Q&A: What can I do if my passport wasn’t stamped when entering Spain?
Short Answer Long Answer What is the problem, anyway? While national and European legislation allows for Spanish citizens and EU/EEA citizens, as well as their family members, to enter and exit without the need for passport stamps —or, indeed, even passports— any third country national not specifically exempted must have their passport stamped upon entering […]
Q&A: Do I need sworn translations?
Short answer No. But… maybe get one anyway. Long answer From your first interactions with Spain’s immigration procedures until the very last step in obtaining Spanish citizenship, you’ll encounter government sites and pamphlets, lawyers’ websites, and gurus’ blogs telling you that foreign-language documents submitted in Spain must be translated by sworn translators. For example, on […]
Q&A: Does an apostille have to be translated?
Short answer No. But… maybe yes? Long answer Background on apostilles “Apostilles” were created by the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, which entered into force on 24 January 1965 and has since been adopted by 126 countries, and, notably, most recently by Canada and Rwanda (12 […]
Q&A: When do background checks expire?
Short answer Long answer First things first: Explicit and implicit expiration There’ll be two different types of expiration: explicit and implicit. Explicit expiration refers to an expiration date explicitly noted on the background check. Some countries —notably, until relatively recently, Mexico— issued criminal background checks with very short validities —30 days, in the case of […]
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