Criminal record certificate from Nicaragua for a Spanish nationality file: who issues it and how long it stays valid
What the official pages of Nicaragua and of Spain say about the criminal record certificate: who issues it, how to ask for it from Spain, cost and time where they are stated, and how long it counts for your file, with a source under every line. Reading this page is free.
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In short
- Criminal record: The Police's 2022 and 2023 news items describe a conduct certificate (certificado de conducta, also called récord de Policía) printed at kiosks and then authenticated (a February 2022 item says only in Managua, a May 2022 item says service centres will offer it); the February item says that for procedures in Spain it needs an original signature, and we found no official validity, so the clock below uses Spain's six months.
Each line sums up a section below. The sources are in that section.
Last checked: 19 October 2026. Check the official page: sede.mjusticia.gob.es.
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1. Criminal record certificate
The National Police's news item on authenticating conduct certificates uses two names for the document: certificado de conducta and récord de Policía.[1] Another Police item uses the same pair of names for a "certificado de conducta o récord policial" received at a technological kiosk of a service centre.[2]
Original signature. A Police official quoted in the 2022 news item says that for procedures in Spain the conduct certificate has to be issued with an original signature by the Chief or the Second Chief of Public Security.[3] The page does not say whether that has changed since 2022. Spain's order asks for the certificado de antecedentes penales of the country of origin, legalised and translated, and says that as a rule it must be issued by the competent body of that country.[4][5] We found no Spanish text saying whether the Nicaraguan certificado de conducta is the document Spain accepts for that line: ask the Spanish civil registry.
The same 2022 item describes a technological kiosk where the citizen can request the conduct certificate and then, straight away, ask for its authentication.[6] It gives the certificate's cost as 30 córdobas and the payment voucher for the procedure as 25 córdobas.[7] A 2023 item quotes an official saying that you pay 30 córdobas, bring the payment slip and print the record.[8] Those are the amounts printed in 2022 and 2023: we found no more recent official fee.
The February 2022 item says the authentication is done only at the Police's Servicios Policiales offices at the central headquarters in Managua.[9] If the holder is abroad, it says a relative must present a copy of the updated conduct certificate of the person who will receive the authentication,[10] plus a copy of the birth certificate, a copy of the ID card of the person doing the procedure and the payment voucher.[11] A later 2022 item on another service centre says that among the new services the centre will offer is the authentication of conduct certificates, a procedure it describes as required by people who travel outside the country.[12] We found no official page saying which offices authenticate today.
The Police's online services page lists Certificados de Conducta, Licencia y Vehículos among the services available on its website[13] and, under consultations, Verificación de Certificados de Conducta.[14] The page does not say whether the service can be used from outside Nicaragua.
How a person living in Spain gets it. We found no official page saying whether a person in Spain can ask for the certificate online, through a consulate or with a power of attorney. For a holder abroad, the 2022 Police item describes the authentication through a relative in Nicaragua, which starts from a copy of a certificate that already exists; it does not say how that first certificate is obtained from abroad.[15][16] We could not open the websites of Nicaragua's Judiciary or Foreign Ministry when we tried, so this page says nothing about certificates or consular services they may publish: ask the issuer.
Validity. We found no official page that states a validity for the certificado de conducta; the 2022 item only says the citizen presents the "actualizado" certificate, without defining the word.[17] Spain's order says all documents must be in force when you apply, and that a criminal record certificate with no stated validity counts for six months from issue.[18][19] If your certificate prints a term, Spain's order says that term applies.[20] The clock below uses the six months.
Sources (20)
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