Criminal record certificate from Russia for a Spanish nationality file: who issues it and how long it stays valid
What the official pages of Russia 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 Interior Ministry's regulation, as published in 2020 (amendments not established), says the certificate is provided to citizens, foreigners and stateless persons within 30 calendar days of registering the application, extendable by up to 30 more, with no fee provided for; we found no readable page on applying from Spain or on validity.
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Last checked: 19 October 2026. Check the official page: sede.mjusticia.gob.es.
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1. Criminal record certificate
The Russian Interior Ministry's regulation on issuing the certificate of the presence or absence of a criminal record (справка о наличии (отсутствии) судимости), as published on 30 January 2020, says the applicants are citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens, stateless persons or their authorised representatives.[1] It says the service is provided by the Interior Ministry and its territorial bodies at regional level,[2] and that on the territory of the Russian Federation it is provided directly by ФКУ «ГИАЦ МВД России» and by the ИЦ.[3] It also refers to the federal state institution «Main Information and Analytical Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation» and to the information centres of the Ministry's territorial bodies at regional level as places where information about the service is posted on stands; we take ФКУ «ГИАЦ МВД России» and ИЦ to be their short forms.[4]
The regulation says the period for providing the service must not exceed 30 calendar days from the date the application is registered.[5] It adds that the review period may be extended by up to 30 calendar days when more information is needed, and that the applicant is notified.[6] It says the result is sent within 3 working days of the day the certificate, or a refusal, is signed.[7] It says Russian law does not provide for a state duty or other fee for the service.[8]
On who may act for someone else, the regulation lists a copy of a power of attorney issued under Russian law when an attorney submits the application.[9] It also lists a copy of the completed pages of the identity document of the person being checked.[10] It says that when an attorney applies, the originals of those identity documents are not shown,[11] and that for an application in electronic form they are shown when the certificate is issued.[12]
Applying from Spain. We could not open the Interior Ministry's own site or the Gosuslugi service page from where we work (they did not open for us). In the pages of the regulation we read (3 to 27 of its 39) we found nothing about applicants who live abroad. We therefore found no readable official page saying whether a person living in Spain can apply, or how, whether online, through a Russian consulate or by power of attorney: ask the Russian embassy or consulate, or the Interior Ministry. This page uses the regulation as published in 2020. We could not establish whether it has been amended or replaced since: the Interior Ministry's site did not open, and a title search of the official publication portal (pravo.gov.ru) found no act amending it, which does not prove there is none.
Spain asks for the criminal record certificate of the country of origin, legalised and translated.[15] It says the certificate must, as a general rule, be issued by the competent body of the country of origin.[16]
Sources (16)
Next steps
When to see a lawyer
- A document is refused and you do not know why.
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Years, exams and fee for Spanish nationality by country of origin: open data
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Explanation written with AI from the official source cited on this page.
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