Criminal Record Certificates — Apostille, Translation & More

A criminal record certificate (also called a background check or certificate of good conduct) is an official document issued by a government authority confirming whether a person has any recorded criminal convictions. It is required for immigration applications, long-term visas, work permits, professional licensing, international adoptions, and certain employment processes.

There is no single residence-history certificate rule for all Spanish visa types. Spain does require criminal record certificates for many long-term visa and residency applications, including non-lucrative visas, work permits, student visas and the 2026 extraordinary regularization, but which countries you need them from and the residence-history threshold vary by procedure. For example, the Ottawa self-employed work visa instructions require another country's record when the applicant spent more than 180 days there within the previous five years. Check the actual visa, consular district and document checklist.

If you are submitting your certificate to a country that applies the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention (which includes Spain, most EU countries, the US, most of Latin America, Australia, and many others), an apostille is the simplified authentication route when authentication is required; first check any applicable exemptions, including Regulation 2016/1191 for covered public documents presented between EU Member States. For non-member countries, a full consular legalization chain is needed instead.

The FBI Identity History Summary covers your entire criminal history across all US states, based on fingerprint records submitted to the national database. A state-level background check only covers records in that specific state. For Spain visa purposes, the FBI federal check is required and must be apostilled by the US Department of State — not by a state Secretary of State.

Where a translation is required, it must meet the receiving authority's requirements. For Spain, confirm with the specific consulate whether your document needs a translation and which types of official translation it accepts; documents already in Spanish may need no translation. We only use translators whose credentials meet the requirements of the receiving office.

Timeline varies by country of origin. For US FBI background checks, the FBI step and the US State Dept. federal apostille have separate official timelines (the FBI does not expedite; apostille mail is currently processed within five weeks from receipt). For most Latin American countries: 5–15 business days for certificate + apostille + translation. We provide exact timelines for your specific case during the free consultation.

Yes. Many Spain visa applicants need certificates from multiple countries — for example, both a US FBI check and a certificate from their home country in Latin America. We coordinate multi-country cases and deliver all documents together.