Documents from Ecuador 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 Ministry of the Interior's procedure page on the gob.ec portal says the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales is issued for natural persons and legal entities, directly or by the judicial route, over the internet through the Ministry's web portal.^[1]

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

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

The Registro Civil's service page says its certificates hold summarised information from its database.^[1] It says the actas registrales, or partidas íntegras, hold the full detail of the entry.^[2]

The gob.ec guide for the Registro Civil lists these online steps: enter the Agencia Virtual, create a profile with a user name and password, and select the service for simple certificates and/or copies of actas registrales.^[3] It lists a fee of USD 6.00 for a copy of the acta registral, which covers birth, marriage, death, de facto union and gender registration.^[4]

For people outside Ecuador, the Foreign Ministry's guide describes an administrative act that issues a copy of the acta registral (partida íntegra) held in the Registro Civil archives, for birth, marriage and other records.^[8] It says the document is delivered through Ecuador's consular offices.^[9] It is addressed to Ecuadorian nationals and to foreigners married to Ecuadorians or with Ecuadorian children.^[10]

The guide's steps start with asking for a turn at the consular office.^[11] It lists a regular value of USD 6.00^[12] and says what is issued is valid for 2 months from the day of issue.^[13]

The Madrid consulate's page says it hands over the documents on the spot and that, to be valid in Spain, the person must have them legalised at the Spanish Foreign Ministry (MAEC).^[14] Spain's Foreign Ministry says documents issued by foreign representations in Spain, on facts within their consular district, must be legalised by its Legalisations Service to be valid in Spain.^[15]

Spain asks for the birth certificate of the country of origin, legalised and translated where needed.^[16] We found no official Spanish text saying whether a certificate or a full copy is needed: ask the registry.

If you are married, Spain also asks for the marriage certificate of the country where the marriage took place.^[17] The Ecuadorian procedures above also cover marriage records.^[18][19]

3. Apostille and legalisation

According to the HCCH status table, Ecuador acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention on 2 July 2004 and it entered into force for Ecuador on 2 April 2005.^[1]

HCCH lists the Director de Documentos de Viaje y Legalizaciones of the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana as the designated competent authority.^[2] The Foreign Ministry's guide on gob.ec says the apostille is a certification by the Ecuadorian State of the authenticity of a public official's signature.^[3]

The guide says it is done in person at the Zonal Directorates in Ecuador and at Ecuador's consular offices abroad, and online in the electronic apostille portal.^[4] It says all physical and electronic documents of the Registro Civil can be apostilled directly, without other legalisations.^[5]

The guide's list of documents that can be apostilled in the portal includes, from the Registro Civil, the birth registration and birth certificate and the marriage certificate,^[6] and from the Ministry of the Interior the criminal record certificate.^[7] The Foreign Ministry's news page says the portal takes only documents bearing an electronic signature from the listed institutions.^[8]

The online steps are: enter the portal, create a user, and select the apostille or legalisation service.^[9] The guide lists the apostille at USD 30.00, not subject to VAT.^[10]

The Valencia consulate says an appointment must be booked in the Foreign Ministry's official appointment system for the apostille.^[11] It prints a cost of 30 EUR in cash.^[12] The Madrid consulate says a document that is not in the online portal menu needs an in-person appointment at the consulate.^[13] For those documents it prints 30,12 EUR and says it accepts only bank cards.^[14] It also says the most advisable course is for the original document to come apostilled at source, from Ecuador, to avoid setbacks.^[15]

Spain's Foreign Ministry says documents from countries that signed the Apostille Convention are not legalised.^[19] The Ministry of Justice warning says the Hague Convention simplifies the legalisation of public documents with a single stamp and signature,^[20] and calls legalisation an essential requirement for accepting foreign documents.^[21]

4. Translation into Spanish

Spain asks for the birth certificate legalised and translated "en su caso", that is, where needed.^[1] It asks for the criminal record certificate legalised and translated.^[2] We found no official text saying whether a document issued in Spanish needs a translation for Spain: ask the registry.

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

5. Consulates in Spain

The Foreign Ministry's directory of Ecuadorian consulates in Spain lists Madrid,^[1] the Consulate General in Barcelona,^[2] and consulates in Murcia,^[3] Valencia,^[4] Málaga^[5] and Palma de Mallorca.^[6] The Madrid entry says to get an appointment to access all the consulate's services.^[7] The address of the directory page carries the year 2021. It also lists honorary consulates, for example in Bilbao,^[8] Sevilla,^[9] Vigo^[10] and Zaragoza.^[11] Check the consulate's own page before you go.

The Madrid consulate lists the apostilled criminal record certificate among its consular certificates.^[12]

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 Ecuador: 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.