Legalization and translation
1. DOCUMENT LEGALIZATION
Doctoral students who need to legalize their documents should consider the following means of legalization according to the document’s issuing country.
A. Countries that are members of the European Union or signatories of the Agreement on the European Economic Area:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. Also, Switzerland, by bilateral agreement with the EU.
For documents issued in these countries, legalization will not be necessary (only comparison with the original).
B. Countries that are members of Apostille Convention of October 5, 1961, with which Spain recognizes its entry into force:
The Hague Apostille eliminates the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalization of public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another. The single legalization procedure – called apostille – consists of the competent authority in each country placing an apostille or annotation on the document itself that will certify its authenticity.
C. Countries that have signed the Andrés Bello Convention (no seal of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is required):
Signatory countries: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.
The documents must be legalized through diplomatic channels, and must be presented at:
- The Ministry of Education of the country of origin for degrees and certificates of studies and at the corresponding Ministry for birth and nationality certificates.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country where the documents were issued.
- The diplomatic or consular representation of Spain in said country.
D. Other countries:
Documents will be legalized through diplomatic channels, for this purpose they must be presented at:
- The Ministry of Education of the country of origin for degrees and certificates of studies and at the corresponding Ministry for birth and nationality certificates.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country where the documents were issued.
- The diplomatic or consular representation of Spain in that country.
- The Legalization Section of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Phone: 913799700).
Documents issued by diplomatic or consular authorities of other countries in Spain must be legalized at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
*NOTE: For documents legalized after June 10, 2013:
- All foreign documents legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MFAC) must be provided with a transparent security label on their last legalization signature.
- Foreign documents duly legalized by Spanish Embassies or Consulates will be fully valid in Spain without requiring subsequent legalization by the Legalization Section of the MFAC, as long as they have the aforementioned security label.
2. DOCUMENT TRANSLATION
All documents issued in a foreign language that is not commonly used must be accompanied by a translation into Spanish, which may be made:
- By the Language Interpretation Office of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, C/ Oquendo 11 (Madrid). Phone: 917111908.
- By UNESCO, the Office of the Ibero-American Center for Cooperation, or any other organization recognized in Spain.
- By any diplomatic or consular representation of the Spanish State abroad.
- By the Spanish diplomatic or consular representation of the applicant's country or, if applicable, of the country of origin of the document.
- By a sworn translator, duly authorized and registered in Spain.
In accordance with the provisions of the LO 15/1999 of Personal Data Protection, the data provided becomes part of the student record, whose purpose is the academic and administrative management, as well as the management of their participation in the services provided by the UZ.