By Dr Andrew Smith | Medical Director, Wilmer Health | Published: 11 April 2025 | Last Update: 26 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.
If you’re applying for a Spanish long-stay visa — whether you’re in the UK, the USA, or anywhere else — your medical certificate needs to include very specific wording. Incorrect wording is one of the most common reasons certificates get rejected, and it usually comes down to the doctor not being familiar with what the Spanish consulate requires rather than anything the applicant has done wrong.
This guide covers the exact wording your certificate needs, the Spanish version, why it matters, and the most common mistakes that cause rejection.
It’s a letter from a licensed doctor confirming that you don’t have any serious infectious diseases that could pose a public health risk in Spain. It’s a mandatory part of most Spanish long-stay visa applications — including the Non-Lucrative Visa, Student Visa, Digital Nomad Visa, Work Visa, and Family Reunification Visa.
It’s not a full health check. It’s a specific declaration that follows a format set by the Spanish government — and the wording has to be exactly right.
Spanish consulates require the following wording, or something very close to it:
“[YOUR NAME] does not suffer from any of the diseases that may have serious public health repercussions in accordance with what is stipulated by the International Health Regulations of 2005.”
That’s it. The key elements are:
A generic letter from your doctor saying you’re “in good health” or “fit to travel” will not be accepted. The wording has to match what the Spanish consulate expects.
If your certificate is issued in Spanish — or if you’re using a bilingual certificate — the Spanish wording should read:
“El presente certificado confirma que [SU NOMBRE] no padece ninguna enfermedad que pudiera implicar repercusiones graves para la salud pública, de conformidad con las especificaciones del Reglamento Sanitario Internacional de 2005.”
A bilingual certificate — with both the English and Spanish versions on the same document — removes the need for a separate sworn translation, which saves time and typically around £75 or more in translation fees. Find out more about the benefits of a bilingual Spanish visa medical certificate.
The International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) are a global framework set by the World Health Organization to prevent the spread of serious infectious diseases across borders. Spain uses this framework as the basis for its medical certificate requirement — which is why the reference to it must appear in the wording.
The diseases covered under the IHR 2005 framework include tuberculosis, cholera, yellow fever, plague, smallpox, poliomyelitis, and SARS — among others. The certificate is confirming that you don’t carry any of these conditions or others that could pose a serious public health risk.
Without the IHR 2005 reference, the consulate has no way of knowing whether the certificate meets the right standard. That’s why a general health letter, even from a qualified doctor, isn’t enough.
These are the most common reasons a certificate gets rejected on wording grounds:
Missing the IHR 2005 reference entirely: The most common mistake. The doctor writes a health declaration but doesn’t reference the International Health Regulations (2005). Without it, the certificate will be rejected.
Using the wrong year: Some doctors reference the IHR without specifying 2005 — or reference a different year. It must say 2005 specifically.
Vague or generic wording: Phrases like “the patient is in good health”, “fit to travel”, or “free from infectious disease” are not sufficient. The wording must follow the IHR 2005 format closely.
Adding unnecessary disclaimers: Some doctors add phrases like “without having examined the patient” or “based on the patient’s self-report”. These disclaimers can cause the consulate to reject the certificate as they undermine the doctor’s declaration.
Wrong name: The name on the certificate must match the name on your passport exactly. Any discrepancy — even a middle name missing or a spelling variation — can cause problems at the consulate.
If your certificate was rejected because of incorrect wording, read our guide on what to do if your Spanish visa medical certificate has been rejected.
This is a very specific, niche request that most GPs and PCPs have simply never come across before.
NHS GPs in the UK deal with hundreds of different documents every week. A Spanish visa medical certificate with IHR 2005 wording isn’t something that comes up in normal GP practice, so when a patient asks for one, most GPs do their best — but end up using generic health letter language that the Spanish consulate won’t accept.
It’s the same story for US primary care physicians. Visa medical certificates aren’t part of routine care, and most PCPs simply won’t know what the Spanish consulate is looking for.
Using a specialist provider makes all the difference here — because we do this every day, the wording is right every time.
No — the required wording is the same regardless of which country you’re applying from. Whether you’re applying through a Spanish consulate in the UK, the USA, India, the UAE, or anywhere else, the certificate needs to say the same thing.
What does differ by country is what happens to the certificate after it’s been issued. UK applicants need to get the certificate apostilled before submitting it to the consulate, and the doctor must be FCDO-registered for this to work smoothly. US applicants generally don’t need an apostille for the medical certificate itself, though it’s always worth confirming with your specific consulate.
And regardless of where you’re applying from, the certificate needs to be in Spanish — either issued bilingually or accompanied by a sworn translation.
At Wilmer Health, every certificate we issue uses the exact wording Spanish consulates require — the IHR 2005 reference is always included, correctly worded, with your full name as it appears on your passport. We’ve issued thousands of certificates for applicants in the UK, the USA, and internationally, and our wording has never been rejected.
Our certificates are issued in bilingual format as standard — English and Spanish on the same document — so the translation issue doesn’t arise. For UK applicants, we handle the apostille through direct access to the FCDO counter in Milton Keynes. For US applicants, we can get your correctly worded certificate issued and dispatched the same day.
Everything is done online, and we’re on hand seven days a week. Got a question? Drop us a message at hello@wilmerhealth.com — we’re always happy to help.