The rule
The Ministry’s guidance for these applications draws one line. Public documents that are not in Spanish must be translated by a sworn translator-interpreter authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Failing that, only translations made or checked by a Spanish diplomatic mission or consular office abroad, with its verification stamp and subsequent legalisation, or by the foreign country’s own mission in Spain, apostilled or legalised, are accepted. For the rest of the documents, a sworn translation is sufficient, with no consular step.
Three things follow that cost people money when they miss them.
- The appointment is national. A translator appointed by a regional government, the Generalitat de Catalunya for instance, holds a real appointment for regional purposes and not the one the Ministry asks for. Ask for the translator’s name and sworn number and check it on the MAEC’s published list before commissioning anything.
- A U.S. certified translation is not a sworn translation. A translator’s affidavit, a notary’s stamp or an ATA seal certify the translator’s own statement of accuracy. Spain does not recognise them as sworn.
- The translation covers everything attached. The apostille page is part of the document. A sworn translation that stops at the certificate and leaves the apostille untranslated is incomplete. The glossary entry explains how the original, the apostille and the translation travel together.
Document by document
This table follows the Ministry’s list for the main applicant and for family members, and matches the rules I keep in my own case system.
| Document | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | None | A copy of every page. No apostille, no translation. |
| FBI Identity History Summary | Sworn | Federal apostille first, then the translation covers both. |
| Other criminal record certificates | Sworn | Any country you lived in over the last two years. Apostille or consular legalisation first. |
| SSA Certificate of Coverage | Sworn | Federal apostille first. The translation must show it covers telework from Spain. |
| Employer letter | Bilingual preferred | Issued in English and Spanish on one signed document, there is nothing to translate. Otherwise sworn. |
| Employment or service contract | Essential pages or bilingual | Translate the parties, object, fee, remote-from-Spain clause, term and signatures, or add a short bilingual addendum. |
| Certificate of incorporation | Sworn | State apostille first. A public record; no notarisation. |
| Bank certificate, payslips and invoices | None | Filed as issued. The bank certificate is stamped or signed by the bank and marks each payment. |
| University degree | Sworn | Notarised true copy, state apostille, then sworn translation. The only document in the file that is notarised. |
| CV | Simple | The Ministry’s list says simple translation expressly. |
| Proof of professional experience | Simple | Reference letters and records when there is no degree. |
| Marriage or birth certificate | Sworn | State apostille from the issuing state first. |
| Name-change court order | Sworn | State apostille first. |
| Military discharge (DD-214) | Sworn | Federal apostille first. |
| Health insurance policy | None | Issued in Spanish by an insurer authorised in Spain. |
| Declaración de entrada | None | A Spanish document. |
The ones that need no translation
The passport is copied, not translated. The health insurance policy, if it comes from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain as the Ministry requires, is issued in Spanish. A policy issued in English by an insurer without Spanish authorisation would need translation, but it would also fail the insurance requirement, so translating it does not help. The bank certificate, the payslips and the invoices also go in as they are. The insurance guide covers what the UGE accepts.
The one that people over-translate
The CV. The Ministry’s list is explicit that the CV needs only a simple translation. It is the document most often sent to a sworn translator anyway, usually because the applicant sends the whole folder at once. Pull it out and translate it yourself, or have a competent bilingual colleague do it. The same goes for the experience letters that replace a degree; they are private documents and a simple translation is enough.
Where the money goes, and how to keep it
Sworn translators charge by the page or by the word, and long documents cost real money. Three habits keep the bill down.
- Ask for bilingual originals. An employer letter drafted in both languages on one page and signed once is accepted and costs nothing to translate. The employer letter template is written that way. A contract can carry a one-page bilingual addendum that states the remote-from-Spain arrangement, which avoids translating forty pages of boilerplate.
- Translate the essential pages of long contracts. The parties, the object, the fee, the term, the clause that permits work from Spain and the signatures. The rest is not what the officer reads.
- Order once, complete. A translation made before the apostille has to be redone to cover the apostille. Sequence it: document, apostille, translation. The document checklist puts the steps in order.
Digital signatures and electronic filing
The application to the UGE is lodged electronically. Sworn translations with the translator’s electronic signature are accepted by Spanish authorities, and in practice they are now the norm. A PDF signed by a translator on the MAEC register is what goes into the file. There is no need to courier stamped paper across the Atlantic.
The bottom line
Public documents get a sworn translation by a MAEC-registered translator, apostille included. The CV and the experience letters get a simple one. The bank certificate, payslips and invoices go in as issued. The employer letter and the contract are best issued bilingual. The passport and a Spanish insurance policy need nothing either. Follow that and the translation line in your budget drops to what the file actually requires. If you want the list checked against your own documents before you commission anything, the free assessment is the place to start.
Sources: Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, document lists for international teleworkers and their family members, and “Preguntas frecuentes. Autorizaciones de residencia y trabajo de teletrabajadores internacionales” · MAEC register of sworn translators-interpreters. Last updated: 3 October 2026.