How to Apostille a Diploma for the Spanish Diploma Homologation Process

Time needed: 7 days

If planning to work in Spain (in a regulated profession), you may be required to complete the diploma homologation process for your higher education degree or diploma. This process validates your degree or diploma, issued in the United States, for use or equivalency in Spain. However, most of the time, the issuing school has no idea how to get it done properly or correctly, and many visa applicants have done this incorrectly over the years only to have their documents rejected. Diploma homologation, in the simplest form requires a state apostille, MAEC sworn translation and often consular legalization, all of which will be explained below.

The information in this article was written by Dan Hickman, Ph.D, after more than twenty years of apostille experience with Spain. Dan is the person agencies call to fix documents that have been apostilled or notarized incorrectly.

The following process is the most common way to validate diplomas for international use in Spain, in most cases. There are always rare, odd situations that will suffice; nonetheless the following is the correct process for 99% of diploma homologations required by the government of Spain.

1. Obtain a Notarized Copy of the Diploma from the School, College or Institution

   The issuing school, college, institution will need to issue a notarized version or notarized copy of the diploma, transcript, or an academic letter stating that the student has attended, graduated, or similar. The notarization should not be signed by student, a third-party notary service or an apostille service, like us. If someone other than the school notarizes the document, the apostille will then validate the signature of the signer or notarization party. The apostille doen’t need to valid my signature or your, but the school registrar, records officer, or another appropriate school employee. The signing party must be associated with the school. Many colleges will push back and say that the diploma and/or transcript is an official, certified or valid version, which is true, but the secretary of state is not able to apostille a diploma without a notary stamp and proper notary language, and the notary must validate a school employee’s signature.

2. Submit the Notarized Version to the Secretary of State

   Once the diploma (or other academic document) is notarize by a school official, it can be apostilled easily at the secretary of state’s office. This process can take a few hours to a few weeks, depending on the state of issue. The document has to be apostilled by the state where the school or college is located. For example, if the school is located in California, and it is notarized in California, it can only be apostilled in California, irrespective of the location of the document or document holder.
   
   We have two options for state apostilles: Standard Diploma Apostille Processing for $150, and Expedited Processing via Courier for $250

3. Translate the Apostilled Version Using Only an MEAC Sworn Translator.

   Once the apostille has been attached to the notarized version of the diploma, an MAEC sworn translation should translate all pages of the document, including any notary pages and the apostille page. In some cases, the apostille page does not need to be translated, but it is always safest/best to translate it as well. Sworn translators are not the same as certified translators, and only a sworn translator registered with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC) is able translate a diploma for the diploma homologation process in Spain.

4. Submit the Apostilled and Translated Version.

   This is step that has the most variation. In some cases, the translated and apostilled diploma has to go to the Spanish consulate for consular legalization. Other times, the completed documents have to go directly to the requesting school, institution or agency in Spain.