Police certificates you cannot get, and certificates for minors

Key rules

• No certificate available: A sworn statement plus an official letter saying none exists replaces the certificate.
• Where you file it: With the rest of your application at the consulate that handles it.
• Proof of attempts: Keep evidence of every attempt to get the certificate.

If your country issues no police certificate

Replace the missing certificate with a sworn statement (declaración jurada) and an official letter. The Spanish consulate accepts this pair when you show that you asked. The usual cases are countries with no national police-certificate system and countries where the office is closed or cannot issue to people abroad.

What to do, in order

1. Request the certificate from the issuing authority first, in writing.
2. Ask that authority or your embassy for a letter saying the certificate is not available.
3. Sign the sworn statement before a notary in your country or at the Spanish consulate. It names the country and the period you lived there, says no certificate can be obtained, and says you have no criminal record there. A statement not in Spanish needs a sworn translation into Spanish.
4. File the statement and the letter with your application, and keep proof of every attempt, such as emails, receipts and replies. The consulate may ask for it.

If the certificate is only slow, not unobtainable, keep waiting and order early: the age limit counts from the issue date, and the sworn statement is for countries that cannot issue one at all.

Refugees and stateless people use the sworn statement for their country of origin, and still order certificates from every other country where they lived.

If you are applying for a child

Police certificates are for adults. Your age on the day you file decides: a child under 18 on that day is not asked for one, and nothing replaces it; someone who turns 18 before filing needs one. You provide the rest of the application, such as proof of the family link (a birth certificate) and the child's passport. Add medical or insurance papers where they apply.