Criminal Records in Spain: How to Check & Clear Them (Guide 2026)

Criminal records are the official register of your criminal convictions. They can devastate your life: they can close off some public-sector examinations, complicate the renewal of residence permits, bar firearm licences and, where they concern sexual or trafficking offences, disqualify you from working with minors. As specialist criminal lawyers in criminal record cancellation, we explain everything you need to know in 2026. If a conviction is affecting your residence, work or travel, our English-speaking criminal defence lawyers in Spain can advise on your options.

What Are Criminal Records?

The Central Criminal Records Registry is a database managed by the Spanish Ministry of Justice that contains every final criminal conviction handed down in Spain. It includes:

• Offences (serious, less serious and minor)
• Prison sentences, fines and community service
• Safety measures
• Criminal liability of minors (kept in a separate registry)

What does NOT appear?

• Complaints without a conviction (dismissals, acquittals)
• Administrative infractions (traffic fines, Public Safety Act penalties)
• Ongoing proceedings (only final decisions are recorded)

How to Check Your Criminal Record

You have the right to consult your own criminal record. There are three ways to do so:

1. Online (digital certificate or Cl@ve)

The fastest option. You will need:

• A digital certificate, electronic DNI or Cl@ve PIN
• To go to: sede.mjusticia.gob.es
• To request the "Criminal Records Certificate"
• You receive it as a PDF instantly (if you have no record) or within 1-2 days (if you do)

2. In person (Ministry of Justice offices)

• Book an appointment online beforehand
• Attend with your original DNI
• You receive the certificate on the spot or within 1-2 days

3. By post

• Send a signed application plus a photocopy of your DNI
• To: Central Criminal Records Registry, C/ Bolsa 8, 28012 Madrid
• Slower: 7-15 days

When Are Criminal Records Cleared?

Criminal records are NOT permanent. They are cancelled, by the Ministry of its own motion or at your request, once the penalty has been extinguished and an offence-free period has elapsed. The timeframes depend on the severity of the penalty:

Cancellation periods (Art. 136.1 CP, Spanish Criminal Code):

• Minor penalties (penas leves, e.g. fines of up to 3 months): 6 months
• Penalties not exceeding 12 months and penalties for negligent offences: 2 years
• Other less serious penalties under 3 years: 3 years
• Other less serious penalties of 3 years or more: 5 years
• Serious penalties (prison over 5 years): 10 years

When does the clock start?

• From the day after the ENTIRE penalty has been extinguished (including parole, restraining orders, etc.)
• If the sentence was suspended, not from the end of the suspension period: once final remission is obtained, the period is backdated to the day after the penalty would have been served had it not been suspended, counting its duration from the day after the suspension was granted (Art. 136.2 CP)
• After a full pardon, from the day after the pardon; after a partial pardon, from the day after the remaining penalty is extinguished

Practical example:

You are sentenced to 10 months in prison and finish serving it on 15 March 2024. As the penalty does not exceed twelve months, the period is two years (Art. 136.1(b) CP), counted from the following day: if you do not reoffend, the record can be cancelled from March 2026.

To work out the exact date on which your record can be cancelled, you can use our criminal record expungement calculator, which applies the Article 136 CP time limits to the penalty imposed in your case.

How to Apply for Cancellation

You do not need to wait for the Ministry of Justice to act of its own motion: as soon as the period has run, you can apply yourself. What does not exist is early cancellation: the Criminal Code does not allow a record to be cancelled before the Article 136.1 period expires.

Requirements (Art. 136.1 CP):

• Criminal liability must have been extinguished: by serving the penalty, final remission after a suspended sentence, a pardon or another legal ground
• The period corresponding to the penalty must have elapsed
• No new offence may have been committed during that period

The current Article 136 CP does not require the civil liability to have been paid for a record to be cancelled.

Procedure:

1. The application is filed with the Central Criminal Records Registry at the Ministry of Justice, not with the sentencing court
2. If the Registry does not hold the date on which the penalty was extinguished, the Registry itself asks the court to update the conviction entry
3. The Ministry must decide within 3 months; if it does not, the application is deemed rejected and the decision can be challenged before the administrative courts (Art. 19.2 of Royal Decree 95/2009)

If the requirements are met but the record has not been cancelled, the court shall not take it into account (Art. 136.5 CP).

Types of Criminal Record Certificates

Not all certificates show the same information:

1. General Criminal Records Certificate

• Lists every conviction that has NOT yet been cancelled
• If you have no record, it reads "NONE ON FILE"
• This is the certificate required for jobs, public competitive examinations and residence permits

2. Certificate of Sexual Offences

• Specifically required for working with minors (teachers, youth leaders, healthcare staff)
• Shows convictions for sexual offences and, where the victim was a minor, even those already cancelled on the general certificate
• Mandatory since 2015 for any work involving minors
• These entries are cancelled too, under their own rules: where the victim was a minor and the offender an adult, after 30 years without another sexual or trafficking offence, even if the general record has already been cancelled (Art. 10 of Royal Decree 1110/2015)

3. Criminal Records Certificate for International Use

• For submission abroad (emigration, studies)
• Some countries require a Hague Apostille

How to Obtain the Spanish Criminal Record Certificate (and Use It Abroad)

The criminal record certificate (certificado de antecedentes penales) — the document often called a police clearance certificate or police check — is issued by the Ministry of Justice through the Central Criminal Records Registry. You can only apply for your own certificate, and there are three ways to file the request:

• Online: at sede.mjusticia.gob.es with a digital certificate, electronic DNI or Cl@ve. If you have no record, the PDF is usually issued instantly.
• In person: at a Ministry of Justice office or a Citizen Assistance Office, with a prior appointment and your original ID document.
• Through an authorised representative: a third party (typically a lawyer) can request it on your behalf with a notarised power of attorney (poder de representación) that expressly authorises the application.

Using the certificate abroad: apostille and sworn translation

A certificate issued in Spain is not automatically valid before a foreign authority. To use it outside Spain you normally need two additional steps:

• Hague Apostille: for countries party to the 1961 Hague Convention, the apostille authenticates the signature on the document so it is recognised abroad without further legalisation. You can request the electronic apostille together with the certificate or afterwards through the Ministry of Justice.
• Sworn translation: if the destination country does not accept the document in Spanish, you will need a traducción jurada by a sworn translator authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• For countries outside the Hague Convention, the document must be legalised through diplomatic or consular channels instead of apostilled.

Within the EU: ECRIS

For convictions handed down in other EU Member States, information is exchanged through the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS). When you request a Spanish certificate, the Registry can consult ECRIS so that convictions recorded in other EU countries are reflected. Outside the EU, convictions are generally not shared unless Spain expressly requests the information.

Pending case vs conviction: what the certificate actually shows

The certificate reflects only final convictions (condenas firmes) that have not yet been cancelled. A pending case (causa pendiente) — an investigation or a prosecution that has not ended in a final judgment — does NOT appear on the certificate. This matters because the presumption of innocence applies until there is a final conviction, so an ongoing proceeding should not, by itself, block a job or a permit that requires a clean certificate.

What the certificate is used for

• Visas and immigration: many countries require a Spanish criminal record certificate (apostilled and sworn-translated) for long-stay, work or study visas.
• Residence and nationality: the certificate is used both to renew a Spanish residence permit and, abroad, as proof of good conduct for other applications.
• Employment: some private-sector roles and some public-sector competitive examinations require a general certificate; work with minors requires the specific sexual-offences certificate.

For the timeframes and the procedure to have a conviction cancelled before it blocks these uses, see our detailed guide on how to expunge a criminal record in Spain, which sets out the Art. 136 CP periods.

Consequences of Having a Criminal Record

A criminal record can affect you in the following areas:

1. Employment

• Public sector: May prevent access to some competitive examinations (e.g. the police); a disqualification imposed in the judgment bars public employment or office while it lasts (Arts. 41 and 42 CP)
• Private sector: Many employers request it (security, banking, work with minors)
• Regulated professions: May prevent registration with the professional association (lawyer, doctor, architect) depending on the offence

2. Residence permits (foreign nationals)

• May lead to denial of NIE renewal
• May block Spanish nationality, which requires good civic conduct (Art. 22.4 of the Civil Code)
• May trigger expulsion (for serious offences)

3. Licences and permits

• Firearms: Bars you from obtaining or renewing a firearm licence
• Private security: Bars you from working as a security officer
• Taxi/VTC: The licence may be denied (depending on the offence)

4. Aggravating factor in future offences

• If you reoffend, recidivism increases the penalty: it is imposed in its upper half and, with three or more prior convictions, it may be raised by one degree (Arts. 66.1.3 and 66.1.5 CP)
• It generally rules out ordinary suspension of the sentence, which is reserved for first-time offenders (Art. 80.2.1 CP), although exceptional suspension under Art. 80.3 CP remains possible

Recidivism: The Risk of Reoffending

If you have a criminal record and commit a similar offence, you are classed as a repeat offender (Art. 22.8 CP). Consequences:

• The penalty is imposed in its upper half (so if the range is 1 to 3 years, you will receive 2-3 years)
• With three or more prior convictions for offences under the same Title and of the same nature (multiple recidivism), the court may impose the penalty one degree higher (Art. 66.1.5 CP): with a range of 1 to 3 years, up to 4 years and 6 months (Art. 70.1.1 CP)
• Ordinary suspension is generally unavailable, as it is reserved for first-time offenders (Art. 80.2.1 CP), but suspension is not ruled out altogether: for prison sentences of up to two years, Art. 80.3 CP allows exceptional suspension for someone who is not a habitual offender, on condition of repairing the harm or compensating for it as far as they are able, together with a fine or community service
• You can still plead guilty, including in a juicio rápido (Spanish fast-track trial) with a one-third sentence reduction (Art. 801 LECrim), which does not exclude repeat offenders; however, the sentence sought, once reduced by a third, must not exceed two years' imprisonment, and recidivism raises the sentence the prosecution seeks
• Parole becomes harder to obtain

When does recidivism apply?

• Offences under the same Title of the Criminal Code and of the same nature (two thefts, two frauds)
• The previous record must NOT have been cancelled
• Nor must it be due for cancellation: records that should already have been cancelled do not count (Art. 22.8 CP)
• Nor must it relate to minor offences (delitos leves), except for the aggravated forms for repeat minor offending (Art. 22.8 CP)

Criminal Records of Minors

Minors (aged 14-17) have a separate registry (Central Registry of Juvenile Criminal Liability Judgments).

Ex officio cancellation:

• Ten years after the minor reaches the age of 18
• Provided that the measures imposed have been fully enforced or have become time-barred (Art. 24 of Royal Decree 95/2009)

Important: Juvenile records do NOT appear on an adult's certificate. It is a completely separate and confidential registry.

Criminal Records Obtained Abroad

If you committed an offence in another country and were convicted there:

Does it appear on the Spanish certificate?

• Within the EU: Yes, through the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS)
• Outside the EU: Generally NOT, unless Spain expressly requests information from that country

Does it affect you in Spain?

• For recidivism purposes: final convictions from other EU Member States count, unless the record has been or could be cancelled under Spanish law (Art. 22.8 CP); convictions from outside the EU count only where the Code expressly provides for it (e.g. sexual offences, drug trafficking and terrorism: Arts. 190, 375 and 580 CP)
• For residence permits: yes, the Immigration Office may deny renewal because of convictions in your country of origin

Errors on the Certificate: What to Do

Certificates sometimes contain mistakes:

Common errors:

• A conviction that has already been cancelled still appears
• A conviction belonging to a different person appears (name confusion)
• The conviction data is incorrect

Solution:

1. Apply for rectification to the Central Criminal Records Registry
2. Submit documentation (judgment, cancellation order, DNI)
3. If they fail to fix it, file a contentious-administrative appeal

Resolution time: 1-3 months (it can be expedited if you need the certificate for employment).

Pardon: Does It Erase a Criminal Record?

A pardon is the remission of the sentence granted by the Government. There are two types:

Full pardon:

• The entire sentence is remitted
• The criminal record is NOT cancelled on the spot: the pardon extinguishes the penalty (Art. 130.1.4 CP) and the Article 136 CP period runs from the following day
• Until it is cancelled, the conviction remains on the Central Criminal Records Registry

Partial pardon:

• Part of the sentence is remitted (e.g. from 3 years to 1), or one or more of the penalties imposed, or the penalties are commuted to less severe ones (Art. 4 of the Law of 18 June 1870 on pardons)
• The criminal record remains: the Art. 136 CP cancellation period starts running on the day after the remaining penalty is extinguished

How do you apply?

• Through the Ministry of Justice
• The application is referred to the sentencing court for a report; before issuing it, the court obtains another on your conduct (from the prison, if you are serving the sentence there) and hears the Public Prosecutor and any injured party (Arts. 23 and 24 of the 1870 Law); the Law does not require the Public Prosecutor to report in favour
• Only a full pardon requires the sentencing court itself to find reasons of justice, equity or public utility (Art. 11); otherwise only a partial pardon may be granted, preferably by commuting the sentence to a less severe one (Art. 12)
• It is a discretionary act of grace: there is no right to obtain it
• The Government must decide within a maximum of one year; if it does not, the application may be treated as refused (Art. 6.1 of Royal Decree 1879/1994)

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I work with a criminal record?

It depends on the job. In the private sector, the employer can ask for your certificate but is not obliged to reject you (except for work involving minors). In the public sector, it may bar access to some competitive examinations, and a disqualification imposed in the judgment bars public employment or office while it lasts (Arts. 41 and 42 CP).

Do I have to disclose my record in a job interview?

Only if you are expressly asked or if the job requires it by law (work with minors, security roles). Lying may amount to grounds for disciplinary dismissal.

Does a criminal record show up on Google?

NO. The Convicts Registry is confidential. Only you and the authorities can access it. If something appears on Google, it is because it was reported in the press, not because of the official registry.

Can I travel abroad with a criminal record?

Within the EU, yes, without issue. Outside the EU, it depends on the country:

• USA: The ESTA may be denied if you have serious convictions
• Canada: Very strict; entry may be denied
• Australia: A criminal record certificate is required for long-stay visas

What happens if I am asked for the certificate and refuse to provide it?

It depends on the context:

• Employment: You may not be hired or may be dismissed
• Competitive examinations: You are automatically excluded
• Residence permit: Renewal will be denied

Can I request someone else's certificate?

NO. It is illegal. You can only request your own. If you need an employee's certificate, they must provide it to you voluntarily.