Translation & Apostille in Barcelona
Catalonia
Barcelona is the city where translation runs in two directions at once. Foreign documents need sworn translation into Spanish for the state administration, and separately, certificates issued by Catalan bodies frequently arrive in Catalan and have to be translated before a state office will accept them into a file.
That second direction is the one people do not budget for. A birth certificate translated from Ukrainian into Spanish is expected; a Catalan-language school certificate or municipal document needing translation for a national procedure is not, and it tends to surface at the point the file is already assembled. Knowing which of your documents will need it, before the deadline, is most of the value here.
Local context: Barcelona
| Extranjería office | Oficina de Extranjería de Barcelona — the busiest in Spain, where appointment availability is the usual bottleneck |
|---|---|
| Work authorisations | Filed with the Generalitat, not the state — a separate procedure with its own portal |
| Company registry | Registro Mercantil de Barcelona |
| Local context | Multinational employers and a dense startup ecosystem, so employer-sponsored and highly-qualified routes are common here |
| Work authorisation | Granted by the Generalitat, not the state (Real Decreto 1463/2009) — Catalonia is the only community with this competence |
| Residence permits | Central Oficina de Extranjería — so a work-and-residence case spans two administrations |
| Tax administration | Agencia Tributaria (state) + Agència Tributària de Catalunya for regional taxes |
| Forms and notices | Frequently issued in Catalan |
Sources: Real Decreto 1463/2009 (BOE) · Generalitat de Catalunya — Treball · Cita previa — Sede electrónica · Agencia Tributaria
What we handle: Translation & Apostille
Sworn (jurado) translations, apostille and document legalization.
- Sworn (jurado) translations accepted by Spanish authorities
- Apostille of foreign and Spanish documents
- Legalization where an apostille doesn’t apply
- Birth, marriage, diplomas, criminal-record and corporate docs
Questions about this service
Does a sworn translation done in Madrid work in Barcelona?
Yes. Sworn translators are appointed by the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores and their translations are valid throughout Spain — the translator's location is irrelevant. What matters is that they are on the official register for that language pair.
A Catalan body issued my certificate in Catalan. What do I do?
Two options: request the Spanish version from the issuing body, which is usually available and free, or have it translated. Requesting it at source is faster and cheaper, so it is worth asking before paying for a translation you did not need.
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