Preparing your child's foreign school records for Spanish enrolment

Terms used

• apostille — An apostille is an international stamp certifying that a foreign-issued document is genuine, so Spain accepts it.

Key rules

• Enrolment: In Primary and ESO, enrolment alone is enough and no formal recognition is needed to keep studying.

Bring recent records, as issued

For enrolment, bring your child's recent reports and certificates exactly as the school issued them. The Spanish school uses the records to place your child in the right year, so the more clearly they show what your child studied, the better. It places your child by age and its own assessment, and the records only support that decision.

Which records are worth bringing

• The latest report cards or transcripts for the past few years.
• A certificate of the last grade completed, showing the school's name and the school system.
• A certificate of a completed stage (primary or lower secondary), if your child has one.
• Records showing subjects studied, hours and grades.
• Records of learning needs, such as psychological reports, special-education or gifted assessments, and any language-level results.

When you do need formal recognition

Formal recognition (homologación or convalidación) matters if your child needs a Spanish title, such as the ESO or Bachillerato title. It also matters for university access or for post-compulsory courses with an academic requirement, such as Bachillerato or vocational training. You enrol at the school or your regional education office, and you apply for homologación through the Ministry of Education's online office or a registry. The application fee is €54.88.

Translation and legalisation rules for school records

• Previous school reports and certificates, as issued, for simple enrolment and year placement.

• Records in Spanish, or in the co-official language of the region (Catalan, Valencian, Galician or Basque), can be handed in as they are, with no translation.

• Records in English or French are commonly accepted informally for placement, because school staff can read them.

• Records in any other language: bring them as issued. A sworn translation (traducción jurada, made by a translator authorised by Spain's Foreign Ministry) is only needed if you go for formal recognition.

• Official records with an apostille or consular legalisation are needed only for formal recognition; some countries are exempt through bilateral agreements.

• Records issued in another EU country need no apostille for formal recognition, and, where one exists, a multilingual standard form can replace a translation.

• Records from a non-EU country that belongs to the Hague Convention need an apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish, unless they are already in Spanish.

• Records from a non-EU country outside the Hague Apostille Convention need full legalisation through that country's foreign ministry and the Spanish consulate, plus a sworn translation into Spanish.