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 in 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 arranging it. 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, whether you’re applying from the UK or the USA.
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 affects applicants in both the UK and the USA equally.
The Spanish consulate requires very specific wording on the certificate, regardless of where you’re applying from. 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.
Most NHS GPs in the UK and Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) in the USA simply haven’t come across this specific request before. If your certificate was rejected for wording reasons, you’ll need a new one with the correct wording. Read our full guide on what your Spanish visa medical certificate should say.
For applicants 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. This adds time and cost, and is one of the more common reasons UK applicants face delays. Read our full guide on how to get an apostille for your Spanish visa medical certificate in the UK.
A note for US applicants: if you’re applying from the USA, the medical certificate does not require an apostille.
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 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 90 days 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.
If you need a fully compliant Spanish visa medical certificate, reviewed and signed by a licensed doctor with the IHR 2005 wording, correct every time, Wilmer Health can help.
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 clear language.
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 provider who knows exactly what the Spanish consulate requires.
If the apostille was missing or invalid (UK applicants), and 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 don’t need an apostille for the medical certificate. 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, and 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 provider who handles everything correctly from the beginning. Getting a new certificate, apostille, and translation in one process is often 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 90-day clock starts again from the date the new certificate is issued.
For UK applicants, the timeline depends mostly on the apostille step. The certificate itself can usually be issued the same day, but the FCDO apostille adds working days on top. Standard FCDO turnaround can take several weeks; faster routes are available through providers with direct FCDO access.
For US applicants, where an apostille is not required for the medical certificate, the timeline is shorter. The certificate can be issued the same day and shipped immediately, making it one of the fastest parts of your application to resolve.
If your deadline is very tight, the most important thing is to get an honest estimate before committing. Different providers offer different turnaround times, and the difference between a 5-day and a 15-day turnaround can determine whether you make your appointment.
At Wilmer Health, we help applicants fix rejected certificates quickly, whether you’re applying from the UK or the USA.
Every certificate is issued in bilingual English-Spanish format as standard, which removes the translation issue entirely. Our doctors issue certificates using the exact wording Spanish consulates require, so the wording issue doesn’t arise either.
For UK applicants, we have direct access to the FCDO counter in Milton Keynes, which means we offer guaranteed turnaround times of 4, 5, or 10 working days for the full certificate-apostille-translation package.
For US applicants, every certificate is same-day issued, hand-signed by a licensed Medical Doctor, and shipped to your US address by priority courier. No apostille step is needed for the medical certificate.
If you’ve had a rejection and need to move quickly, drop us a message at hello@wilmerhealth.com and we’ll help you work out the fastest route to a compliant certificate.