By Dr Andrew Smith | Medical Director, Wilmer Health | Published: 27 April 2025 | Last Update: 22 April 2026
This guide is reviewed regularly to reflect current Spanish consulate requirements. Last updated April 2026 by Dr Andrew Smith, Medical Director, Wilmer Health. For specific advice about your individual application, contact us at hello@wilmerhealth.com.
Having your Spanish visa medical certificate rejected is frustrating — especially when you’ve already spent time and money getting it sorted. But it happens more often than people realise, and in the vast majority of cases it’s completely fixable.
The key is understanding exactly what went wrong. Most rejections come down to a small number of very specific issues — and once you know which one applies to you, the path forward is usually straightforward.
This guide covers the most common reasons for rejection, what to do next, and how to avoid it happening again.
This is the most common reason certificates get rejected — and it’s usually not the applicant’s fault. It’s the doctor’s.
The Spanish consulate requires very specific wording on the certificate. It must state that the applicant does not suffer from any disease with serious public health implications in accordance with the International Health Regulations (2005). The exact phrasing matters. A generic letter confirming good health, or a certificate that references the IHR without using the correct wording, will be rejected.
Many doctors — particularly NHS GPs and Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) who don’t specialise in visa documentation — simply aren’t familiar with what’s required. If your certificate was rejected for wording reasons, you’ll need a new one issued by a specialist provider. Read our full guide on what your Spanish visa medical certificate should say.
If applying through a Spanish consulate in the UK, your medical certificate needs an apostille — the official FCDO stamp that makes a UK-issued document legally recognised in Spain — before the consulate will accept it. If it was submitted without one, or with an apostille that couldn’t be verified, it will be rejected.
The apostille can only be applied to certificates signed by FCDO-registered doctors. If your original certificate was issued by a doctor who isn’t on the FCDO register, an additional notarisation step is required first — something many providers either skip or simply don’t know about.
A note for US applicants: if you’re applying from the USA, the medical certificate generally does not require an apostille. However, requirements can vary by consulate and by the Spanish immigration office handling your case, so always confirm with your specific consulate before submitting.
Read our full guide on how to get an apostille for your Spanish visa medical certificate in the UK.
For UK applicants, even if the wording is correct and the certificate looks fine, if the issuing doctor isn’t registered with the FCDO, the apostille cannot be applied without extra steps — and if those steps weren’t taken, the consulate will reject it.
This is one of the most avoidable rejection reasons for UK applicants. Always check that your provider’s doctors are FCDO-registered before ordering. At Wilmer Health, all our doctors are GMC-registered and FCDO-verified as standard.
Some certificates get rejected because they don’t clearly identify the applicant. Your certificate should include your full name and date of birth. If the consulate can’t clearly match the certificate to you as the applicant, they won’t accept it.
This is usually a formatting issue with the provider rather than anything you’ve done wrong — but it’s worth checking your certificate carefully before submitting.
A Spanish visa medical certificate is valid for three months from the date of issue. If your certificate was more than 90 days old when you submitted your application — or if your application was delayed and the certificate expired in the meantime — it will be rejected.
This is one of the more painful rejection reasons because it means starting again from scratch. If your resubmission deadline is tight, contact us directly at hello@wilmerhealth.com — we’ll advise honestly on what’s possible for your situation.
If your certificate was issued in English only and submitted without a sworn Spanish translation, the consulate will reject it. The translation must be carried out by a sworn translator officially registered with the Spanish government — an informal translation or one done by a bilingual friend won’t be accepted.
At Wilmer Health, our certificates are issued in bilingual format as standard — English and Spanish on the same document — which removes this issue entirely. Find out more about the benefits of using a bilingual Spanish visa medical certificate.
Before you do anything else, find out exactly what went wrong. Check any correspondence from the consulate carefully — they will usually indicate the reason for rejection, even if it’s not always in plain English.
Once you know the reason:
If the wording or format was wrong — you need a new certificate. Don’t try to amend the original. Get a new one from a specialist provider who knows exactly what the Spanish consulate requires.
If the apostille was missing or invalid (UK applicants) — if the certificate itself is correct, you may be able to re-apostille it. But if the doctor wasn’t FCDO-registered, you’ll need a new certificate first before the apostille can be applied correctly. US applicants generally don’t need an apostille for the medical certificate — but if yours was flagged, contact your specific consulate to confirm what’s required.
If the certificate has expired — you need a new one. There’s no way to extend a certificate’s validity once it’s passed the 90-day window.
If the translation was missing or incorrect — if everything else about the certificate is fine, you may be able to arrange a sworn translation of the existing document. But check first that the certificate itself meets all other requirements before paying for a translation.
In most cases, the cleanest solution is to start fresh with a specialist provider who handles everything correctly from the beginning — certificate, apostille, and translation in one process. It’s usually faster and cheaper than trying to fix individual components of a rejected application.
Faster than you might think — but it depends on what went wrong and how much time you have before your resubmission deadline.
If you need a completely new certificate — which is the case for most rejections — the clock starts from scratch. At Wilmer Health, we work with applicants in the UK and USA and can move quickly regardless of where you’re applying from.
For UK applicants, we can turn around a full package — certificate, apostille, and translation — in 4, 5, or 10 working days. The digital certificate is issued the same day you apply, and the apostille is handled through our direct access to the FCDO counter in Milton Keynes, which is why we can offer guaranteed turnaround times the standard FCDO route simply can’t match.
For US applicants, where an apostille is generally not required for the medical certificate, we can issue a digital copy the same day and dispatch the physical copy immediately — making it one of the fastest parts of your application to tick off.
If your deadline is very tight, don’t place an order without speaking to us first. We’d rather give you a straight answer than take an order we can’t fulfil in time. Get in touch at hello@wilmerhealth.com and we’ll confirm exactly what you need.
If your certificate has been rejected, we can help you fix it quickly — whether you’re applying from the UK, the USA, or anywhere else.
Our doctors issue certificates using the exact wording Spanish consulates require, in bilingual format as standard — English and Spanish on the same document — so the translation issue doesn’t arise regardless of where you’re applying from.
For UK applicants, we handle the apostille through direct access to the FCDO counter in Milton Keynes, which means faster and more reliable turnaround than the standard route. For US applicants, where an apostille is generally not required for the medical certificate, we can still help you get a fully compliant, correctly worded certificate sorted quickly.
Everything is done online, and we’re on hand seven days a week. If you’ve had a rejection and need to move quickly, drop us a message at hello@wilmerhealth.com — we’ll help you work out the fastest route to a compliant certificate, wherever you’re applying from.