Sworn translation for Spain's work visa (employed)

What the employed work visa is

Spain's residence-and-work authorisation for employees is the route to working in the country for an employer who hires you. Unlike the digital nomad or the non-lucrative visa, there's a Spanish company behind this one: as a rule, it's the company that starts the application, files the job offer and proves it meets the conditions to hire you. The case is handled by the Immigration Office, or by the UGE when the employer is a large company. Once it's granted, you collect the visa at the Spanish consulate in your country and enter Spain to activate your residence.

Within that file there's a part that falls on you and is worth preparing early: evidencing your qualifications and your personal situation with documents from your home country. When those documents are in another language, the Spanish administration wants them in Spanish, and not in a do-it-yourself version, but as a sworn translation. That part is ours.

A quick note: this page isn't a legal guide to the procedure. The exact requirements, paperwork and timelines are set by the Immigration Office or the UGE, so always confirm them with your employer, your lawyer or the official portal. What we handle here is the translation.

Which documents need a sworn translation

Not every page of the file needs translating, but the ones that really count almost always do. The usual suspects:

• University or vocational qualification, when the role requires a specific credential. If the profession is regulated in Spain, you'll need to homologate the degree as well as translate it; those are two separate procedures, and the sworn translation is the first step in both.
• Professional or licensing certificates showing you're qualified for the post: professional registration, licences, sector certifications.
• Criminal record certificate, apostilled, from the countries where you've lived over the last five years. Depending on the country, that's the FBI Identity History Summary in the US, the ACRO certificate in the UK, or the bulletin n° 3 (B3) of the casier judiciaire in France. The apostille is translated alongside the certificate, in the same document.
• Proof of work experience or letters from previous employers, when you need to evidence years of activity in your profession.

One thing worth getting straight. A sworn translation signed by a translator accredited by Spain's MAEC is officially valid in Spain, which is where the authorisation is processed. It proves nothing before authorities in other countries. The apostille on your documents is what crosses borders; the translation is something the Spanish administration requires, and you order it here. And the order matters: apostille first, translate afterwards, because the apostille is part of the document and goes into the translation with it.

How we do it at Textualia

Everything is online, with no office visits. Upload the already-apostilled document —a scan or a sharp photo will do—, pick the language pair (English→Spanish or French→Spanish) and see the price straight away, with the deadline in Spanish working days. A translator accredited by the MAEC does the work, then stamps, signs and certifies that the translation matches the original faithfully.

By default you get a digitally signed PDF, valid for the Immigration Office's online submissions and easy to attach to your file. Asked for paper at some point? We issue it on official Spanish stamped paper too and post it to your door. You choose the format that suits you: one, the other, or both.

We keep the original's terminology and layout. Names, dates, stamps, registration numbers and the apostille are reproduced precisely, because a mistranscribed surname on a police certificate or a poorly translated qualification can hold up the whole file. And if your name appears on the document in a different order from your passport or NIE, we add a translator's note linking the two identities: it's one of the most common reasons a file gets bounced, and we settle it in advance.

Why Textualia

Because this is all we do, and we do it fast. We recognise an FBI summary, an ACRO certificate, a French B3 or a foreign degree at a glance, and we know what the Immigration Office expects to see in each. Pricing is by word count, VAT included, and you know it before ordering anything. No fine print.

A work file moves in step with your employer and with dates that bite: the job offer has its validity, the consulate sets its appointment, and nobody has time to spare. That's why you've got 24h or 12h rush options when the deadline demands it, and a real person on the other end when a question comes up. We don't give legal advice or decide whether the authorisation succeeds: that's down to your company, your lawyer or the Immigration Office itself. What we do guarantee is that the piece that depends on us, the sworn translation, arrives flawless, on time and in the right format.

Gather your documents, check they carry the apostille, and order the sworn translation. We'll send your part of the file back ready to submit.