Certificado de antecedentes penales: Spanish criminal record online

What is the certificado de antecedentes penales?

The Certificado de Antecedentes Penales is a certificate showing whether a person has any convictions in the Central Register of Convicted Persons (Registro Central de Penados) on the date of issue. It is issued by the Spanish Ministry of Justice to individuals and legal entities [1].

There are separate types of certificate. The standard certificate does not entitle you to work with children in Spain: for that you need a Certificado de Delitos de Naturaleza Sexual. There is also a certificate stating a disqualification (inhabilitación) from public office or from working with animals; it is ordered separately [1].

Who needs a Spanish criminal record certificate?

It is most often requested by other countries or organisations from people who have lived in Spain: for a visa, a residence permit, a job or an adoption. The requirements are set by the receiving party, not by the Ministry of Justice.

For procedures in Spain itself, everything depends on the route. The general requirements of Ley 14/2013 for visas and residence authorisations include having no criminal record in Spain and in the countries where the person has lived for the last two years, plus a statement of no convictions in the last five years [4]. This does not mean the applicant always brings the Spanish certificate.

Under Real Decreto 1155/2024, for no lucrativa (Article 63.3) and for arraigo (Article 130.2) the extranjería office itself requests the Registro Central de Penados data and the police report, and the applicant brings certificates from the other countries where they have lived [5]. How this works for the DNV through UGE, and who needs a Spanish certificate if you have already lived in Spain for the last two years, has to be checked in the document list for your procedure. Certificates from other countries: criminal record certificate for a residence permit and Russian criminal record certificate and apostille.

How to request the certificate online: step by step

1. Open the “Certificado de Antecedentes Penales” section on sede.mjusticia.gob.es and choose the application for an individual. Log in via Cl@ve [1]. How to get Cl@ve: identification methods.
2. Fill in your details. The Ministry of Justice verifies your identity through the Policía Nacional platform; you can refuse this check, but then you cannot use this service [1].
3. If you need the certificate abroad, select the apostille option [1].
4. Pay the fee through the AEAT payment gateway. The fee for the certificate, according to the Ministry of Justice notice, from 1 January 2022: €3.86 [1][3]. If something fails, first check whether the payment went through, and only then try again: the payment status can be seen via the link in the email [1].
5. Keep the justificante (confirmation): it contains the application number you need to download the certificate. The status and the file are available in the “Consulta de Estado” service or in “¿Cómo va lo mío?” from the next day; the number can also be found in Mi Carpeta Ciudadana [1].

You can give an email address in the application, and you will then get a notification when the certificate is ready [1].

Ways to apply: online, in person, by post, at a consulate

For the “in person or by post” method we did not find a list of submission addresses and documents on the Ministry of Justice pages, so take them from the page of the authority or consulate. For citizens of EU countries the timing is up to 30 calendar days, because Spain also requests data from the country of nationality (the ECRIS system) [1].

Apostille, translation and validity

If the certificate is to be used abroad, the Ministry of Justice requires it to be legalised, and for that you choose the apostille when applying [1]. In the online application this is a single tick box, so decide on the apostille before you pay: a mistake will have to be corrected with a new application.

Whether a translation is needed, and what kind, is decided by the country where you are applying. The Ministry of Justice says nothing about this on its page. Nor does it set a validity period for the certificate: that is set by the receiving party for the specific procedure, usually counted from the date of issue. So do not order the certificate until your filing date is clear. Preparing your document set: document checklist for a residence permit.

What to do if you don't have Cl@ve

The online application on the Ministry of Justice page is tied to Cl@ve, and the service page names no other way to log in [1]. If you do not have Cl@ve, there are three routes. First: get Cl@ve, if you have a document with which the system accepts registration; the procedure is described in the article how to get Cl@ve. Second: apply in person or by post using form 790-006 [2]. Third: ask the Spanish consulate in your country whether it accepts such applications, because consulates work differently [7]. Which route is faster in your case depends on your country of residence and your documents. We found no official data on timing for in-person and postal applications.

How to verify the certificate and what to do with it once you have it

A certificate ordered through the service carries a secure verification code (CSV). The receiving party can check the document on the Ministry of Justice website without a digital certificate [1]. Keep the downloaded file unedited: a modified file may fail the CSV check. Store the application justificante and the payment confirmation with it in case questions arise. The certificate contains personal data about convictions, so send it only to those who need it for your procedure, and through secure channels, not in public chats.

Common mistakes when requesting it

• Ordering the certificate “just in case”. For a number of Spanish procedures the office requests the register itself [5], and your certificate will simply go to waste.
• Not choosing the apostille. Without it the certificate may not be accepted abroad, and then you will have to order it again [1].
• Ordering too early. The receiving party may require a recent certificate, and the filing date has moved.
• Confusing the certificate with clearance to work with children. That requires a separate certificate [1].
• Paying again after a failure. The Ministry of Justice advises checking the payment status first [1].
• Not keeping the application number. Without it the certificate is harder to download, although the number can be found in Mi Carpeta Ciudadana [1].

When you need an individual review

If your certificate has an entry, or you are not sure whether your procedure needs a Spanish certificate, or different countries ask for different documents with different dates, the assessment depends on the case. It is then better to discuss the document set with a lawyer, and tax and administrative questions with a gestor. A conviction, a procedural status and the cancellation of a record are legally different things and cannot all be described with the single word “problem”.

How we can help

The ReloVictory team helps you work out which certificates your procedure needs, in what order and with what dates to order them, and checks the document set before filing. Fees and translations are paid separately; the first 15 minutes of a consultation are free. More about the service: documents. The DNV procedure is described in the DNV route card, and a general overview of the move is on the residence permit in Barcelona page. Book a consultation. We are not responsible for how long the authorities take to reply.

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ReloVictory · Sources reviewed 02.10.2026 · Not a substitute for individual legal advice.