Criminal record certificate
As you may know, some visa or residence permit applications require a certificate of non-conviction or criminal record certificate of your origin country.
The validity period of such a certificate depends on each situation.
First of all, you should pay attention to whether the certificate itself states its expiration date. In most cases, the Certificate of No Criminal Conviction does not state the expiration date, but if it does, the expiration date should be the one stated in the Certificate itself.
If there is no expiration date on the certificate itself, then it depends on the period of time recognized by the authority that receive the documents, and each department gives a different expiration date.
Example (1): When applying for a visa at the Spanish Consulate, the certificate is valid for 3 months.
Example (2): When applying for citizenship at the Spanish Civil Registry, the validity period is 6 months.
Example (3): When applying for residence at the Spanish Immigration Office, it may be different in each place. Some places will accept documents that are less than 6 months old, while others will be more strict and only accept documents that are less than 3 months old. If you are not sure, you can be conservative and take 3 months as the standard.
