Apostilled criminal record certificate for immigration purposes I can't complete that text
Almost every Spanish immigration procedure and citizenship application asks for a certificate of criminal record from the country or countries where you've lived over the last five years. And almost everyone gets the same thing wrong: how long it stays valid. The short answer is that whatever the certificate itself says controls; the three months everyone talks about is only the fallback period that applies when the document says nothing at all.
This is, by a wide margin, the document that delays the most applications. Not because it's hard to obtain, but because it arrives late, poorly legalized, or expired by the time you finally gather the rest of your paperwork.
Expiration: check your own certificate first
Before counting days, look at your certificate to see if it states its own validity period. If it does, that's the one that governs, even if it's six months or a year.
If your certificate says nothing about its validity, then a fallback period applies, and it's not the same for every procedure:
| Procedure | If the certificate doesn't set its own validity period |
|---|---|
| Immigration (visa, residency, arraigo) | Three months from the date of issue. This is the operating standard used by immigration offices and consulates. |
| Spanish citizenship by residency | Six months from the date of issue. |
So the claim that "the criminal record certificate expires after three months" is false as stated, and for citizenship applications it could make you redo a step that was still valid.
Which country do you need to request it from?
You need the certificate from every country where you've resided in the last five years before entering Spain, not just from your country of nationality. If you lived in a third country for two years before coming to Spain, you need that certificate too.
The trap with federal states
If you're coming from Germany, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the United States, India, Mexico, Russia, or Venezuela, the certificate has to cover the entire country, not just the state or province where you lived. When that country doesn't issue a single federal certificate, you need to submit one for each federal state where you resided during those five years.
This is a very common reason for requests for additional documentation, and almost no one warns you about it: you show up with your state's certificate, perfectly apostilled, and it gets sent back because the rest is missing.
Apostille or legalization: and an exception people forget
The process depends on which country issued the certificate, and there are three scenarios, not two.
| Document from an EU country | Country party to the 1961 Hague Convention | Country outside the Convention |
|---|---|---|
| May be exempt from the apostille. And if you attach the standard multilingual form issued by the same authority, you also save yourself the sworn translation. | A single apostille stamp, issued by the competent authority in your country. Valid directly in Spain. | Diplomatic legalization: your country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then the Spanish consulate there, and in some cases the Legalization Service of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC) in Madrid. |
Diplomatic legalization can take weeks, because it depends on three different administrations in two countries. If your country isn't party to the Hague Convention, start this process with more lead time than the rest of your application.
Sworn translation: not just any translator will do
If the certificate isn't in Spanish and you don't have the EU multilingual form, it must be accompanied by a sworn translation, signed and stamped by a certified sworn translator-interpreter authorized by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation (MAEC). A translation done by a certified translator in your home country, however qualified, is not valid in Spain unless that translator is on MAEC's official list.
That list is public and can be searched by language and province on the MAEC website. Get a quote before commissioning the translation: the price isn't set by law.
The Spanish certificate: you probably don't need to submit it
Many people request and pay for a certificate from the Spanish Central Criminal Records Registry that they aren't actually going to be asked for.
In immigration procedures, the absence of a criminal record in Spain is checked ex officio by the administration. The official information sheets only ask you to submit the certificate from the country or countries where you resided during the five years before entering Spain.
For citizenship by residency, the application includes a box where you authorize the Ministry of Justice to check your record in the Central Criminal Records Registry. If you give that authorization, you don't need to submit the Spanish certificate yourself. Only if you don't give it will you need to present it.
If your country is slow: the diplomatic channel
In some countries the certificate takes months for reasons outside your control. For two specific types of arraigo (a residency status granted based on ties to Spain) — those under the twentieth and twenty-first additional provisions of the Immigration Regulations (Real Decreto 1155/2024, Royal Decree 1155/2024) — the law provides a way out.
If you can show that you requested it and one month has passed without receiving it, the Immigration Case Processing Unit asks the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with the Cortes (Spain's Parliament) to obtain it through diplomatic channels, via Spain's Diplomatic Missions. It isn't automatic: you have to submit proof that you requested it along with a declaración responsable (sworn statement of responsibility).
Outside those two cases, this route isn't provided for in the regulations: ask at your office before counting on it.
And if you have a criminal record eligible for cancellation in Spain
Those same two provisions add something worth knowing ahead of time: if there is a criminal record eligible for cancellation (expungement) in Spain, the person concerned must request the cancellation from the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with the Cortes before the decision on their case is notified. In other words: don't wait to be denied before acting.
Your next step
Get out your certificate, if you already have it, and check two things: whether it states its own validity date, and whether it covers the entire country or just one state. That tells you whether you're on a tight clock or not. If you haven't requested it yet, first check whether your country is part of the Hague Convention or the European Union, because that answer decides whether you need an apostille, a three-step diplomatic legalization, or neither.