Your Spanish application was returned for a missing sworn translation
Updated · Official sources checked
Short answer
A requerimiento de subsanación gives you 10 working days to fix the problem or send the missing documents, or the application is treated as withdrawn. You can ask for up to 5 more days when the documents are especially hard to obtain, but ask before the 10 days run out.
Time to fix it
10 working days (Ley 39/2015, art. 68.1)
If you miss it
The application is treated as withdrawn
Extension
Up to 5 days, on request (art. 68.2)
Working days exclude
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (art. 30.2)
What the requerimiento means
Under Ley 39/2015, which governs administrative procedures in Spain, an office that finds an application incomplete asks you to “subsane la falta o acompañe los documentos preceptivos” within ten days. If you do not, “se le tendrá por desistido de su petición”: the application is treated as withdrawn, after a formal decision.
The days are working days. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays do not count, so ten working days is usually two calendar weeks, less if a holiday falls inside them.
A missing sworn translation is one of the defects this covers: a document submitted without the translation the office requires, or with one it does not accept, is something it can ask you to fix.
What to do, in order
- Read the requerimiento for the exact documents and the defect: missing, not apostilled, not translated, or translated by the wrong kind of translator.
- Work out the deadline: ten working days from the day you were notified, skipping weekends and holidays.
- If a document still needs an apostille, get it first. The sworn translation has to cover the apostilled document.
- Order the sworn translation from a translator appointed by Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and say what your deadline is.
- If you cannot make it, ask for the extension of up to five days before the ten days end, explaining why the documents are hard to obtain. It is not available in selective or competitive procedures.
- Submit through the same channel as the application, quoting its reference number.
Requesting a price from us with a deadline
Upload the documents named in the requerimiento and tell us the deadline in your request. Urgent requests are answered first.
Questions
Juranza is a translation service, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. Requirements published by Spanish consulates and immigration offices change without notice — always check your own consulate before submitting.
How long do I have to answer a requerimiento de subsanación?
Ten working days from notification, under art. 68.1 of Ley 39/2015. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are not counted.
Can I get more time?
Up to five extra days, if you ask before the deadline and the documents are especially hard to obtain. The extension does not apply to selective or competitive procedures.
What happens if I miss the deadline?
The application is treated as withdrawn, through a formal decision. You would normally have to apply again, with the documents complete.
Will a translation done in my home country fix it?
For an office in Spain, only an official translation does: one by a sworn translator appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or by a consulate. A certified or notarised translation from another country is not one.