Spanish Criminal Record Check from the UK and Abroad

If you live in the UK and a Spanish employer, immigration lawyer or consulate has asked you for a Certificado de Antecedentes Penales, you do not need to fly to Madrid. Spain’s Ministry of Justice accepts applications from abroad, whether you submit them online, by post or through a consulate. This page walks through each route, the paperwork involved and the traps that catch people applying from outside Spain. If you are actually in Spain, the guide to the Criminal Record Certificate for Spain On covers the in-country route instead.

What the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales is

The Certificado de Antecedentes Penales is Spain’s official criminal record certificate. It is issued by the Registro Central de Penados, a body operating under the Spanish Ministry of Justice. The document confirms whether a person has criminal convictions entered in Spain’s central criminal register. Foreign applicants usually request it on the basis of their residence history in Spain.

The document is not generic. It covers Spanish records only. If you have never lived in Spain, Spanish authorities will typically not ask for it. Instead, they will request a Certificate of Good Conduct or an equivalent from your country of residence, which in the UK means an ACRO or DBS check. Find out which document the requesting body actually wants before you apply. Applying for the wrong one costs you weeks.

Who needs it and for what purposes

Typical purposes include:

• Spanish residency and visa applications, where immigration authorities ask for police certificates from every country you lived in over a defined period
• Employment in Spain, especially regulated sectors
• Marriage or civil registration in Spain, where civil registries may request a criminal record document
• Adoption, guardianship and similar proceedings, which have their own stricter document requirements

One limitation catches people off guard: the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales is not sufficient for work with minors in Spain. Roles involving contact with children require a separate entry from the Central Register of Sexual Offenders, known as the Certificado del Registro Central de Delincuentes Sexuales. If an employer asks for a “police check for a school or childcare role”, ask which certificate they mean before applying. The two registers are distinct, and so are their request procedures.

Documents you need to apply

The application is deliberately simple. Across all three channels you prepare:

1. A completed Form 790-006 together with proof of payment
2. A copy of your passport, or your Spanish DNI/NIE if you hold one
3. The application form or a signed request stating the purpose of the certificate
4. For postal applications, a return envelope so the register can post the certificate back to your UK address

If someone in Spain will apply or collect the document on your behalf, they also need a written authorisation from you plus their own identity document. This is a practical route when you cannot attend an appointment yourself and need the paper quickly. A lawyer, gestor or family member handles the in-person steps in Spain while you remain in the UK.

Applying online via the Ministry of Justice

The fastest route runs through the Ministry of Justice’s electronic office (Sede Electrónica). For UK residents there is one obstacle: access. The online application generally requires a recognised digital certificate or electronic identification. Spanish digital certificates are issued to residents, so applicants who have lived in Spain can usually manage. Those who never obtained one often cannot complete the online route end-to-end, and they fall back on post or the consulate.

Once you are inside, the process is fairly quick. You pay the 790-006 fee online, then fill in the criminal record application form in the electronic office and attach the payment receipt together with a scan of your ID before submitting. The Registro Central de Penados issues the certificate, sending it electronically with a secure verification code or by post to the address you give.

Applying by post from abroad

The postal route requires no digital certificate, so most UK applicants without a Spanish e-ID choose it by default. You send everything to the Registro Central de Penados. The package should contain the completed application, the paid 790-006 receipt, a photocopy of your passport, and a return envelope bearing your UK address.

The real trade-off is time. Two international postal legs plus register processing mean you should budget for several weeks, and longer if you need to be contacted about a defect in the application. Apply well before your deadline. Keep the copy of your passport legible, since blurry ID copies are the most common reason postal applications stall.

Applying in person at the Spanish Consulate

Spanish consulates in the UK accept applications for a criminal record certificate. First you book an appointment through the consulate’s online booking system. When you attend, bring your original passport along with the paid Form 790-006 receipt. You also need the completed application form. The consulate then forwards your request to Spain, and the issued certificate is sent to the address you provided.

Practical notes:

• Appointment slots are limited. Book as early as your timeline allows, and check which consulate covers your region before you plan the visit
• Ask your specific consulate whether they want additional copies of your ID, since requirements vary slightly between offices
• The certificate issued via the consulate route is still produced in Spain, so the total time includes internal forwarding plus international post, which can add several weeks

Processing time and the fees compared

Here is where the three channels genuinely differ, and it is worth choosing with your deadline in mind:

Channel	Fee	Typical wait
Online (Ministry of Justice)	€3.86 (Form 790-006)	Days to a couple of weeks
Post to Registro Central de Penados	€3.86 (Form 790-006)	Several weeks, incl. two international mail legs
Spanish Consulate in the UK	€3.86 (Form 790-006) + consular fee where charged	Appointment wait + processing + post

The state fee for the certificate itself is fixed at €3.86 via Model 790-006 regardless of channel. Consulates may add their own service fee for processing, so ask before booking. Paying 790-006 from the UK is normally done by card on the official form (printed and paid at a Spanish bank if you have access), and the payment reference must be quoted on your application.

Certified translations and apostille: when they are required

A criminal record certificate from the Registro Central de Penados comes in Spanish already. That means no translation is needed when you hand it to Spanish authorities. The difficulty appears the other way round: a UK criminal record check (ACRO or DBS) is issued in English, so Spanish bodies will require a sworn translation into Spanish done by a certified translator. Before translating, you often need an apostille on the original, because Spain is party to the Hague Apostille Convention and its authorities routinely demand it for foreign public documents.

Order matters: apostille the original first, then have the apostilled document sworn-translated. Translating first and apostilling after can invalidate the work. Always confirm with the requesting body whether they want the apostille on the original, on the translation, or both, because practice varies between Spanish registries and employers.

The apostille rule depends on the issuing country. Take Poland: an apostille on a criminal record certificate (zaświadczenie z KRK) is placed only by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw. The register itself is run under the Polish Ministry of Justice, and its information points (biuro/punkty informacyjne KRK) issue the extracts. So if your application to Spain must cover a period you lived in Poland, the apostille has to come from that country’s designated authority, never from the register that issued the paper.

How delivery and CSV verification work

Every certificate from the register carries a secure verification code (CSV). With the document number and this code, anyone can confirm the certificate online through the Ministry of Justice’s verification service. That is how Spanish employers and officials check a submitted document without waiting for postal confirmation. If you get a digitally signed PDF by email, the file itself is the valid document. A printout of it is not, so submit the electronic file wherever electronic submission is accepted.

Keep both the PDF and the CSV reference safely. If the certificate is lost or you need a fresh copy for a second application (immigration processes often want documents dated close to submission), reissuing is a repeat of the same procedure, which is one more reason not to order it too early.

ECRIS and European criminal records

Spain exchanges criminal record information with other EU states through the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS). This matters if you have convictions in another EU member state, because those entries can be transmitted between national registers. Depending on the type of Spanish certificate you request, it may therefore reflect information received through ECRIS. The system is less relevant for UK applicants after Brexit, as the UK does not participate in ECRIS. The requesting Spanish authority decides what it accepts as evidence of a clean record.

UK checks for Spanish authorities: ACRO, DBS and subject access

If the Spanish authority wants a UK police certificate rather than a Spanish one, the right document depends on the purpose:

Situation	UK document to request
Spanish visa or residency proving no UK convictions	ACRO (Criminal Records Office) Police Certificate
Employment in the UK itself (for a Spaniard living there)	DBS check at the level the employer specifies
Personal copy of your own UK data	Data Protection Access Request (subject access) via the Home Office
An ICPC (International Child Protection Certificate) exists for one specific situation: UK nationals looking for work with children abroad, Spain included. A Spanish childcare employer may ask for both this certificate and the Spanish sexual offenders register check described above, since the ICPC complements rather than replaces it. Scope differs between documents. A Data Protection Access Request shows only what the Home Office holds about you and is not designed as an immigration document, while an ACRO Police Certificate is issued specifically for submission to foreign authorities.

A Certificate of Good Conduct from a third country works the same way. It only covers the years you actually lived in that country, and a Spanish authority will not accept it until it carries an apostille and a sworn translation.

How other countries compare: a quick look at the Polish KRK

If your time in Europe included a stay in Poland, the Polish Krajowy Rejestr Karny (KRK) becomes a second procedure to handle, and its rules differ from the Austrian ones in several ways. You file an inquiry form together with payment confirmation, and the online route requires a trusted profile (profil zaufany) or a qualified electronic signature plus an account in the e-KRK system, according to gov.pl (checked September 2026). The fees are fixed: 20 zł for an electronic certificate and 30 zł for a paper version, which you can obtain in person at the Ministry of Justice (ul. Czerniakowska 100, Warsaw) or by post. There is another key difference from Spain. The KRK certificate is issued only in Polish, so a sworn translation into Spanish is unavoidable, and Polish regulations set no validity period, leaving the deadline to the requesting authority. One relief applies to a narrow group. Volunteers seeking certification as leaders of children’s and youth recreation camps or colonies are exempt from the fee under the same official rules (gov.pl).

Feature	Spain (Certificado de Antecedentes Penales)	Poland (KRK zaświadczenie)
Fee	€3.86 via Form 790-006	20 zł online / 30 zł paper (gov.pl)
Online access	Digital certificate or e-ID	Profil zaufany or qualified e-signature (gov.pl)
Language	Spanish	Polish only (official KRK FAQ)
Apostille	Only for use outside Spain	Only by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Electronic format	Digitally signed PDF with CSV	Signed XML file; a printout is not a document (gov.pl)

Cancelling or clearing a criminal record in Spain

Spanish convictions do not stay visible forever. Spain runs a cancellation (cancelación) regime: once the legally defined waiting period has passed after the sentence, provided you have not reoffended, the entry is removed from the register and a new certificate shows no convictions. If your conviction is old yet still appears on the certificate, you can apply to the Registro Central de Penados for cancellation. You may also need to confirm there that a cancellation already granted has been recorded. This is a separate procedure from the certificate request. Applying for cancellation first can save you from submitting a document with an entry that should no longer be there.

Choosing your route: a short case

Situation: you are in Manchester. Your Spanish residency appointment is two months away, and the extranjería office has asked for three documents: a police certificate covering your three years in Barcelona, a UK ACRO certificate, and a Polish KRK extract for your year in Kraków.

• Step 1: check with your lawyer that they want the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales (for the Spanish years), an ACRO certificate (for the UK years), and a Polish zaświadczenie z KRK, not a DBS check
• Step 2: if you hold a Spanish digital certificate from your time in Spain, apply online via the Ministry of Justice; otherwise arrange post or a consular appointment
• Step 3: pay the €3.86 Model 790-006 fee, submit, and order the ACRO certificate plus the Polish KRK extract in parallel
• Step 4: apostille the ACRO and KRK originals (for Poland, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), then get the sworn Spanish translations of both
• Result: three documents, three registers, zero rejections, with every paper matched to what the authority actually asked for

The single biggest time-saver is confirming the exact document list with the requesting body before you pay for anything. A ten-minute clarification prevents the classic failure: the right country, the wrong certificate.

Getting a Polish KRK certificate: documents and how to apply online

The Polish equivalent of the Spanish certificate is issued through the National Criminal Register (Krajowy Rejestr Karny), which falls under the Ministry of Justice. To apply, you submit an inquiry form asking for information about a person or a collective entity, together with confirmation of payment. If you apply online, two things are required: a trusted profile (profil zaufany) or a qualified electronic signature, and an account in the e-KRK system. The register is served by dedicated information points and offices, so applications can also be handled in person. For someone comparing routes from the UK, the online path is usually the fastest, because it avoids sending paper forms abroad. The structure is similar to the Spanish Ministry of Justice portal: identity is verified electronically, the fee is paid, and the certificate is then generated and delivered digitally.

The electronic KRK certificate: XML format and why the printout is not the document

An electronic certificate from the Polish National Criminal Register is an XML file signed with a secure electronic signature. A printout of that file is not the document itself, and this matters for anyone planning to use it abroad. Only the signed XML file carries legal force, so it must be preserved and submitted in that form rather than as a paper copy.

This differs from the Spanish system, where the CSV verification code allows a printed PDF to be checked online. If the certificate is intended for Spanish authorities or another foreign recipient, confirm in advance which format they accept. Polish certificates are issued only in Polish, so a certified translation may also be required, and the translation is arranged by the applicant. Submitting a printout instead of the original XML file is a common mistake that can invalidate an otherwise correct application.

Apostille for a Polish criminal record certificate

If your Polish KRK certificate is headed abroad, it may need an apostille. In Poland, only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is authorised to place this stamp on documents from the National Criminal Register; no other office can apostille them. The Spanish system works in a similar way, since the apostille on a Certificado de Antecedentes Penales is also added by the competent Spanish authority before the document leaves the country. The practical consequence is the same in both countries: the apostille is a separate step after the certificate is issued, and it must be built into your timeline. If the receiving country wants an apostille and a sworn translation, the translation normally comes last, once the document is final. Checking the destination authority’s requirements in advance avoids paying twice or ordering a second certificate.

Fees and exemptions for the Polish KRK

A Polish KRK application requires payment, and you attach the confirmation to the inquiry form. There is one exemption: volunteers who want to work as supervisors or leaders at children’s holiday camps and colonies do not pay the fee. This shows how Poland ties criminal record checks to youth work, much like the DBS check in the United Kingdom. For everyone else, the fee applies whether you apply online or in person: 20 zł through the e-KRK system, or 30 zł for the paper version filed in person or by post, payable in cash at the Ministry of Justice cashier at ul. Czerniakowska 100 in Warsaw. When budgeting for a move or a job involving both countries, keep in mind that costs stack up, since the certificate fee may be joined by apostille charges at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and translation costs. The exemption shows that fee rules can be purpose-specific, so check before paying.

See also

• Apostille for Spain from Pakistan: MOFA Attestation and Embassy Legalization
• Criminal Record Certificate for Spain Online
• Electronic Apostille (e-Apostille) for Spain