One real file: 43 pages, £2,107. Here is the itemised quote, why the page count is what matters, and what I would do to bring it down.
Published 2026-10-17 · see what changed · Written from first-hand experience
Sworn translation is the line item that surprises people most, because it is charged by the page and a full file is long. Below is the itemised quote from my own application. It is one person’s file from 2024, so treat it as a worked example and not a price list, but the page counts are the useful part: they show where the bill comes from.
| Document | Pages | Cost at £49/page |
|---|---|---|
| ACRO police certificate (costed after the apostille) | 2 | £98 |
| Permanent employment contract | 11 | £539 |
| Certificate of incorporation (costed after the apostille) | 2 | £98 |
| Letter from the company | 1 | £49 |
| Work history: previous contracts covering three years | 11 | £539 |
| Financial means: three payslips and three months of bank statements | 16 | £784 |
| Total | 43 | £2,107 |
Three lines account for 38 of the 43 pages and £1,862 of the £2,107: the contract, the work history and the financial evidence. The documents people think of first, the police certificate and the letter, were only 3 pages between them.
The translation bill was the money. These are the time costs, again from my own application, so they are one data point and not a guarantee.
| Step | What I was told | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| A1 certificate from HMRC (CA3822) | About 13 weeks | About 5 weeks |
| S1 healthcare form (CA8454) | Varies with capacity | About 8 weeks, then a tedious INSS registration |
| ACRO police certificate | — | 5 to 6 weeks to arrive. I had to order it twice, because it has to be recent when you apply and the A1 took long enough for the first to go stale. |
| NIE from the London consulate | — | £8.50, about six weeks to arrive by email, and I could proceed with the receipt |
The A1 figure is the one to be careful with. Mine came in well under the quote, but HMRC’s own forum is full of people who waited far longer, so plan for the slow end. See the A1 page.
The full cost picture, with every government fee and the income threshold, is on the costs page. The pack’s checklist has a cost estimator where you can put in your own page counts. See what else is in the pack.
It is charged per page, so it depends on the length of your file. One real UK employee application came to 43 pages at 49 pounds per page, 2,107 pounds in total, because it included an 11-page employment contract, 11 pages of work history and 16 pages of payslips and bank statements.
No. Everything not in Spanish needs a sworn translation except the CV, which only needs an ordinary translation.
No. Scans are accepted, so you do not need to send originals.
Not for the visa. The translation must be by a traductor jurado registered with Spain's Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores. UK certified translation services are a common cause of rejection.
If you have a degree that is relevant to your role, you can use it instead of three years of related work experience. A degree is typically a page or two to translate plus its apostille, compared with 11 pages for three years of contracts in one real file.