Spanish sworn translation of your FBI Background Check, prepared for your Spanish visa application.
Also need the Federal Apostille? Add it to your order at checkout.
“I was in the process of getting all my documents together for my NLV for Spain, and it was quite overwhelming. But the Wilmer Health process was easy, the pricing was incredible, and I just filled out the forms with the information they needed. I received my documents very quickly in the physical mail. It was absolutely perfect. I would recommend it to everybody.”
When you apply for a Spanish long-stay visa from the USA, your FBI Background Check needs to be submitted in Spanish. This isn’t just any Spanish translation — Spanish authorities require a sworn translation (traducción jurada), completed by a translator officially recognised by the Spanish government.
A sworn translation is a legally recognised translation. It’s signed and stamped by a sworn translator authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who certifies that the translation is a faithful and complete copy of the original document. Without this official status, Spanish consulates will not accept the translation.
At Wilmer Health, we handle the sworn translation of your FBI Background Check. Our sworn translators, all officially recognised by the Spanish government, complete the translation within 24-48 hours and deliver it as a signed, stamped PDF that’s ready for submission to your Spanish consulate. We also offer the federal apostille service for your FBI Background Check, available at checkout as an add-on, so your documents are consulate-ready in one place.
Getting your FBI Background Check translated doesn’t need to be complicated. We handle the full process from upload to delivery.
Complete checkout and upload the PDF version of your FBI Background Check. If you also need the federal apostille, you can add it to your order at this stage. The whole process takes a few minutes.
Our sworn translators, officially recognised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, translate your FBI Background Check into Spanish. We keep you updated by email throughout.
Your sworn translation is delivered to you as a signed, stamped PDF within 24-48 hours, ready to submit to your Spanish consulate.
To order your Spanish sworn translation, you’ll need:
At Wilmer Health, we handle your personal information securely and responsibly, in line with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), applicable US state privacy laws, and EU GDPR.
“When we started Wilmer Health, our focus was visa medical certificates for Spanish visa applicants. We helped people get this part of their application right, with the correct wording, signed by a licensed doctor, and accepted by Spanish consulates across the United States.
Over time, the people we worked with kept asking us about everything else on their list. The Spanish sworn translation that needed to sit alongside their FBI Background Check. The federal apostille for documents going to Spain. It became clear that what people really wanted was one trusted partner who understood the whole Spanish visa process, not just one piece of it.
So we grew our team. We brought in Spanish sworn translators, all officially recognized by the Spanish government, and built direct in-person access to the Federal Authentications Office in Washington DC for FBI Background Check apostilles. Today, we help applicants across the US prepare their consulate-ready documents, all handled in one place.
The goal hasn’t changed. We want to make the process clearer, more predictable, and far less stressful, so you can focus on the move ahead, not the paperwork.”
Dr Andrew Smith, Director at Wilmer Health
When you apply for a Spanish long-stay visa from the USA, your FBI Background Check has to be submitted in Spanish. The Spanish consulate needs to read and verify your criminal record check. Without a Spanish translation, the consulate can’t confirm what’s in the document, and your application won’t be accepted.
But it’s not just any Spanish translation that works. Spanish authorities specifically require a sworn translation (traducción jurada), which is a legally recognized translation. A regular translation from a bilingual friend, a translation app, or even a professional translator without sworn credentials will not be accepted.
The sworn translation is required for most Spanish long-stay visas, including the Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV), Student Visa, Work Visa, Digital Nomad Visa, and NALCAP. Along with the federal apostille on your FBI Background Check, the sworn translation is one of two extra steps the Spanish consulate needs before your document can be submitted.
A sworn translation is officially recognized by the Spanish government. It’s completed by a translator who has been appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it includes their signature, stamp, and certification.
A regular translation is just a translation. Even if it’s done well by a professional, it doesn’t have any official status in Spain.
For a Spanish visa application, only a sworn translation works. The Spanish consulate won’t accept a regular translation of your FBI Background Check.
Spanish sworn translators are appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the official body that handles foreign affairs for Spain). The Ministry keeps a public list of all sworn translators, and only translators on that list can produce sworn translations that Spanish authorities will accept.
To become a sworn translator, candidates have to pass official exams set by the Spanish government, hold a translation degree from a Spanish university, and be a Spanish citizen. It’s a strict process, and the Ministry controls who can hold the title.
At Wilmer Health, every sworn translator we work with is on the Ministry’s official list. This means every translation we deliver has full legal status in Spain and is accepted at any Spanish consulate or government office.
For most Spanish long-stay visa applications, your FBI Background Check needs to have been issued within the last 6 months when you submit your visa application. This is the standard for the Non-Lucrative Visa, Student Visa, Work Visa, and NALCAP, among others.
Some consulates or visa types use shorter timeframes (sometimes 90 days), so it’s worth checking with your specific consulate before you submit.
The clock starts when the FBI issues your document, not when you order it or when your fingerprints are taken. After that, you still need to add the federal apostille and the Spanish sworn translation before submitting, so plan to start the process at least 6-8 weeks before your consulate appointment.
If your FBI Background Check expires before your appointment, you’ll need to order a new one and start the apostille and translation over.
Yes. Spanish sworn translators sign and stamp their translations digitally, and the digital version has full legal status. Spanish consulates in the US and Spanish authorities in Spain accept digital sworn translations as standard.
Your translation is delivered as a signed, stamped PDF. You can submit it directly to the consulate online, or print it out and submit it in person. Both work, and there’s no difference in how they’re treated.
This is one reason sworn translations are quicker than apostilles. The apostille has to be physically attached to your FBI Background Check, so it needs to be printed and shipped. The sworn translation is digital throughout, which is why we can deliver it within 24-48 hours.
Yes. A Spanish sworn translation is accepted at every Spanish consulate in the United States, with no exceptions. The Embassy of Spain in Washington DC and all eight Consulates General (New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Juan) accept sworn translations for visa applications.
Sworn translations are the universal safe choice for Spanish visa applications. Some consulates may apply stricter rules than others around translation format, but every consulate accepts a translation that has been completed by a translator officially appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That’s the legal standard, and it doesn’t change from one consulate to another.
Yes. The federal apostille is a separate document from your FBI Background Check, but it’s submitted together as part of the same application. Spanish consulates expect both to be in Spanish, so the apostille needs to be translated as well.
When you order through Wilmer Health, we translate both the FBI Background Check and the apostille together. Your full set of documents is ready to submit in one step.
Most Spanish sworn translations are completed within 24-48 hours of receiving your FBI Background Check. As soon as the translation is ready, we deliver it to you by email as a signed, stamped PDF. There’s no shipping wait, so you can submit it to your Spanish consulate as soon as you receive it.
Our sworn translation service is $99 per page. Most FBI Background Checks for Spanish visa applications are one page, so the standard price is $99. If your FBI Background Check has additional pages, such as a criminal history or extra information, the total cost is $99 multiplied by the number of pages. We’ll confirm the exact cost before starting the translation.
They are all the same document. The FBI’s official name for it is the Identity History Summary (IdHS), but it’s commonly called an FBI Background Check or an FBI Rap Sheet. All three terms refer to the federal criminal record check issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is the document required by Spanish consulates for long-stay visa applications.
You’ll receive the sworn translation as a signed, stamped PDF, delivered by email. Spanish sworn translations are signed and stamped digitally by the sworn translator, and the digital version has full legal status. We don’t ship a physical copy because there’s no requirement for one, and the PDF is accepted at every Spanish consulate.
Yes. Spanish sworn translations are accepted by Spanish authorities in Spain and at Spanish consulates worldwide. If you’re applying for your Spanish visa from outside the US, or if you need to submit the translation directly to Spanish authorities in Spain, the sworn translation is valid.
We can still translate your FBI Background Check, including any additional pages or listed criminal history. The cost is $99 per page, so a multi-page document will cost more than the standard $99. We’ll confirm the total cost based on the actual page count before starting the translation.
Yes. We handle your FBI Background Check and personal details securely, in line with US and EU data protection standards. Your documents are processed only by the sworn translator handling your order and are not shared with any third parties outside of the translation process you have ordered.
If you find an error in the sworn translation, contact us as soon as possible and we’ll correct it free of charge. Sworn translations need to match the original document exactly, so any discrepancies are corrected and re-issued by the sworn translator. The corrected version will be sent to you as a new signed, stamped PDF.
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