Spanish citizenship by residence: which Russian documents to translate and in what order

Russian citizens can obtain Spanish citizenship by residence after ten years of legal and continuous residence. The DELE A2 and CCSE exams are the most visible part, but applications more often stall on documents from the country of origin. In the case described here, the file was returned because the criminal record certificate had expired.

What is needed from Russia

A birth certificate with an apostille and a criminal record certificate with an apostille. If there was a change of surname or a marriage, the relevant civil registry certificates too. All of these are translated into Spanish by a sworn translator (traductor jurado) listed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A Russian notarised translation is not always accepted, so it is safer to order from a traductor jurado from the start.

Order of steps

Step one — the apostille. The birth certificate is apostilled by the civil registry authority, the criminal record certificate by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Step two — translation together with the apostille: the stamp text is part of the translation. Step three — filing the application online or through a gestoría. Swap the steps and the translation will have to be redone.

Where the client stumbled

A criminal record certificate is valid for a Spanish application for a limited time — usually six months from issue unless stated otherwise. The client got it early, while preparing for the exams, and by the time of filing it had expired. A new certificate had to be ordered — via the consulate or by power of attorney in Russia — and translated again. If you live in Spain, it is convenient to request the certificate via Russian consular services or through a representative.

A birth certificate, by contrast, does not expire: its apostille has no time limit. But the Spanish registry may ask for a recently issued document if the old one is worn, laminated or lacks data needed for registration. Before filing, check that all fields are legible and that the spelling of the name in the translation matches your Spanish documents — NIE, TIE and passport.

To save time, we advise ordering the criminal record certificate last, once the exams are passed and the rest of the file is ready.