Police Certificate for Spain's Digital Nomad Visa: Which One, How Recent and How to Apostille It (2026)

To apply for Spain's Digital Nomad Visa you need a police certificate from every country where you have lived during the last two years, plus a signed declaration that you have had no criminal record for the last five. That is the rule in Article 62.3.c of Ley 14/2013.

For applications filed from inside Spain, the certificate must be valid for 6 months at the date of application, whichever country issued it. The UGE, the unit that decides these applications, confirmed this in writing to Hoply in October 2026.

The certificate also needs an apostille or consular legalisation and, if it is not in Spanish, a sworn translation. UK applicants should order the ACRO Police Certificate, the one Spanish consular guidance names.

Key Takeaways

• Which countries: every country where you lived in the last 2 years, not simply your country of nationality.
• Declaration: a signed declaración responsable covering the last 5 years.
• How recent: issued within the 6 months before you file with the UGE, not 3 months.
• Formalities: apostille or consular legalisation first, then a sworn translation into Spanish.
• UK: ACRO costs £70 and can take up to 30 working days. The FCDO apostille costs £45 and usually takes up to 25 working days.
• Sequencing: company certificates have a 3-month window, so they are ordered later than the police certificate.

What the Police Certificate Requirement for Spain's Digital Nomad Visa Is

A police certificate, certificado de antecedentes penales in Spanish, is an official document stating whether you have a criminal record in the country that issues it. You will also see it called a criminal record certificate or police clearance.

Article 62.3.c of Ley 14/2013 requires every applicant to have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where they lived during the last two years, for offences that exist under Spanish law.

It adds a second document: a declaración responsable, a statement you sign under your own responsibility, saying you have had no criminal record in the last five years.

So there are two time frames. The certificate covers two years of residence. The declaration covers five.

The UGE's published document list repeats both and adds one exemption. The certificate is not needed if you already hold a Spanish residence or stay authorisation of more than six months and submitted the certificate to obtain it.

Our Digital Nomad Visa document checklist shows where the certificate sits in the full file, and our glossary of Spanish terms explains the vocabulary.

Which Countries You Need a Police Certificate From

The test is residence, not nationality.

A British citizen who has lived in Dubai for the last three years needs a certificate from the United Arab Emirates, not from the UK. An American who moved from Texas to Lisbon 18 months ago needs one from the United States and one from Portugal.

The law does not define how long a stay counts as residence. Some Spanish consulates do: the consulates in Washington and Beijing ask for an additional certificate from any other country where you spent more than six months during the last two years. That is a useful working rule, although your own case may need a closer look.

Each country also has its own correct certificate, and choosing the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in this part of the file.

The Spanish Consulate in Washington states that it does not accept state or local police background checks, which is why US applicants use the federal FBI check. The Spanish Embassy in Ottawa accepts only the RCMP certificate based on fingerprints. The UK question is covered below.

How Recent the Police Certificate Must Be: The 6-Month Rule

Many guides say a police certificate expires after three months. For applications filed from inside Spain, that is stricter than the rule the UGE applies.

In October 2026 the UGE confirmed in writing to Hoply that the certificate must be valid for 6 months at the date of application. Hoply's legal team confirmed that this applies whichever country issued it, and that the six months are counted from the issue date printed on the certificate, not from the date of the apostille.

In practice, a certificate issued on 2 March should be filed before 2 September.

The three-month figure is real, but it belongs to other documents in the same file. That is where the confusion comes from.

Consulates can apply their own window. The checklist the Spanish Consulate in London uses for this visa says the certificate cannot be older than 6 months, unless the certificate itself states a longer validity. If you apply through another consulate, confirm its window before you order.

Company directors have two clocks running at once. Our guide for UK limited company directors explains how to sequence both.

Apostille and Sworn Translation of the Police Certificate

A foreign police certificate is a public document, so Spain accepts it only once its origin has been certified. The UGE's rules say that public documents issued by a foreign authority must be legalised or apostilled.

Which one depends on the issuing country. If it belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention, as the UK and the United States do, you need an apostille. If it does not, as with the United Arab Emirates, the certificate goes through consular legalisation, a longer chain that ends at the Spanish consulate in that country.

Then comes the translation. Any public document that is not in Spanish needs a traducción jurada, a sworn translation by a translator authorised by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The order matters: apostille first, translation second, so that the sworn translation also covers the apostille. Our guide to apostilles for employment documents follows the same sequence for the rest of your file.

UK Applicants: ACRO, Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI

The UK has more than one criminal record document, and they were designed for different purposes.

The Spanish Consulate in London is explicit: for UK criminal records, submit the ACRO certificate. The UGE's document list does not name a specific UK certificate.

ACRO describes its Police Certificate as the document for people who need a visa or want residency in another country. Its guidance refers to applicants who have lived in the United Kingdom, without separating England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland sends people who need a certificate for a visa to ACRO.

That makes ACRO the safe choice wherever you live in the UK.

Take an illustrative case, with an invented name. Fiona, a product designer in Edinburgh, follows general advice, orders a Level 1 disclosure from Disclosure Scotland and pays for the apostille. Only later does she read that Spanish guidance names ACRO. She now faces a second fee, a second apostille and several more weeks.

If you are in Fiona's position, do not assume your certificate will be refused, and do not assume it will be accepted. Before paying for anything else, you can ask Hoply's lawyers for a free case evaluation and have your documents checked against your filing date.

Our guide for UK citizens covers the rest of the UK-specific file.

How the FCDO Apostille Works for Each UK Certificate

UK apostilles are issued by the Legalisation Office of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). ACRO does not apostille or translate its certificates.

All three UK certificates are excluded from the faster e-Apostille, so they go through the paper service. It costs £45 per document plus postage and usually takes up to 25 working days, plus return delivery.

The route differs slightly for each one. An ACRO certificate is posted to the FCDO as issued, and ACRO can send it there directly if you ask when you apply.

A Disclosure Scotland Level 1 disclosure is digital, so you first ask Disclosure Scotland to verify it. That produces a stamped and signed paper copy at no charge, and that copy goes to the FCDO.

An AccessNI certificate must first be signed and stamped by AccessNI, and only then legalised.

One detail from the London consulate is worth remembering: the apostille must certify the signature of the official who issued the certificate, not the signature of a notary or solicitor who certified a copy.

What Counts as a Clean Criminal Record

The law does not ask for a blank page in every sense. It refers to criminal records for offences that exist under Spanish law.

There is no published criterion on how minor or old offences are assessed. Whether an entry matters depends on what happened and when.

Two facts help you prepare. First, a certificate can show more than convictions. ACRO states that its certificate lists applicable convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings, together with impending prosecutions and offences under investigation.

Second, the declaration you sign covers five years, a longer period than the certificates.

If your certificate shows any entry, or you are unsure what it will show, do not file and hope. A free case evaluation with Hoply's lawyers before you apply is the moment to assess it, because a declaration that does not match your record is a problem in itself.

When to Order Your Police Certificate

Work backwards from your filing date using official processing times, not best-case stories from forums.

At the slow end, the first two steps alone add up to 55 working days, around 11 weeks. That would not fit inside a three-month window. Inside six months it is comfortable, as long as you do not order too early.

For UK applicants, a sensible plan is to apply to ACRO three to four months before you intend to file. Documents with a three-month window, such as a company certificate of status, are ordered later.

Translation costs are covered in our Digital Nomad Visa cost guide, and our appointment timeline shows how this fits with the rest of your preparation.

Mistakes That Lead to a Requerimiento

A requerimiento is the UGE's formal request for missing or unclear documents. You normally have 10 working days to answer, which is not enough time to obtain a new certificate with an apostille.

These are the errors to avoid:

• Ordering a certificate that Spanish guidance does not name for your country.
• Leaving out a country where you lived during the last two years.
• Counting the six months from the apostille date instead of the issue date.
• Apostilling a certified copy instead of the original certificate.
• Translating before the apostille, so the translation does not cover it.
• Forgetting the five-year declaración responsable.

Our article on the UGE requerimiento for bank statements explains how these requests work in practice.

How Hoply Reviews Your Police Certificate Before You File

The police certificate is a small document with a long lead time. Get it right and you never think about it again. Get it wrong and it can hold up a file that is otherwise ready.

Hoply's Spain-based immigration lawyers review which certificates your residence history requires, check issue dates against your filing date, and tell you what to apostille and translate, and in what order, before they file your application.

If you are preparing your documents now, request a free case evaluation and we will tell you exactly which police certificate you need and when to order it.