CiviqPass

Colombian documents for a Spanish nationality file: criminal record, civil registry copies and apostille

Where each document comes from, how the apostille works and what Spain's texts say about validity, legalisation and translation, with a source under every line. Free.

Validity clock: your dates, worked out

Type a date you already have and read the date it leads to, with the official rule beside it. Nothing is stored or sent: the calculation runs in your browser. Add a date to your calendar with a reminder.

Sources (2)
antecedentes.policia.gov.co:7005, Preguntas Frecuentes - ¿Qué vigencia tiene la consulta de antecedentes?Official wordingLa consulta en línea de antecedentes judiciales no tiene vigencia, debido a que diariamente se actualiza la información de acuerdo a las providencias judiciales allegadas por las autoridades competentes.
Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo, 4. Validez de los documentosOfficial wordingEn el caso de certificados de antecedentes penales en los que no conste plazo de validez, se entenderá que tienen una vigencia de seis meses a contar desde su expedición.
Sources (1)
sede.mjusticia.gob.es, página del trámiteOfficial wordingDispone de dos meses desde la fecha de creación para completar su solicitud, si pasado ese plazo no ha firmado y presentado su solicitud, se borrará de manera automática.
How we count

Months and years end on the same day number, or on the last day of the month if there is no such day; they start the day after the date you give. A deadline that ends on a weekend moves to the next working day. Document validity is not moved: the date shown is the last day it stays valid, even on a weekend. Days are working days unless a law says otherwise.

Ley 39/2015, art. 30.4Official wordingéstos se computarán a partir del día siguiente a aquel en que tenga lugar la notificación o publicación del acto de que se trate
Ley 39/2015, art. 30.4Official wordingo desde el siguiente a aquel en que se produzca la estimación o desestimación por silencio administrativo.
Ley 39/2015, art. 30.2Official wordingSiempre que por Ley o en el Derecho de la Unión Europea no se exprese otro cómputo, cuando los plazos se señalen por días, se entiende que éstos son hábiles
Ley 39/2015, art. 30.2Official wordingexcluyéndose del cómputo los sábados, los domingos y los declarados festivos.
Ley 39/2015, art. 30.4Official wordingEl plazo concluirá el mismo día en que se produjo la notificación, publicación o silencio administrativo en el mes o el año de vencimiento.
Ley 39/2015, art. 30.4Official wordingSi en el mes de vencimiento no hubiera día equivalente a aquel en que comienza el cómputo, se entenderá que el plazo expira el último día del mes.
Ley 39/2015, art. 30.5Official wordingCuando el último día del plazo sea inhábil, se entenderá prorrogado al primer día hábil siguiente.

Where is my file? With your application number, follow it on the Ministry's website: Ministry of Justice: nationality by residence

The File Pack: your file in one workspace

Your documents with their dates, the order to ask for them, every deadline in one calendar file, two letters already drafted and twenty-five checks before you file. It uses the same sourced rules as this page, organised for your own file.

  • A tracker for each document, with a check of whether it will still count on your filing day
  • The order to ask for each document, with the dates that can already be worked out
  • One calendar file with every date you fill in, and reminders
  • Two letters already drafted: asking for the state of your file and answering a requirement, with the last day to answer
  • Twenty-five checks before you file, and nine questions to ask before you pay a lawyer
  • In English, Spanish, French and Arabic. What you type stays in your browser.

€29.00, one payment. No subscription. Access for 800 days from payment.

You pay on Stripe. The link to your File Pack arrives by email.

Ask for a refund within 14 days of payment and you get your money back, no reason needed. Refund terms

You submit your file yourself on the Ministry's site; the File Pack shows each document and each step, with the official source beside it.

In short

  • Criminal record: Colombia says its online criminal-record consultation has no validity period; for a procedure outside Colombia the Police FAQ says you need the record apostilled through the Foreign Ministry's portal, and we found no validity on it, so the calculator at the top uses Spain's six months.
  • Birth and marriage: The Foreign Ministry says civil registries must be apostilled to have legal effect abroad; for a registry kept by a notary you ask for the faithful copy, say it is for apostille, and it is signed digitally.
  • Apostille: You can do the apostille yourself on the Foreign Ministry's portal at any hour, with no appointment, as a PDF of at most 11 megabytes; Colombia is a party to the Apostille Convention, and the fee pages we read disagree, so check the costs page before you pay.
  • Translation: We found no official Spanish page saying that a document already in Spanish is exempt from translation; sworn translators recognised by the Ministry are valid in Spain with no further legalisation, but the original still needs its apostille.
  • Order: Our arithmetic, not an official rule: request first the documents that need an apostille and a sworn translation, then the criminal record certificate, so that you can finish its apostille and translation while it is still valid; the calculator at the top gives the dates.

Each line sums up a section below. The sources are in that section.

Last checked: 18 October 2026. Check the official page: sede.mjusticia.gob.es.

CiviqPass is an independent service run by an individual resident in Spain; the legal notice says who and where.

1. Criminal record certificate

The Policía Nacional's online consultation replaced the Certificado Judicial, abolished by Decreto 19 of 2012.[1]

Criminal record certificate from Colombia: who issues it and how long it stays valid

Sources (1)
  1. antecedentes.policia.gov.co:7005, Preguntas Frecuentes - ¿Cómo puedo imprimir mi consulta de antecedentes?Official wordingel Certificado Judicial fue suprimido por el artículo 93 del Decreto 19 del 10 de enero de 2012, por lo tanto en cumplimiento del artículo 94, la Policía Nacional dispuso la consulta en línea de antecedentes

2. Birth certificate, and marriage certificate if you are married

The Foreign Ministry says civil registries must be apostilled to have legal effect abroad.[1]

For a registry kept by a notary, you ask the notary for the faithful copy, say it is for apostille, and it is signed digitally.[2]

Spain asks for the birth certificate of the country of origin, legalised and translated where needed.[3] If you are married it also asks for the marriage certificate.[4] We found no official text on which copy (literal, with notes, digital) Spain wants: ask the Spanish civil registry.

Sources (4)
  1. cancilleria.gov.co, Guía Apostilla y Legalización de Registros Civiles - I. Trámite automático (notarías)Official wordingLos Registros Civiles para que tengan efectos legales en el exterior deben aportarse debidamente apostillados.
  2. cancilleria.gov.co, Requisitos - Registros civiles expedidos por NotariasOfficial wordingDeberá solicitar en la Notaría respectiva donde reposa el original, la fiel copia de su documento informando que el documento es para Apostilla o Legalización ante el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, para que sea firmado digitalmente.
  3. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo 1.aOfficial wordingCertificado de nacimiento del país de origen debidamente legalizado y traducido en su caso, conforme los Convenios Internacionales.
  4. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo 1.aOfficial wordingEn el caso de personas casadas certificado de matrimonio del país de celebración, debidamente traducido y legalizado en su caso.

3. Apostille and legalisation

The Colombian Foreign Ministry says you can do the procedure yourself, at any hour of any day, with no intermediary and no appointment.[1]

The document must be a PDF of at most 11 megabytes, and only one apostille is issued per document.[2] The Colombian Foreign Ministry says the apostille has no validity period, though each State may ask for a new one.[3]

HCCH lists Colombia as a party.[4] The fee: the page of the Colombian embassy in Spain says the procedure costs $36.000 COP,[5] and the Foreign Ministry's costs page says $37.800 for an apostille in Colombia.[6] They disagree, so check the costs page (cancilleria.gov.co, Costos y medios de Pago) before you pay.

Documents issued by Colombian consulates in Spain are different: the Spanish Foreign Ministry says documents issued by foreign representations in Spain that refer to facts or data within their consular district must be legalised by its Legalisation Service to be valid in Spain.[7]

Sources (7)
  1. cancilleria.gov.co, Pasos para hacer su trámiteOfficial wordingRecuerde que usted mismo puede realizar el trámite las 24 horas del día, cualquier día de la semana, no necesita intermediarios, ni cita previa, ni acudir a las instalaciones del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.
  2. cancilleria.gov.co, Pasos para hacer su trámiteOfficial wordingEl documento debe estar en formato PDF y no debe superar 11 Megabytes de peso. Solo se expide una apostilla o legalización por documento.
  3. cancilleria.gov.co, Preguntas Frecuentes - ¿Qué vigencia tiene la apostilla o legalización?Official wordingLa apostilla o legalización no tiene vigencia, ahora bien, cada Estado o Entidad es autónomo e independiente para solicitarle una nueva apostilla si así lo considera pertinente.
  4. hcch.net, 12: Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public DocumentsOfficial wordingColombia 27-IV-2000 A 30-I-2001
  5. espana.embajada.gov.co, Paso a paso para la generación de los antecedentes judiciales con fines de apostilla para colombianos (punto 7)Official wordingTenga en cuenta que el trámite tiene un costo de $36.000 COP.
  6. cancilleria.gov.co, Costos y medios de PagoOfficial wordingApostilla En Colombia Valor apostilla: $37.800
  7. exteriores.gob.es, Legalización diplomática - 3.1.2.1. Documentos ConsularesOfficial wordingLos documentos que expiden las representaciones extranjeras en España, referidos a hechos o datos del ámbito de su demarcación consular, han de ser legalizados por el Servicio de Legalizaciones del MAEUEC para su validez en España.

4. Translation into Spanish

We found no official Spanish page saying that documents already in Spanish are exempt from translation. The order says "translated where needed" for birth and marriage certificates and "translated" for the criminal record.[1][2]

Translations by sworn translators recognised by the Ministry are valid in Spain with no further legalisation; the original document still needs its apostille.[3] The Ministry has a search tool for sworn translators.[4]

Sources (4)
  1. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo 1.aOfficial wordingCertificado de nacimiento del país de origen debidamente legalizado y traducido en su caso, conforme los Convenios Internacionales.
  2. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo 1.aOfficial wordingCertificado de antecedentes penales del país de origen debidamente legalizado y traducido conforme a los Convenios Internacionales.
  3. exteriores.gob.es, Legalización diplomática - 4.1. Traducciones oficialesOfficial wordingSon plenamente válidas en España por sí mismas, sin requerir ninguna legalización ulterior por el Servicio de Legalizaciones del MAEUEC.
  4. exteriores.gob.es, Traductores e intérpretesOfficial wordingUn traductor jurado es un profesional que puede traducir documentación escrita de un idioma a otro;

5. Order of requests and validity

Spain's order says that all documents must be in force when you apply.[1] For certificates, the validity stated on the certificate itself counts,[2] and a criminal record certificate with no stated validity counts for six months from the day it was issued.[3]

Legalisation does not make a document last longer. Spain's Foreign Ministry says legalisation has no expiry date but that, if the document has a validity period, legalisation does not extend it.[4]

When you create the online application you have two months to complete and file it, or it is deleted.[5]

Our arithmetic, not an official rule. The sources above fix how long a document stays valid, not the order in which you request things. If the validity counts from the day of issue, and the apostille and a sworn translation take time afterwards, the request date matters most for the documents with the shortest validity. Type a date in the clock below to see when your criminal record certificate stops being valid, then count back the time the apostille and the translation take in your case.

  1. Find out what validity, if any, each issuer prints on its certificate (the sections above say what we found).
  2. Request first the documents that need an apostille and a sworn translation, since those steps come after issue.
  3. Request the criminal record certificate when you can still finish its apostille and translation inside its validity.
  4. Type its issue date in the clock below and file before the "valid until" date it shows.
  5. Create the online application only when you are close to filing: from creation you have two months.
Sources (5)
  1. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo, 4. Validez de los documentosOfficial wordingTodos los documentos deberán estar en vigor en el momento de la solicitud.
  2. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo, 4. Validez de los documentosOfficial wordingPara determinar la validez en el caso de los certificados se atenderá al plazo de vigencia que conste en el propio documento.
  3. Orden JUS/1625/2016, anexo, 4. Validez de los documentosOfficial wordingEn el caso de certificados de antecedentes penales en los que no conste plazo de validez, se entenderá que tienen una vigencia de seis meses a contar desde su expedición.
  4. exteriores.gob.es, Legalización diplomática - 5. Práctica de la legalizaciónOfficial wordingLa legalización carece de fecha de caducidad. No obstante, si el documento tiene un plazo de validez, la legalización no implica su extensión.
  5. sede.mjusticia.gob.es, página del trámiteOfficial wordingDispone de dos meses desde la fecha de creación para completar su solicitud, si pasado ese plazo no ha firmado y presentado su solicitud, se borrará de manera automática.

Next steps

When to see a lawyer

  • A document is refused and you do not know why.
  • Your names are spelled differently in your documents.
  • A required document cannot be obtained.
  • You are near a deadline.

These are general triggers, not an assessment of your case. A lawyer should confirm what applies to you. CiviqPass does not name or recommend a lawyer.

The nationality file, step by step

Your file silent after a year

Years to Spanish nationality by country

Criminal record certificate from Colombia: who issues it and how long it stays valid

Where is my Spanish nationality file? The official ways to check it

The Spanish nationality oath (jura): what to bring and where to do it

Years, exams and fee for Spanish nationality by country of origin: open data

Your file in one workspace: €29.00, one payment, 14-day refund.

What is inside

Explanation written with AI from the official source cited on this page.

CiviqPass is an independent service. Built from the texts linked beside each line; procedures change, so confirm on the official pages.