Criminal Record Certificate for a Spain Visa: Steps (2026)

Your visa file has to show you have no criminal record in the countries where you lived during the last five years, and the digital nomad route also cites two years. Consulate pages set the certificate's age limit, 6 months on the US and London pages, and ask for an apostille and a Spanish translation.

Adults applying for a Spanish residence visa from abroad have to show no criminal record in the countries where they lived during the last five years, which in practice means a certificate from each of those countries. The details that trip people up are the years the certificate covers, its age limit and who translates it, and each is laid out below.

This is for non-EU applicants filing a visa abroad. If you are already living in Spain without a visa, the arraigo guide covers that route instead.

Which certificate does Spain ask for with a visa?

A certificate that shows no criminal record in the countries where you lived during the last five years, if you are an adult applicant.

e) En el caso de que la persona solicitante sea mayor de edad penal, carecer de antecedentes penales en los países donde haya residido durante los últimos cinco años por delitos previstos en el ordenamiento español.

e) If the applicant is of criminal age, have no criminal record in the countries where they have resided during the last five years for offences provided in Spanish law.

BOE · Real Decreto 1155/2024, art. 38 e

The non-lucrative visa application has to come with the documents that prove these general requirements. The Houston consulate applies it to applicants over 18, so ask your consulate about a minor’s file.

Two years or five? It depends on the visa and the consulate

The regulation says five years, the digital nomad route cites two years plus a five-year declaration, and consulates word it differently.

Checked November 2026. The consulate rows are practice on each consulate’s own page, so read your own consulate’s page.

We recommend building your list from the consulate that will take your file, and asking it before you order anything if its page is silent on the period.

How recent must the certificate be?

Check your consulate’s page, because the age limit sits there: the US pages and London say 6 months.

London adds one exception: a certificate that itself states a longer validity may be older. We recommend ordering yours once the rest of the file is nearly ready, so it does not age while you wait for other papers.

An apostille does not stretch a certificate’s life, because legalisation has no expiry date but does not extend a validity period the document already has. For FBI and ACRO fees and processing times, see Spain visa documents for US and UK applicants.

Apostille and Spanish translation: what consulates want

A certificate from the US, UK, Canada, Australia or India gets an apostille rather than consular legalisation, because all five appear in the Hague Apostille Convention table.

Canada is the most recent of the five, with the convention in force there since 11 January 2024. From a country outside the convention the route is longer: the issuing country’s foreign ministry legalises first and the Spanish diplomatic mission second. Leave the apostille exactly as issued, because at Houston removing the staples, rivets or security seals invalidates the authentication.

Translation

Translation is a separate step with its own rule. The digital nomad file asks for a translation by a sworn translator-interpreter authorised by the Spanish Foreign Ministry whenever a public document is not in Spanish. The US consulates ask for a certified translator and name the American Translators Association, and Montreal asks for a Spanish translation. The full explanation is in Apostille and Sworn Translation in Spain.

US, UK and Canada: which certificate to order

Each country below has one certificate its Spanish consulate page names, so order that one and not a local alternative.

United States

Order the FBI certificate, because the US consulate page does not admit state certificates. The Federal apostille is requested from the State Department in Washington DC.

United Kingdom

London asks UK applicants for the ACRO certificate. ACRO police certificates for England and Wales are on the FCDO’s list of documents that cannot get an e-Apostille, and a standard paper apostille costs £45 plus courier or postage. If your records are Scottish, the process is different.

Canada

At the Montreal consulate only the RCMP certificate with your fingerprints is admitted, not a certificate from a local police station. It carries a Hague Apostille from Global Affairs Canada and a Spanish translation.

Australia and India

Both are in the apostille table above. Your consulate’s page names the certificate it wants from each country.

The order to work in

1. List the countries where you lived during the last five years.
2. Read your consulate’s page and note the years it counts and the certificate’s age limit.
3. Order each certificate from the office your consulate names.
4. Get the Hague apostille and leave the staples and seals in place.
5. Translate the certificate as your consulate asks.
6. File it with the visa application.

What if you have a record, or your country will not issue a certificate?

A record in the police report is not, by itself and automatically, a reason to refuse the non-lucrative permit.

La existencia de antecedentes en el informe policial no supondrá, por sí misma y de forma automática, causa de denegación de la autorización.

The existence of records in the police report will not, by itself and automatically, be a ground for refusing the authorisation.

BOE · Real Decreto 1155/2024, art. 63.3

Spain runs its own check as well: the immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería) requests the report of the central criminal register (Registro Central de Penados) and a police report on you. The permit asks that you are not a threat to public order, public security or public health, and the office then assesses a record case by case.

If a country where you lived will not issue a certificate, ask your consulate which paper it accepts before you file. We recommend asking early, so you have the answer before your other documents age.

↑ Contents

Not confirmed: What replaces a certificate when a country where you lived will not issue one: the visa texts read name no substitute, so ask the consulate that takes your file before you apply. Whether your consulate counts two or five years for a digital nomad file. Age limits at consulates other than the US pages and London.

General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

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