Doctoral School

Legalization of Spanish documents

For original academic documents to be valid abroad they must be legalised.

There are two ways of legalising documents, depending on the type of document and the country in which they need to be legally valid:

Consult the instructions on the legalisation of Spanish documents that must be valid abroad.

 

Legalisation by diplomatic services

Documents that may be the object of signature recognition by the Ministry:

  • Official university degree certificates that are valid throughout Spain and have been issued by a university rector and provisional degree certificates. In accordance with Royal Decree 1002/2010, of 5 August, on the issuing of official university degrees, the signature of the interested party is part of the degree certificate. Therefore, for a degree certificate to be legalised it must bear the signature of the interested party.

  • Higher education and postgraduate certificates issued by the Ministry of Education.

  • Official academic transcripts of studies leading to the award of the qualifications mentioned above.

  • Certificates issued by the Ministry of Education stating compliance with the conditions for qualifications required by the directives of the Council of the European Union.

  • Public university certificate. In addition to academic documents, some countries require a certificate stating that the University is officially a public institution. If the country in which this certificate is to be used requires its legalisation by diplomatic services, you must request the certificate from the Ministry of Universities directly and it will be sent to your home address. To request it, send an e-mail to , stating your FULL NAME, your DNI/NIE/PASSPORT number, the University that is the subject of the certificate and the country in which the document will be used.

 

Legalisation by a notary public 

Although the legalisation of official documents by en notary public is accepted in many countries, we advise you to confirm this with the relevant body of the country in which the document will be used.

For the legalisation by a notary public of documents issued by the Curricula and Awards Unit (degree certificates and provisional degree certificates), consult the notary public whose services you will require, which depends on the person who has signed the document that you want legalised: Notaries public for legalising the signatures of UPC staff.


In the case of countries that require the public university certificate and allow it to be legalised by a notary public, the legalisation can be requested directly from the administrative unit.

Irrespective of the manner in which they must be legalised, to legalise documents signed by academic and/or administrative staff at the administrative unit you must state explicitly that the documents are to be legalised when you apply for them. The administrative unit will send the documents to the Office of the General Secretary, which will add official legalisation certificates and send them back to the administrative unit, where you will collect them.

              
All of the information on the legalisation of documents, signature recognition, presentation requirements, etc. can be found on the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.