and demanding to prove: you must show you have enough means of your own —income, a pension, savings— to support yourself and, if family comes along, to support them too. It is the route taken by people retiring in the sun, those living off passive income, or anyone planning a long stay in Spain without leaning on a Spanish job.

You apply at the Spanish consulate in your country of residence, which goes through a fairly thorough set of documents. The exact requirements, amounts and deadlines are set by each consulate and by the immigration office, so it is worth confirming them at the official source. We do not advise on the application itself: we handle one specific, mandatory part of it —the sworn translation into Spanish of everything written in another language.

Which documents need a sworn translation

The consulate requires foreign documents to be translated by a sworn translator authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC). In a non-lucrative visa file, that usually means:

• Criminal record certificate from the country or countries where you have lived, already apostilled. Depending on where you are from, that is the FBI Identity History Summary in the United States, the ACRO Police Certificate in the United Kingdom, or the extrait de casier judiciaire B3 in France.
• Medical certificate stating that you are free of any diseases with public-health implications under the International Health Regulations of 2005.
• Proof of financial means: bank statements, bank certification letters, tax returns, pension statements or investment-portfolio statements. As a rule, only the pages showing relevant balances and movements need translating.
• Private health insurance policy or certificate with cover in Spain, when it is issued in another language.
• Civil-status and family documents if you bring dependants: marriage certificate, children's birth certificates, notarised authorisations.

One detail that sinks files: the apostille is part of the document and gets translated too. Apostille your criminal record, translate only the certificate, leave the apostille in its original language… and the consulate hands the file back as incomplete.

How we do it at Textualia

Everything online, start to finish, without setting foot in an office:

1. Upload your documents, already apostilled, as PDFs. A clear photo or a legible scan does the job. The price shows up instantly.
2. We confirm the turnaround, matching it to your consular appointment. If time is tight, a rush option is there.
3. A sworn translator-interpreter authorised by the MAEC signs and stamps the translation, faithful to the original.
4. Delivery as an electronically signed PDF, fully valid in Spain. If your consulate or the immigration office asks for a paper copy, we issue it on official stamped paper (papel timbrado) and post it to you.

Everything you upload stays confidential: your statements and personal data are encrypted and shared with no one.

Why Textualia

For this file, a MAEC sworn translation is the only one the Spanish authorities accept. A foreign "certified translation" or an agency translation without official authorisation will not do, and that is one of the most common reasons a file gets bounced. Rebuilding the whole package against the clock once the appointment is booked is exactly the trap to avoid.

We have translated dozens of non-lucrative visa files and we know the format consulates and the immigration office expect. We know the apostille gets translated, that medical and criminal-record certificates expire quickly, and that rushing with an appointment looming is expensive. So we give you a clear turnaround from minute one, a fixed price with no surprises, and a real person to talk to when a question comes up.

Gather your apostilled originals and request the translation: we will get them to the consulate in Spanish, done right and on time.