The application for certain types of Spanish visa may require the submission of an official copy of a birth certificate along with its Spanish sworn translation. This is particularly common for children of a main applicant who need to be covered by the visa as dependants. The reason for this is that the birth certificate proves the family tie (for other family members, different documents may be needed, for instance, a marriage certificate).
For most visa procedures, a birth certificate issued in the United Kingdom would need to be translated by a sworn translator and legalised with a Hague apostille issued by UK Government’s Legalisation Office.
Most of what will be said here about birth certificates would be equally applicable to adoption certificates, where the family tie is through adoption rather than biological birth but has equal legal standing.
In the United Kingdom, birth certificates can be applied for at the local register office where the birth was registered or through the General Register Office (GRO). Check the GRO’s website here to order a certificate. The certificates issued by the GRO bear an official seal that makes legalisation very straightforward. By contrast, the certificates issued by a local registrar will have an original signature, which is also valid but can sometimes lead to delays if the issuing officer’s signature is still not registered with the Legalisation Office. For very recent births (6 months), the only option may be the local register office, as it takes a bit of time for entries to be recorded at the General Register Office. The UK government’s website has a directory of local register offices.
Whether you obtain your certificate from the General Register Office or from a local register office, what you will get (at least at the time of writing) is an ‘original’ paper document which will be entitled ‘Certified copy of an entry’ (of birth) and this is what everyone refers to more commonly as a ‘birth certificate’. They have had varying looks and colours over the years but you should normally expect an A4-sized document showing a coat of arms and a reference number at the top, with a large box that contains all the details about the person whose birth the document relates to.
Important information about your birth certificate for Spanish visa
These are a few important notes about birth certificates to be used for visa applications:
- The birth certificate will usually need to specify the parents’ names (note that the so-called ‘short certificate’ which is often handed upon first registration is an extract that does not usually contain this information).
- Sometimes the Spanish authorities may impose the requirement that the birth certificate is issued no more than a number of months before the application, so make sure you check your specific visa requirements in case you need to order a fresh official copy
- UK birth certificates are protected by Crown copyright. This means that photocopies or reproductions cannot be used as evidence of the birth. If a photocopy is submitted to an authority (for example, the Foreign Office, who issue the Hague apostille), it will be rejected even if it has been certified as a true copy by a notary public or a solicitor.
If you need us to prepare the sworn translation of a birth certificate, you only need to send us a good scan of the certificate, making sure you also include the reverse side if this contains any text. You can email us the document at info@spanishvisatranslations.co.uk or use the contact form on our Home page.
If you have found this information useful, check other posts on our blog about medical certificates, ACRO certificates, sponsorship letters, the apostilling process and more to come.