Translation & Apostille in Madrid
Community of Madrid
Madrid is where the legalisation chain physically ends. Documents that need consular legalisation rather than an apostille — those from countries outside the Hague Convention — pass through the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores and the relevant embassy, both of which are here. For a complicated legalisation, that proximity is a genuine practical advantage.
Madrid is also the simplest linguistic case on this list: Spanish only, so no co-official language ever adds a second translation step. The work is therefore purely inbound — foreign documents into Spanish — and the questions that matter are which documents need sworn translation, and whether apostille or full consular legalisation applies to the issuing country.
Local context: Madrid
| Extranjería office | Oficina de Extranjería de Madrid, plus the specialised Unidad de Grandes Empresas for large-employer and highly-qualified files |
|---|---|
| Company registry | Registro Mercantil de Madrid |
| Local context | Being where the national bodies sit means escalations, appeals and unusual cases are resolved without going through a regional layer |
| Work authorisation | Granted by the central Oficina de Extranjería |
| Central authorities | The Ministerio de Inclusión, the Oficina de Asilo y Refugio and the central registries are all seated here |
| Tax administration | Agencia Tributaria (state) + Comunidad de Madrid for regional taxes |
| Language | Spanish only — no co-official language, so no regional translation step |
Sources: Cita previa — Sede electrónica · Portal de Inmigración · 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
What is the difference between an apostille and consular legalisation?
An apostille is a single certificate used between countries party to the Hague Convention. Consular legalisation is a longer chain — the issuing country's authorities, then the Spanish consulate there, sometimes the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores here. Which applies depends entirely on the issuing country, and getting it wrong means starting over.
Can I check whether a translator is genuinely sworn?
Yes — the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores maintains a public register of appointed sworn translators and interpreters by language. If someone offering a 'certified' translation is not on it, their translation is not a sworn translation, whatever the invoice says.
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