What the UGE is actually checking
A sworn translation is valid because a translator appointed by Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies it. On paper that certification is a stamp and a signature on every page. In a PDF it is an electronic signature made with the translator’s qualified certificate. The Ministry’s translation office confirmed in 2020 that this electronic form is valid, and since then most sworn translations for the Digital Nomad Visa travel as signed PDFs. It is cheaper and faster than paper, and the UGE receives files electronically anyway.
When the file arrives, the examiner does what any Spanish office does with a signed PDF: runs it through VALIDe, the administration’s verification service. VALIDe reads the signature, checks the certificate against its issuer and confirms that the document has not changed since it was signed. If all three pass, the translation is sworn. If any fails, the examiner cannot treat the document as sworn, and the requerimiento follows.
The wording of the requerimiento is about the signature, not the translation. That distinction decides what you send back.
How a valid signature becomes an invalid one
An electronic signature is a seal over the exact bytes of the file. Change one byte and the seal no longer matches. Every one of these ordinary steps changes the bytes:
- Merging. Combining the translation with the apostilled original into one PDF, so the UGE has “the document and its translation together”. The merged file is a new file. The signature inside it is gone or invalid.
- Printing and scanning. Done to add it to a stack of paper, or because someone wanted a stamp to show. The scan is an image of a signature, not a signature.
- Compressing. The upload form rejected the file for size, a phone app or a website made it smaller, and rewrote it in the process.
- Re-saving. Opening the PDF in a browser or a viewer and using “Save as” or “Print to PDF”, which produces a fresh file without the signature structure.
- Adding or rotating pages. Including a cover page, or fixing a page that came in sideways.
None of these is a mistake in the translation. All of them produce the same requerimiento.
Check it yourself before the UGE does
VALIDe is public. Go to valide.redsara.es, choose the option to validate a signature, upload the translator’s PDF and read the report. A good result names the signer, shows the certificate as valid and issued by a recognised authority, and states that the document has not been modified since signing. A bad result says the signature is invalid, the document was modified, or no signature was found.
Run every sworn translation through it the day it arrives from the translator, and again on the file you are about to upload if anything has touched it in between. Two minutes per document. The requerimiento costs ten working days.
What to send in answer to the requerimiento
The translator’s original file, exactly as it arrived, uploaded on its own. If you no longer have the original, ask the translator to send it again; good translators keep their signed files and resend them without charge. If the translator’s certificate has expired since signing, ask for a fresh signature on the same translation.
Three rules for the upload:
- One file per translation. Do not merge it with the original document, the apostille or anything else. The UGE’s platform accepts several files on one submission, and the written reply explains which file answers which point.
- No conversion of any kind between the translator and the upload. If the file is too large for the form, ask the translator for a lighter export signed again, rather than compressing it yourself.
- Verify on VALIDe immediately before uploading, and keep a copy of the report. If the UGE ever repeats the point, the report shows the file was valid when sent.
The written reply to the requerimiento is short: the file attached is the translator’s original electronically signed translation, verified on VALIDe on the stated date, with the translator’s name and register number. The guide on answering a requerimiento covers the rest of the reply and the deadline.
The paper alternative
If a translator works on paper, the sworn translation carries the stamp and handwritten signature on every page and a closing certification. A colour scan at a resolution where the stamp is legible is accepted by the UGE in the electronic file, and the original is kept in case it is ever requested. That form cannot fail VALIDe because it was never electronically signed, which is why some people prefer it. It costs more and takes longer, and an electronically signed file that is left untouched is just as safe.
What does not work is mixing the two: scanning an electronically signed translation to make it “look signed”. The scan has no verifiable signature and no wet stamp, so it is neither form.
Two things to confirm while you are at it
A requerimiento on a translation is a good moment to check the two points that would otherwise come back in the next one. First, that the translation covers the whole document, apostille page included; a translation made before the apostille was attached is incomplete. Second, that the translator is on the register of Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a name and number you can look up, since a regional appointment or a U.S. “certified” translation is not a sworn translation for the UGE. The sworn translation checklist lists which documents need one at all.
What I do on my own files
My sworn translator sends each translation as a signed PDF, I verify every one on VALIDe the day it arrives and I file them as separate documents, untouched, with the original and the apostille as their own files beside them. When a client brings translations ordered elsewhere, the first thing I do is run them through VALIDe. A failed check caught before filing costs an email to the translator. Caught by the UGE it costs a requerimiento and the days it takes to answer.