The Home Office does not require a sworn translation: it asks for a certified translation, that is, a complete translation accompanied by the translator's confirmation that it is accurate, with their name, signature, date and contact details. A Spanish sworn translation meets those requirements and goes further, because it is signed by a translator appointed by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs whose number any caseworker can verify. A sworn translation is worth choosing when the same document will also be used in Spain, when a solicitor or a court asks for one, or when you want nobody to question who signed the translation. The usual certificates (birth, marriage, criminal record) cost from €35 and are delivered in 24/48 hours. I am Elena Peñaranda, sworn translator of English no. 7310, and this guide explains which Spanish documents get translated for a visa, for settled status and for British citizenship, and when a certified translation is enough.
What the Home Office actually requires of a translation
The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) guidance repeats the same rule for every application: any document that is not in English or Welsh must be accompanied by a full translation that includes:
- the translator's confirmation that it is an accurate translation of the original document;
- the date of the translation;
- the translator's full name and signature;
- their contact details (or those of the translation company).
There is no UK list of "authorised" translators and no compulsory stamp: the responsibility rests with whoever signs. That is why a certified translation by any professional translator is accepted. Nor does the Home Office, as a rule, ask for an apostille: it works from digital copies uploaded to the application platform.
Sworn or certified: when each one makes sense
I provide both. A certified translation carries my statement of accuracy, the date, my signature and my contact details, exactly what UKVI asks for. A sworn translation carries, in addition, the certification in the official Spanish wording, my stamp with MAEC number 7310 and a stamped copy of the original, and it is legally valid in Spain. This is the rule I apply with my clients:
| Situation | Best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The document will only ever be used in the UK (bank statements, payslips, letters) | Certified | Meets the UKVI requirement and you need nothing more |
| Civil registry certificates (birth, marriage, registered partnership) | Sworn | You will reuse them: consulate, Spanish Civil Registry, inheritance, another visa. One translation serves all |
| Criminal record certificates, judgments, court orders | Sworn | A court document translated by an officially appointed translator is never questioned |
| A solicitor, court or employer asks for a "sworn" or "official" translation | Sworn | That is what they are describing; you avoid paying for a second translation |
| Documents that will also go to a Spanish authority | Sworn | In Spain only a sworn translation is valid |
| Appeal or reconsideration after a refusal | Sworn | Your lawyer will want a translation nobody can dispute |
I tell you which one you need when I see the documents, before you pay, and the quote states in writing what you will receive. The difference between the two is explained in depth in sworn vs certified translation.
Visas: which Spanish documents get translated
Spanish citizens do not need a visa to visit the UK (since April 2025 an ETA, the Electronic Travel Authorisation, is enough), but they do need one to live, work or study there. These are the files I translate most often:
- Skilled Worker. For jobs in health, education and social care the Home Office requires a criminal record certificate from every country you have lived in for more than twelve months in the last ten years: the Spanish one is issued by the Ministry of Justice and needs translating (€35). If your Certificate of Sponsorship mentions a qualification, the degree certificate too (€50).
- Family or partner visa. The marriage certificate (€35) or the registered-partnership (pareja de hecho) certificate, the children's birth certificates (€35 each) and, for the financial requirement, payslips, an employer's certificate (€45), the employment contract and bank statements if they are in Spanish. The income threshold in force is set by the Home Office; your lawyer or the official guidance will tell you which one applies to you.
- Student visa. Degree, transcript and financial evidence: covered in studying in the UK from Spain.
- Children and dependants. Birth certificate, custody order or the other parent's consent if only one parent is travelling.
EU Settlement Scheme: settled and pre-settled status
The general deadline for the EU Settlement Scheme passed on 30 June 2021, but the scheme is still open: late applications are accepted with reasonable grounds, joining family members of an EU citizen who already holds status can apply, and holders of pre-settled status move to settled status after five years of continuous residence. In the first two cases the Home Office asks for evidence of the family relationship, and that is where the Spanish documents come in: the marriage or registered-partnership certificate, birth certificates and, where the relationship had to exist before 31 December 2020, dated documents that prove it. For the move from pre-settled to settled the evidence of residence is usually British (payslips, HMRC records, tenancy agreements) and is not translated; the Home Office also extends the status automatically and converts it to settled where its own data allow it to.
Here the sworn translation is almost always worth it: the marriage certificate you upload to the EUSS is the same one you will need to register the marriage at the Spanish consulate or for an inheritance, and a single sworn translation serves all of them.
British citizenship by naturalisation
Naturalisation (form AN) requires, in short, five years of residence (three if you are married to a British citizen), settled status or indefinite leave to remain, the Life in the UK test, English at level B1 and good character. The documents a Spanish applicant usually has to translate are:
- the Spanish marriage certificate, if you apply on the spouse route;
- the children's birth certificates, if you register them as British citizens at the same time (form MN1);
- your own birth certificate or a change-of-name certificate, if your documents show different names or surnames (very common with the two Spanish surnames);
- in some cases, a university degree taught in English, to prove the language requirement without a test.
The Home Office does not ask for a Spanish criminal record certificate for naturalisation: it checks its own databases and asks you to declare any conviction. One warning that is not about translation but is worth knowing: a Spanish citizen who acquires another nationality while living abroad may need to declare at the consulate their wish to keep Spanish nationality; ask your consulate.
Summary table: document, procedure, type of translation and price
| Spanish document | Typical procedure | Certified or sworn | Sworn translation price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage or registered-partnership certificate | Family visa, EUSS (family members), naturalisation as a spouse | Sworn | €35 |
| Birth certificate | Dependent children, EUSS, registering children (MN1) | Sworn | €35 |
| Criminal record certificate | Skilled Worker in health, education and social care | Sworn | €35 |
| University degree certificate | Skilled Worker, Student, English requirement | Sworn or certified | €50 |
| Payslips and employer's certificate | Family visa financial requirement | Certified is usually enough | €45 |
| Bank statements, contracts, letters | Financial requirement, accommodation | Certified is usually enough | Fixed quote within 2 hours |
| Court orders (divorce, custody) | Family visa, children | Sworn | Fixed quote within 2 hours |
Prices from the price list, per standard one-page document; longer documents are quoted once I see them. Send me the complete file and you get a single price and a single date.
How I do it so UKVI raises no objections
- You send me scans by WhatsApp, email or the document catalogue, complete and legible.
- Within 2 working hours I tell you what needs translating, whether sworn or certified is the better choice for each document, a fixed price and a delivery date in writing.
- I translate and certify each document with the wording UKVI requires, my contact details on the certification itself and, for sworn translations, my stamp and electronic signature.
- You receive the signed PDF in 24/48 hours for short certificates. Upload it as it is to the Home Office platform: printing and rescanning breaks the electronic signature. If a procedure requires paper, I courier the original to the UK; the courier cost is stated in the quote.
If what you have is a British document to present in Spain (a GRO birth certificate, a police certificate, a grant of probate), the direction is reversed and there a sworn translation is compulsory: see the guide for British residents in Spain. And if you doubt the validity of a translation you have already been given, read how to check whether a sworn translation is valid.
Message me on WhatsApp with your list of documents and within 2 hours I will confirm what needs translating, sworn or certified, a fixed price and the deadline. You can also read the sworn English translator page.