According to the website of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, “Legalisation is an administrative act that grants validity to a foreign public document, verifying the authenticity of the signature affixed to a document and the capacity in which the authority signing the document has acted”. This means that certain types of documents from one country have to go through a legalisation procedure to authenticate or certify them so they can be accepted in another country.

Therefore, in order for sworn translations into Spanish to be valid in Spain, the original document must have been apostilled with a Hague Apostille by the corresponding body in the country of origin, as long as it is a signatory of the Hague Convention.

If you need any more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
In the case of sworn translations of original documents from Spain from Spanish into other languages, depending on where you are going to use them, they must be legalised as follows:

• If the original documents bear the Hague Apostille because they are to be submitted in a country that is a signatory to the convention, the sworn translations into other languages have to be and can only be legalised at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can find the list of countries here.
• If the country your documents are destined for has not signed the Hague Convention, this involves a different process and, depending on the country, it may be necessary to process both the sworn translation and the original document (in Spanish) and have them legalised at the embassy or consulate of the target country.

Remember: if you are in Madrid and you need to get your original documents from Spain (in Spanish) apostilled or legalised or are unsure what to do, we can help you.