Criminal Record for the Spain Digital Nomad Visa: FBI Check and Apostille

The police certificate is the document that most often sets the pace of a digital nomad application. It is not difficult, but it involves two or three agencies, each with its own queue, and it has a shelf life. Get the order wrong and you either wait for weeks or end up with a certificate that has expired before your appointment.

What Spain actually asks for

The Ministry of Inclusion's FAQ for international teleworkers (question 11) sets the rule: you must have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the five years before the application. You prove it with:

• a certificate from the country or countries where you lived during the two years before applying, and
• a sworn statement (declaración responsable) that you have no criminal record in the countries where you lived in the last five years.

Like every foreign public document in your file, the certificate must carry the Hague apostille (or be legalised, if the issuing country is not part of the Convention) and, if it is not in Spanish, an official translation. The general rules are on our documents, apostille and translation page.

From the US: the FBI Identity History Summary

Spanish consulates in the US want the federal check, based on fingerprints, not a state or local police certificate. Washington says the certificate "must be issued by the U.S. Department of Justice – Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)"; Houston adds that "local State background checks and Apostilles are not valid"; New York does not accept local police certificates.

1. Request your Identity History Summary from the FBI. You can apply electronically and submit your fingerprints at a participating U.S. Post Office, mail a fingerprint card to the FBI, or use an FBI-approved channeler. The FBI fee is $18, online or by mail (additional fees may apply at the Post Office or channeler).
2. Get the result. The FBI does not expedite requests and processes them in the order received; it says electronic requests "should be processed faster". The FBI authenticates its results with its watermark and an official's signature.
3. Get the federal apostille from the U.S. Department of State. The FBI check is a federal document, so the apostille comes from the Department of State's Office of Authentications, not from your state. Use form DS-4194; the fee is $20 per document. By mail they process within about 5 weeks of receipt; walk-in requests within 7 business days.
4. Translate it into Spanish if your consulate asks for it. Washington and New York note that the translation does not need an apostille and the apostille does not need a translation.

Do not notarise the original FBI result. The State Department warns that a notarised document is no longer valid for the apostille, and Washington rejects apostilles that certify a notary's signature instead of the background check itself.

Timing: the 6-month window

Spanish consulates in Washington, New York, Houston, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco all say the FBI check must have been issued within the 6 months before you submit the visa application. Other consulates use other windows — for example, the Spanish consulates in Buenos Aires and Bahía Blanca ask for an Argentine certificate issued in the last three months.

Work backwards from your appointment: request the FBI check early enough to apostille and translate it, but not so early that it is more than six months old on the day you apply. If you are applying from inside Spain with the UGE, follow the UGE's instructions for your case. Our timeline page shows where this sits in the whole process.

If you lived in more than one country

Many remote workers have moved around. Count every country where you were resident in the two years before the application: you need a certificate from each, apostilled (or legalised) and, if needed, translated. The UK, Canada and Australia are all parties to the Hague Apostille Convention (Canada since 11 January 2024), as are the US, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador. For the countries in your five-year history, the sworn statement covers you.

Quick checklist

• List your countries of residence for the last 2 and 5 years.
• Check your consulate's page: which certificate, how many years, how recent.
• US: FBI Identity History Summary ($18) → U.S. Department of State apostille ($20, DS-4194). No notary on the original.
• Other countries: national certificate → apostille from that country's competent authority.
• Translate into Spanish only if the document is not in Spanish.
• Sign the sworn statement covering five years.

Questions