# Archives and sources: Spain (ES)

Where records created in Spain are held, whether they can be found online, and the archives and providers EasyPassport has vetted for them. The list is keyed on the country where the record was created, usually the ancestor's birthplace, which is not always the country the user is applying to. For an ancestor born elsewhere, ask for that country's list. For the office, request channel, apostille authority and translation rules, use the "country record playbook" guide for ES.

## Can these records be found online?

Partly. Some records are online but coverage is incomplete; set the user's expectations.

PARES IS A FALSE FRIEND — magnificent and openly licensed but it holds COLONIAL, MILITARY and ADMINISTRATIVE records, not birth/marriage/death, so it's not where you'll find a vital record (it IS useful to CORROBORATE a birthplace via an ancestor's military service record). Spanish BMD splits two ways: the CIVIL REGISTRY (1870+) is certificate-only via sede.mjusticia.gob.es — no browsable images, ever — and pre-1870 the record is a CATHOLIC PARISH register, which is DIOCESAN property (Church, not state) held ~70 dioceses each deciding independently. Search by the DIOCESE (not the province — dioceses cross provincial lines). Free browsable images exist only in patches: Catalonia (Tarragona arxiuenlinia.ahat.cat; Girona login-gated), Galicia (arquivo.galiciana.gal — best licence, and it holds the Santiago + Tui diocesan registers), Aragón (dara.aragon.es). The Basque dioceses give a free INDEX but sell the image. Valencia has 2.6M images but blocks our crawler, so you must open it yourself. Everywhere else it is FamilySearch or a written/on-site request to the diocese. There is no Spanish Antenati.

## Where the records are held or ordered

- **Registro Civil — Certificado de nacimiento (Min. Justicia)** (official): https://sede.mjusticia.gob.es/tramites/certificado-nacimiento
  Spain's Ministry of Justice e-office for civil-registry birth certificates, incl. an ancestor's historic 'literal' certificate (which itself evidences Spanish nationality). Spanish-language; older records may sit in PARES.
  Access: open this yourself; do not have your agent fetch it.
- **Apostilla de La Haya (Ministerio de Justicia)** (official): https://www.mjusticia.gob.es/es/ciudadania/tramites/legalizacion-unica-apostilla
  Spain's single-legalisation / Hague-Apostille service for a Spanish-issued civil document. Spanish-language.
  Access: open this yourself; do not have your agent fetch it.

## Vetted providers

- **RushTranslate** (commercial service): https://rushtranslate.com/?ref=ciq
  Certified translations accepted by consulates, courts, and USCIS — turnaround in 24 hours.
  Access: open this yourself; do not have your agent fetch it.
- **FamilySearch** (official): https://www.familysearch.org/
  Free digitized civil and church records for most European countries — start here before paying.
  Access: open this yourself; do not have your agent fetch it.
- **Ancestry.com** (commercial service): https://www.ancestry.com/
  Largest commercial genealogy database; 30B+ records from US and European archives.
  Access: open this yourself; do not have your agent fetch it.

## Access notes

Every link in a country's list carries one of these:

- **open this yourself; do not have your agent fetch it**: the site forbids automated access, needs a login or written permission, or has not been cleared for agents. The user opens it in their own browser and shares what they find with you.
- **your agent may open this page for the user's own family research; record images are for the user's private use only and must not be republished**.
- **openly licensed; your agent may open this page**.

---

General guidance, not legal advice. EasyPassport is a document-organization tool, not a law firm. Confirm your own case with the relevant authority or a qualified professional.