Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Question
Has anyone applying for a non lucrative Spain visa in the US processed their FBI background check an Apostille from their state (rather than the federal US Dept of State Apostille) and had it accepted by their Spanish consulate?
My mother (NY state resident) is currently applying for a residency visa in Costa Rica, and she was able to do this. Basically, you take the FBI report (a federal government document) and get it notarized locally (in her case, a notary public in NY). This then makes it a “New York state document” and thus NY will Apostille it.
I’ve always known that process existed (that notarizing a document in any state effectively makes it Apostille elegible for that state. But It just surprised me when her Costa Rican lawyer told her that was acceptable for her visa process there. Has anyone tried that (succesfully) for the Spanish consulates in the US? Given the delays in obtaining the federal Apostille out of US Dept of State these days, that option would be a godsend for a lot of people, no?
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These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“I’d be curious to hear anybody succeed with this, I know of plenty failures trying to do that”
“That’s the answer I’m expecting to hear, that it won’t work for Spain. The consulates have known about the problems at the state dept since the pandemic and have any mentioned this as an alternative”
“I actually only did a NY State background check for my non lucrative Spain visa, and sent it for a New York State apostille. This was in the Spring of 2021, when COVID closures had FBI background check and federal apostilles taking upwards of six months. Somehow I had read a state background check was ok if you had not lived anywhere else for the previous 5 years, so I thought nothing of it. I got a stern look and a reprimand from the funcionaria at the NYC consulate…. then a quick approval for my visa a couple of weeks later. I’m constantly being told my positive experiences with moving to Spain are not normal, but FWIW it worked for me. I don’t know if I would advise others to try unless you’re willing to lost the time and start over with documents, given the reprimand, but then again, here I am, living in Spain.”
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Explore Cities →“It was perfectly acceptable at NY, Miami, DC and Boston consulates to use state level issued background checks at the time of COVID (duly authenticated with Apostille by the respective state). All these consulates are now only accepting the FBI background check. We applied for our visas in San Francisco using state of Wyoming background checks (b/c that’s where we were resident at the time) and had no problem”
“For Miami I used the state criminal background check and state apostille during COVID. But I’ve heard they no longer accept the state criminal background check.”
“I’ve seen it fail more than once but never a success.”
“This isn’t your question, but you can help expedite the US Dept of State apostille of your FBI background check by contacting your state senator or local representative. On their website they have a “need help with a federal agency” section. I’ve used that successfully twice, once during COVID to expedite my passport renewal which I needed in order to apply for my initial visa and just last week for the apostille on my criminal background check. Both times I received my documents within 2 weeks of contacting my senators office.”
In conclusion, it appears that using a state-level apostilled FBI report for a Spanish visa application is not a guaranteed method of success and has had mixed results. Some have reported success with using state-level apostilled FBI reports in the past, but the consulates currently only accept FBI reports apostilled by the US Dept of State.
Related articles:
- How to get an FBI background check in 2 weeks instead of 6
- I’m told I have to get my documents apostilled. Have no idea what this means
- How Long Does An FBI Background Check Take?
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