Criminal record certificate from Uruguay for a Spanish nationality file: who issues it and how long it stays valid
What the official pages of Uruguay 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 Ministry of the Interior's Dirección Nacional de Policía Científica issues the Certificado de Antecedentes Judiciales, which the issuer says expires 90 days after issue and must be apostilled at the Foreign Ministry for use abroad; the clock below uses the 90 days.
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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 Uruguayan procedures catalogue (gub.uy) lists the Ministry of the Interior's Dirección Nacional de Policía Científica for the Certificado de Antecedentes Judiciales (CAJ).[1] It describes the CAJ as the document that certifies whether or not judicial records exist in the national territory,[2] and says it is also popularly known as the certificate of good conduct or the certificate of antecedentes penales.[3]
For a person who is abroad, the page says that, for procedures to be presented outside Uruguay, the holder must start the procedure with a gub.uy user, request an appointment and authorise in the form a duly identified representative to attend the appointment (audiencia).[4] It also says that with an advanced digital identity the holder can do the procedure entirely online; it does not say whether this applies to procedures to be presented abroad.[5] The Uruguayan Consulate General in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has a page for this certificate: it says you request it by e-mail[6], that the procedure is free[7] and that for the apostilled certificate you follow the instructions on the gub.uy page.[8] We did not find such a page for the other consulates. The Consulate General in Madrid's FAQ says the Hague apostille is done only in Montevideo.[9]
The page gives the cost as 26.50 UI (unidades indexadas, an official Uruguayan unit; the page states no peso or euro amount) for the ordinary procedure and 53.10 UI for the urgent one.[10] It says delivery is 15 calendar days after the appointment (audiencia) for the ordinary procedure and 2 working days after the appointment for the urgent one.[11]
For use abroad, the page says the certificate must be apostilled at the Foreign Ministry.[12] It says the destination must be entered as "Consulado-Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores"[13] and gives "Consulado de España" as an example.[14] For certificates with a consular destination, the page says they are collected once processed at the Foreign Ministry.[15]
Who can ask for it. The page says this certificate is issued only for public bodies or accredited consular offices, the only authorities empowered to require it.[16] The page does not name Spanish authorities. The Consulate General in Madrid's FAQ says that the certificate, apostilled, is for presentation before Spanish authorities and has a validity of 90 days.[17] We found no text naming the civil registry or the nationality file: ask the Dirección Nacional de Policía Científica.
Validity. The page says the CAJ will expire 90 days after issue.[18] We found no statement on whether those are calendar or working days. Spain's order says all documents must be in force when you apply, and that for certificates the validity stated on the document counts.[19][20] The 90 days comes from the issuer's page; we do not know whether the certificate itself states it. If a criminal record certificate states no term, Spain's order gives it six months from issue.[21] Spain's Foreign Ministry says, about its own diplomatic legalisation, that it has no expiry date but, if the document has a validity period, the legalisation does not extend it.[22] We found no Spanish text saying the same of an apostille. The clock below counts 90 calendar days from issue (our assumption).
Spain asks for the criminal record certificate 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.[23][24]
Sources (24)
Next steps
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The nationality file, step by step
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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
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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.