Moving to Spain? Which U.S. Documents Usually Need Apostilles?

Criminal background checks: the document that causes the most confusion

For several Spanish visa categories, the consulate with jurisdiction over your address may require a criminal background check. For U.S. residents, that document is usually the FBI Identity History Summary, not a state or local report. For example, the Consulate General of Spain in Houston expressly requires the FBI Identity History Summary with a federal apostille for the non-lucrative visa, and does not accept a state-level background check as a substitute. Because it's issued by a federal agency, the matching apostille is handled by the Office of Authentications at the U.S. Department of State, not by the Secretary of State of Florida or any other state. We cover this route in detail in our guide on FBI background checks for Spain's non-lucrative visa.

Not every visa category asks for the same background check under the same circumstances: always confirm with your specific consulate whether your procedure requires the FBI report, and from what date its validity is measured.

Civil records: birth and marriage certificates

If you're traveling with a spouse, partner, or children, or if your procedure requires proof of a family relationship, you likely also need an apostilled birth or marriage certificate. Unlike the FBI report, these records are issued by the vital records office of the state where the birth or marriage occurred, and they're apostilled by that same state's Secretary of State, not the federal government. We cover this category in more detail in our guide on birth and marriage certificates for a Spain residency application.

Diplomas and academic documents

People moving to study, or who need to document a university degree as part of an immigration or professional file, often present diplomas and transcripts. These documents, issued by state or private universities, are also generally apostilled at the state level, by the Secretary of State of the state where the document was issued or notarized. Our guide on diplomas and transcripts for studying in Spain explains when each academic document actually needs an apostille and when it doesn't.

Financial and employment documents

Many visas require proof of sufficient financial means, which can include bank statements, employment letters, or proof of income. These are private documents by nature: they don't carry an apostille on their own unless they're notarized by a U.S. notary public first, and not every consulate even requires that notarization or an apostille. Before apostilling a bank statement or employment letter "just in case," confirm with your consulate whether the current checklist actually calls for it. You can review the full process in our guides on apostille of bank statements and on employment letters and bank statements for a visa.

If you'll be self-employed or keeping a U.S. business

Some applicants for the international telework visa or other categories tied to independent professional activity need to document the existence and activity of a foreign company, through records such as certificates of formation or proof of business activity. Each of these documents follows its own authentication route depending on the state where the entity was formed, and not all of them require an apostille; confirm with your consulate exactly which ones your visa category requires.

The question that decides state vs. federal apostille

With so many different documents in play, it helps to keep one rule in mind: the apostille route depends on who issued or certified the document within the United States, not on the destination country or the state where you currently live. A document signed by a federal official, like the FBI report, follows the federal route through the U.S. Department of State. A document issued by a state vital records office, a university, or a notary follows that same state's route. We walk through this rule with more examples in state vs. federal apostille: how to tell which one you need.

Common mistakes when preparing documents for a move to Spain

• Assuming every Spain visa category requires exactly the same background check or the same document packet.
• Submitting a state or local background check when the consulate specifically requires the FBI report.
• Apostilling financial or employment documents before confirming whether the consulate actually requires them.
• Mixing up the state route for civil records and diplomas with the federal route for the FBI report.
• Leaving every step for the last month before the move, with no room for the unexpected.

If you're moving to Spain from Florida, especially South Florida, you may also be interested in our apostille service page in Jupiter, Florida, where we coordinate in-person appointments to review documents before sending them to the correct authority.