Documents from Costa Rica for a Spanish nationality file: criminal record, birth certificate, apostille and validity

Where each document comes from, who issues the apostille, how long each one stays valid and what Spain's own texts say about legalisation and translation, with a source under every line. Free.

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Last checked: 19 October 2026. Check the official page: sede.mjusticia.gob.es.

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• Criminal record
• Birth and marriage
• Apostille
• Translation
• Consulates
• Order
• Validity clock

1. Criminal record certificate

The Costa Rican Judiciary's service page on the "Hoja de delincuencia" (certificación de antecedentes penales) says it can be requested by adults who bring a suitable identity document that is in good condition and valid.^[1] The page lists the Registro Judicial, in the Anexo A building of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, as one place to ask for it.^[2]

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

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

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal's (TSE) procedure sheet "Expedición de certificaciones de hechos vitales y civiles" says it covers certification of the vital and civil records of Costa Rican and foreign persons (birth, marriage, death and naturalisation).^[1] It lists immediate sending of the certification through its purchase on the Certificaciones Digitales (CDI) platform,^[2] and a delivery time of 10 working days for records that, because of their age, are not yet in the database.^[3]

The same sheet lists a bank payment of five colones (₡5) for the Archivo Nacional stamp for each certification,^[4] and under the cost line says the service is free ("Este servicio es gratuito").^[5] It states no price for the CDI platform.

The Embassy's consular page says the Consulate cannot obtain birth, death or marriage certificates,^[6] and that these certificates can be requested directly through the website of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones.^[7]

Spain asks for the birth certificate of the country of origin, legalised and translated where needed.^[8] If you are married, it also asks for the marriage certificate of the country where the marriage took place.^[9] We found no official Spanish text for this route saying which kind of copy it wants: ask the Spanish civil registry.

3. Apostille and legalisation

The HCCH status table lists Costa Rica with an accession dated 6 April 2011 and entry into force on 14 December 2011.^[1] The HCCH page lists the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto, Departamento de Autenticaciones, as the designated competent authority.^[2]

The Foreign Ministry's Authentications page says all public documents issued in Costa Rica that are to have legal effect in another State must be apostilled, except documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents.^[3] It says that if the document is addressed to a member of the Hague Convention, the person obtains the Apostille, which is attached to the physical document.^[4] It says the apostille authority does not certify the content of the document and only certifies the authenticity of the signature, the capacity of the signatory and the seal or stamp it carries.^[5]

For the criminal record, the Foreign Ministry's page on documents issued by the Registro Judicial says the certificate must be presented with the wording "PARA USOS VARIOS INTERNACIONALES".^[6] It says court-issued documents must carry the manual signature of the Secretaría General de la Corte Suprema de Justicia and that this step is done only in San José.^[7] It lists the apostille or legalisation at the Ministry as a step done by appointment or through the offices of Correos de Costa Rica.^[8] The page does not say who adds the wording.

The Embassy's consular page says that if the criminal record certificate is to be used outside Costa Rica it must then be apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship in San José.^[9] It says the only institution authorised to apostille in Costa Rica is the Ministry (Casa Amarilla), in San José,^[10] and that Costa Rican consulates abroad are not authorised to apostille documents.^[11]

The Foreign Ministry's Authentications page says that its service for receiving documents to authenticate is given only by appointment.^[12] The appointment page says appointments are opened monthly: on the 27th of the current month all the available appointments for the next month are opened.^[13] It says that from Monday 27 July 2026 a digital form with the specific details of the documents is mandatory to book an appointment.^[14] It says a third party may do the procedure with no written authorisation or other formality, but that only the person in whose name the appointment was made is attended.^[15]

The Authentications page says the return time of the documents varies between 1 and 10 working days.^[16] The appointment page says that, in the ordinary way, documents are handled within the legal period of 10 days, and that the department may resolve a number of apostilles at the counter depending on its capacity.^[17] It does not say whether the 10 days are working or calendar days.

The Foreign Ministry's Authentications Department also runs an electronic apostille platform (e-apostilla.rree.go.cr).^[18] The notice on deadlines on its help page gives a maximum legal period of 10 working days and an average response time of 3 working days (the procedure ends once the legal stamps are paid on the platform).^[19][20] Its guidelines say the law requires a Parques Nacionales stamp of five hundred colones (¢500) for each document legalised or apostilled,^[21] and that an electronic apostille has the same validity as an apostille obtained in person in physical format.^[22] For documents issued by the Judiciary, its requirements page says that before being apostilled they must be certified by the Secretaría General de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, a step done exclusively in San José,^[23] and that for the electronic apostille that certification must be digitally signed by the responsible official.^[24] The title of that requirement does not name the criminal record certificate. We found no Spanish text saying whether Spain accepts an electronic apostille.

The appointment page says the law requires a Parques Nacionales stamp of five hundred colones (¢500) for each document legalised or apostilled.^[25] The HCCH page, last updated on 7 June 2021, prints a price of ₡625.00 CRC (about 1 USD).^[26] The two figures differ: check the live pages.

We found no Costa Rican page that states an expiry date or validity period for the apostille. Spain's Foreign Ministry says, about its own diplomatic legalisation, that it has no expiry date but, if the document has a validity period, legalisation does not extend it.^[27] We found no Spanish text saying the same of an apostille. Under its exemptions from diplomatic legalisation it also says documents from countries that signed the Apostille Convention are not legalised.^[28]

4. Translation into Spanish

We found no official Costa Rican or Spanish page saying, for a nationality file, that a document already in Spanish needs, or does not need, a translation, and no official page stating the language of Costa Rican certificates. Spain's order says "traducido en su caso" for the birth certificate and "traducido" for the criminal record.^[1][2]

The Spanish Ministry of Justice warning says translation is done or checked at Spanish consulates abroad or at the consular offices in Spain of the document's country of origin, and that the documents must then be legalised. It adds that a sworn translator-interpreter named by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can do the translation or check.^[3][4]

5. Consulates in Spain

The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry's directory of representations lists, in Spain, a Consular Office in Madrid at Calle Ríos Rosas Nº 54, planta baja dcha.,^[1] an honorary consulate in Barcelona whose jurisdiction is Cataluña and Andorra,^[2] and an honorary consulate in Málaga with jurisdiction for all of Andalucía.^[3]

What the Madrid consulate's page says about the criminal record certificate is in the first section. We found no page saying whether the honorary consulates in Barcelona and Málaga take criminal-record requests: ask the consulate before you apply.

6. 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]

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.

Next steps

The nationality file, step by step

Your file silent after a year

Years to Spanish nationality by country

Criminal record certificate from Costa Rica: 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

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.