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

1. Criminal record certificate

The Paraguayan Judiciary's page on electronic judicial reports says the platform includes the Antecedentes Judiciales that belong to the criminal jurisdiction (fuero Penal).^[1] Another Judiciary page says its Informaciones Judiciales office is in charge of issuing the Antecedentes Penales of persons.^[2]

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

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

The home page of the Registro del Estado Civil announces a service, the "Expedición Electrónica de Certificados de Acta de Nacimiento", through the Portal Paraguay.^[1] The page of that service holds only a link to the procedure; we found no cost or validity printed for it.

The Registro's procedures page says computerised certificates are issued at the Sede Central and in all departmental capitals.^[2] For a third party it asks for the holder's authorisation and authenticated copies of the identity cards of both people.^[3] The same page lists, among the people who may apply on behalf of others, legal representatives with a notarial power of attorney and third parties with an express notarial authorisation from the holder.^[4] The page does not mention requests made through a consulate.

The tariff page, which says it was updated in November 2022, lists birth, marriage and death certificates at Gs. 25.000 each.^[5]

Spain asks for the birth certificate of the country of origin, legalised and translated where needed.^[6] If you are married, it also asks for the marriage certificate of the country where the marriage took place.^[7] 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 Paraguay with an accession dated 10 December 2013 and entry into force on 30 August 2014.^[1] The HCCH page lists the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate-General of Consular Affairs, as the designated competent authority.^[2]

The Foreign Ministry's apostille page says documents must carry the signature authorised by the issuing institution, according to the signature register held at the Legalizaciones offices.^[3] It says that once the document is signed by the corresponding authority, it must be presented at one of the locations of the Dirección de Legalizaciones.^[4]

For civil registry documents (birth, marriage, single status, death), the page names the Registro Civil Central,^[5] where the Ministry has a window.^[6] It says the Registro Civil Central location is for national documents,^[7] the Sede Central at Alberdi esquina Haedo for national and foreign documents,^[8] and the Boggiani esquina Ytororo location for documents related to the Police, antecedentes policiales included.^[9] For documents of the Departamento de Identificaciones, antecedentes policiales among them, it lists that department, followed by the Ministerio del Interior and the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.^[10][11] For Antecedentes Judiciales it names the Secretaría General de la Corte Suprema de Justicia.^[12]

The Judiciary's own page says that documents to be used abroad must be printed in order to be legalised, that the legalisation fee must be paid and the document then inspected (fiscalización), and that all these procedures take place at the Palacio de Justicia.^[13] It says the last step is to take the document to the Foreign Ministry, where it is apostilled.^[14]

The Registro del Estado Civil's procedures page lists the legalisation of documents it issues as a procedure carried out only at its Sede Central.^[15] Its tariff page lists that legalisation at Gs. 25.000, charged only at the Sede Central.^[16]

The Foreign Ministry's page gives reception hours for documents of 7:30 to 13:00 and collection hours of 7:30 to 15:00.^[17] It prints the apostille price as GS. 234.200 per document.^[18] The HCCH page, last updated 12 September 2023, prints a price of 140.312 guaraníes (32,68 US$),^[19] and the Barcelona consulate's site prints 223.000 guaraníes for the apostille at the Ministry's window in the Registro Civil Central.^[20] The three figures differ: check the live pages.

The Ministry says an apostille needs no further procedure once issued, and the document can be presented directly to the institution that asked for it.^[21] It says the Paraguayan apostille is for use abroad only and has no validity inside Paraguay.^[22]

We found no Paraguayan page that states an expiry date or validity period for the apostille. Spain's Foreign Ministry says, about diplomatic legalisation (not the apostille), that it has no expiry date but, if the document has a validity period, legalisation does not extend it.^[23] Under its exemptions from diplomatic legalisation it also says documents from countries that signed the Apostille Convention are not legalised.^[24]

4. Translation into Spanish

We found no official Paraguayan 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 Paraguayan certificates. Spain's order says "traducido en su caso" for the birth certificate and "traducido" for the criminal record.^[1][2]

The Spanish Embassy in Asunción's annex for its Ley de Memoria Democrática procedure (not nationality by residence; undated) says that a document issued in a language other than Spanish must come with the corresponding sworn translation.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

5. Consulates in Spain

The Paraguayan Foreign Ministry's directory of representations lists three consulates general in Spain: Barcelona, Madrid and Málaga.^[1] The Málaga consulate's page lists its concurrence as Andalucía (Sevilla, Huelva, Córdoba, Jaén, Cádiz, Granada, Almería, Málaga), the Región de Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla.^[2]

The Foreign Ministry's Madrid and Barcelona pages list no area, but the Barcelona consulate's own site lists, as its circumscription, Aragón, Cantabria, Cataluña, Islas Baleares, Navarra, País Vasco y Valencia.^[3] What that site says about the documents above is in the apostille section. We found no such page for Madrid or Málaga (we could not open their own sites): 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 Paraguay: 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.