A birth, marriage or death certificate from the Mexican Civil Registry is apostilled by the authority of the state where the event was registered, not at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or at the Mexican consulate in Spain. Once affixed, the apostille does not expire; what can become too old for a Spanish procedure is the certificate it is affixed to.
Who apostilles in Mexico
The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, to which both Spain and Mexico are party, leaves it to each State to designate the authorities competent to issue the apostille and to notify them to the Netherlands, depositary of the Convention. The list Mexico has notified, as shown in September 2026 on Mexico's page at the Hague Conference on Private International Law, has two routes: federal documents are apostilled by the Ministry of the Interior, and state documents by 32 state authorities, one for each federal entity.
Civil Registry certificates are state documents. That is why they follow the second route, and why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which does not appear on that list, is not the right door. The apostille is affixed by the authority of the state whose Civil Registry issued the certificate, which is the state where the event was recorded, not the one where the person now lives: if you were born in Zacatecas and today live in Guadalajara or in Madrid, your birth certificate is apostilled by the government of Zacatecas.
What the Mexican consulate in Spain can do, and what it cannot
Many people already living in Spain assume the Mexican consulate will handle the whole procedure. The consulate can issue you a certified copy of the certificate, but it cannot apostille it. The official page for that service at the Consulate of Mexico in Barcelona (updated in November 2023) says so expressly: the apostille can only be obtained in Mexico, and the consulate cannot take part in that process.
The practical consequence is that the certified copy obtained at the consulate still needs one more step, which can only be completed in Mexico, before it is of use in a Spanish procedure.
What the apostille certifies, and why the document you take matters
The apostille says nothing about the contents of the certificate. Under articles 3 and 5 of the Convention, it certifies three things: the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp. It is placed on the document itself or on an allonge attached to it (article 4). If the underlying document is not the right one, the apostille does not fix it.
From that come the three grounds for rejection we see most often in practice:
- A plain photocopy. Only originals or certified copies issued by the authority that produced the document are apostilled.
- A certificate without its marginal annotations. If after registration there was an acknowledgement of paternity, a rectification, a change of name or a divorce, the certificate presented must show it: the apostille will be affixed all the same, but the Spanish institution may not accept it.
- The wrong state. The competent authority is the one of the place where the event was recorded.
Apostille first, translate afterwards
The correct order has three steps: obtain the certified copy, apostille it and, only where applicable, translate it. The apostille goes on the original document.
The translation that is often unnecessary
Before the Spanish Civil Registry, article 95.1 of Law 20/2011 requires a translation of documents not drafted in one of Spain's official languages. A Mexican certificate is drafted in Spanish, so that article does not require it to be translated. Other Spanish institutions may have rules of their own: it is worth confirming with the receiving body before paying for a sworn translation.
What that article does require, in its second paragraph, is that a document issued by a foreign authority be presented with the corresponding legalisation. Between countries party to the Hague Convention, that legalisation is replaced by the apostille, which is the only formality that may be required in order to certify the signature and the seal (article 3 of the Convention).
The apostille does not expire; in practice, the certificate does
The Hague Convention sets no period of validity for the apostille. What has a period of validity is the document it is placed on, and that is decided not by the Convention but by the Spanish institution it is presented to, depending on the procedure. There is no single rule: each body may require the certificate to be no older than a given age.
One example with a published rule is Spanish nationality by residence. The annex to Order JUS/1625/2016 provides that all documents must be in force at the time of the application, that for certificates the period of validity stated in the document itself applies, and that criminal record certificates which state no period are understood to be valid for six months from issue.
That is why we recommend requesting the apostilled certificate close to the date it will actually be presented, rather than months in advance, and confirming beforehand with the receiving institution how old a document it accepts.
Common mistakes
- Going to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to apostille a Civil Registry certificate.
- Requesting the apostille in the state where you live today, rather than the one where the event was registered.
- Expecting the Mexican consulate in Spain to apostille the copy it issues.
- Presenting a photocopy, or a certificate without its marginal annotations.
- Translating before apostilling.
- Paying for a sworn translation of a document already in Spanish without checking whether it is required.
- Apostilling too far in advance and finding the certificate is no longer accepted because of its age.
Sources
- Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 (BOE no. 229, of 25 September 1978, consulted in September 2026)
- Hague Conference on Private International Law, competent authorities designated by Mexico (consulted in September 2026)
- Consulate of Mexico in Barcelona, certified copy of a Mexican birth certificate (consulted in September 2026)
- Law 20/2011, of 21 July, on the Civil Registry, article 95 (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)
- Order JUS/1625/2016, of 30 September, annex, section 4 (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)