Notarising Immigration Documents for a Spain Visa Application from Australia

Last reviewed: 26 September 2026. Spanish consulates in Australia update their visa pages without notice, and they do not always agree with each other. The page of the consulate that covers where you live governs.

Spain is one of the more document-heavy countries for Australians moving there. The Spanish consulates' national visa pages say that all foreign documents must be legalised or apostilled and accompanied by a Spanish translation. For most long-stay visas, that includes an Australian police certificate and a medical certificate. Much of the work is getting the right version of each document, in the right order, within its validity window.

Which Spanish office handles your application

Spain divides Australia between three offices, and you apply to the one covering where you live:

• the Consulate General in Sydney for New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory
• the Consulate General in Melbourne for Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia
• the Embassy in Canberra for the ACT and the surrounding area

Read that office's page for your visa type. On at least one visa, discussed below, the offices give different instructions.

The general rule: apostille and translate

The Sydney and Melbourne consulates' pages for student, non-lucrative residence, work and family visas carry the same rule: foreign documents must be legalised or apostilled, and accompanied by the corresponding translation. Canberra's page refers to an official translation into Spanish.

Spain is a party to the Apostille Convention, so for Australian documents that means a DFAT apostille. Confirm Spain's status against the HCCH status table on the day.

Translate after the apostille. The translation should cover the apostille as well as the document, so the apostille has to exist first. Translate first and you may pay twice.

Ask who may translate. The consulate pages do not say, in the text we reviewed, whether they require a Spanish sworn translator (traductor jurado) or accept a translation made in Australia. Ask the consulate before you commission one. A NAATI translation is a professional translation, but it is not a Spanish sworn translation, and the consulate decides which it accepts.

The police certificate

For non-lucrative, work and family visas, the consulates ask for a criminal record certificate from each country you have lived in over the previous five years. For a student visa, it is needed only for longer stays.

For Australia, Sydney's pages specify the National Police Certificate based on a name and fingerprint check. That is not the quick online name check. It is a separate application with fingerprints and takes longer. Order the right one first time.

Two timing points:

• Sydney's and Melbourne's pages say the certificate must have been issued within the previous six months when you apply.
• Allow for the apostille and the translation inside that window.

A police certificate is a government document. DFAT can generally legalise documents issued by Australian police directly, without a notary. Confirm with DFAT for the format of certificate you hold.

The medical certificate

Student, non-lucrative, work and family visas also need a medical certificate stating that you have no disease that could have serious public health consequences under the International Health Regulations 2005. The Sydney consulate provides the exact Spanish wording the doctor must use. Ask your doctor to use it word for word.

Whether the medical certificate itself must also be apostilled is not clear from the consulate pages. It is a private document, so an apostille would first need a notary to deal with the doctor's signature. Ask the consulate before arranging anything.

The digital nomad visa

Spain's international telework visa is where the offices disagree. For the police certificate, the Sydney and Melbourne pages ask for a certificate covering the last two years plus a sworn declaration of no criminal record for five years, while Canberra's English page asks for a certificate covering the past five years. Sydney's and Melbourne's telework pages also do not repeat the apostille sentence that Canberra's does.

Follow the page of the office that will decide your application. If it is unclear, email that office and keep the answer.

Spain's government portal also describes a route for remote workers who are already lawfully in Spain, who apply there for a residence authorisation instead of a visa. Your Australian documents still need preparing in Australia either way.

Where an Australian notary fits

• Sworn declarations. Where a visa asks for a declaration, such as the telework declaration of no criminal record, ask whether it must be sworn and in what form. If so, a notary can administer the oath and witness your signature for apostille.
• Certified copies of degrees, where a visa or a Spanish body asks for proof of qualifications. DFAT's current guidance says notarised copies of university documents also need the university's verification, and the notary coordinates it.
• Private documents such as employer letters, if the consulate says they too must be apostilled. A notary deals with the signature first; DFAT then apostilles the notary.

Registry certificates and police certificates usually go straight to DFAT.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use my standard AFP online check? Not for Spanish consulates that specify a name and fingerprint check, as Sydney's pages do.

Do my English documents need translating into Spanish? The consulates' pages say foreign documents must be accompanied by a translation. Ask whether they accept one made in Australia.

Which comes first, the apostille or the translation? The apostille, so that the translation can cover it.

The Sydney and Canberra pages say different things. Which is right? The one for the office that covers where you live.