Which countries' police certificates you need and for how long

Key rules

• Lookback: Police certificates must cover the last 5 years of residence, from your country of nationality and from every other country where you lived, Spain excepted.
• Age: Applicants who are 18 or over when they file need certificates.

Where you lived counts, not where you visited

Your list of certificates depends on where you have lived, not where you have travelled.

You need a certificate from:

• your country of nationality, and
• every other country where you lived during the last 5 years. Spain is the exception: it checks its own records, so you never need a Spanish certificate for your application.

Who needs one

Adults: anyone who is 18 on the filing day, including someone who turns 18 while the application is being prepared. Children who are still under 18 that day need none; see Police certificates you cannot get, and certificates for minors.

Which routes need a police certificate:

• Needed: non-lucrative, digital nomad and remote work, employee and self-employed work, highly qualified professional, entrepreneur, family reunification, golden visa, working holiday, youth mobility, language assistant, and student when the stay is longer than 6 months.
• Not needed: short-term visas and student stays of 6 months or less.

Each family member aged 18 or over brings their own certificates for the countries where they lived in the last 5 years. Who counts as family and the proof for each relationship are in What family reunification actually requires.

EU citizens and UK citizens with Withdrawal Agreement rights follow their own residence process and bring no certificate for it. Other UK citizens apply as non-EU nationals and follow this page.

If you already live in Spain

The same list applies when you apply for a change of status, arraigo or another permit from inside Spain: your country of nationality and every other country except Spain where you lived in the last 5 years. Order them from Spain by the routes in How to get a criminal-record certificate from abroad, through your embassy or an agent where your country allows it.

Work out your list

1. Write down every country where you have lived in the last 5 years.
2. Add your country of nationality, even if you no longer live there.
3. Order a certificate from each country left on the list.

Documents you need

• Each certificate must come from the national authority of that country and show that you have no criminal record; a local police report is not accepted. How old it may be, and the apostille and translation, are in How to get a criminal-record certificate from abroad.