Preparation of documents in Spain

Preparation of documents for their use in Spain.

The need for preparing documents arises almost always when your relationship with a foreign country, in particular with Spain, goes a little further than an ordinary tourist trip with a view to rest and sightseeing. Do you plan to buy a property, establish a legal entity, move to a permanent place of residence, temporary relocation to continue education and so on. In all these cases, you will be required to submit certain documents issued in another country to the Spanish authorities, and for this they must be specially prepared. The legalization of documents is the procedure of their preparation for their subsequent use in certain legal transactions.

Legalization of the document.

It is a number of certain formal procedures for making the document legal in the territory of another state. The ultimate goal of the procedure for legalization of a document is the possibility of submitting it to the authorities of another state. It is important to emphasize that the legalization of a document is always carried out on the territory of only the country in which it was issued. This means that documents from one country can be legalized only in the source country. In general, there are two main types of legalization of documents, consular legalization and stamp “Apostille”. Let’s talk about them in more detail:

Consular legalization.

This is the procedure of legalization, including the certification of the document in the Ministry of Justice, and then at the consulate of the country of destination in the country source of documents for legalization. In this case, the document will have legal force in the territory of only the country whose consulate mark on it stands. Taking into account the complexity and laboriousness of the procedure of consular legalization, on October 5, 1961, the Hague Convention was signed by individual countries, abolishing the requirement of consular legalization and introducing the procedure of simplified legalization, the imposition of a special stamp “Apostille” The so-called “simplified legalization” or “apostilization”.

Simplified legalization.

Simplified, such legalization is called precisely because, on one hand, “apostilization” is carried out quickly enough and only by one authority, and, on the other hand, the document acquires legal force in the territory of all countries that have joined the Hague Convention. Spain is also a party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961. This means that for the execution of documents for their subsequent submission to the Spanish authorities it is enough to put the stamp “Apostille”. In most cases, the stamp “Apostille” is made on a copy of the documents, certified by a notary or documents issued by a notary. At the same time, “apostilization” is carried out by the authorities on a territorial basis – documents issued by notaries of a certain region can be “apostilled” only in the justice department of such a region. Typically, the duration of this procedure is from 3 to 10 days, depending on the region. In addition, the stamp “Apostille” can be affixed to the original documents issued by various state bodies.

For more detailed information on the legalization of documents, you can contact the relevant government agencies in your country, as well as specialized agencies that provide document legalization services.