Have you been convicted of any type of offense or crime, whether minor or severe? If that is the case, it is totally possible to cancel your criminal records to prevent them from influencing any procedure you carry out.
This procedure is also known as deleting or requesting the deletion of criminal records; They all refer to the same procedure.
In this article, you are about to learn how to do it step by step, as well as how to cancel your police records (which would be crucial too).
Key takeaways
- Requirements: pay the civil liability or amount imposed, serve the sentence without committing a new crime, and wait a set period, which depends on the type of conviction, before asking for cancellation.
- Waiting periods: from 6 months for minor offences to 10 years for serious sentences of 5 years or more; the count starts the day after you serve the sentence and restarts if you commit a new crime.
- How to apply: get a court certificate that the period has been served, then file the free request online with Cl@ve or a digital certificate, or on paper with the Territorial Management of Justice.
- Processing time: the Ministry of Justice has three months to resolve; once approved, the record leaves the Central Registry of Sentences and no longer appears on new certificates.
- Police records: cancel them separately: they sit in Perpol (National Police) and Intpol (Guardia Civil), and you need a judicial certificate that the case was archived with a firm resolution.
- Why it matters: a clear record helps when renewing residency, moving from irregular status to legal residence, applying for citizenship (a record is one of the main denial reasons) and sitting exams to become a public worker.
Many people don’t carry out this cancellation procedure due to lack of time or simply due to laziness. Nevertheless, this is something fundamental you should do no matter your situation.
Canceling your criminal record will allow you to successfully complete all the procedures in which this document is required:
- To renew your residency in Spain without any problem.
- To move from an irregular status to legal residency in the country.
- To enjoy a successful citizenship application (having a criminal record is one of the main denial reasons).
- Certain countries require a criminal record certificate to let you in, so you won’t be able to travel if you haven’t cleared it.
- In the case of committing another crime, it could be an aggravating factor.
- In order to be able to participate in the exams required to become a public worker.
This right is recognized in Article 136 of the Penal Code, which requires the Ministry of Justice to expunge the criminal records of individuals who have served their sentences and complied with the applicable statutory period without reoffending.
As you can see, canceling your criminal records is important to “clean” your registry in some way with the Ministry of Justice, National Police, and Guardia Civil so that the crimes and offenses you have registered (whether minor or serious) will not be taken into account under any circumstances.
Therefore, once they have been cancelled, they will no longer affect you in terms of employment, immigration issues, or in any other area of your life.
Requirements to cancel criminal records
Before diving into the requirements, the first thing one must do is to find out what type of penalty has been imposed. That is to say, to understand exactly what the sentence consists of.
Why? Because there are several types (minor, serious, less serious, etc.); and this will determine one of the most important requirements (the waiting time).
To check what is currently on your record, you can request (optionally and with a fee) the criminal record certificate using form 790. However, this certificate is not a mandatory step to request cancellation: cancellation is processed with a different and free form, as we will see later.
Once you are clear about the type of crime and conviction, there are three main requirements to be fulfilled in order to expunge your records:
- The first is to pay the civil liability or the amount imposed in the conviction.
- Then you must serve the sentence imposed, and during that period you cannot commit any new crime.
- Finally, you will have to wait for a specific period of time (which depends on the specific crime committed) until you can request the complete cancellation.
If these three requirements are met, you will be able to submit the cancellation request and, if the Ministry of Justice resolves it favorably, your records will be canceled and without any legal effect.
Do you have any questions? Ask our lawyers anything:
Criminal records deadlines expungement
Let’s go further into the third requirement, the waiting period. After you have served your sentence, you must wait a specific period of time before you can submit your request for final expungement.
Within what period of time can you request to be removed from the lists of the Ministry of Justice, National Police, and/or Guardia Civil?
This depends on the type of conviction:
| Type of sentence | Crime-free waiting period |
|---|---|
| Minor offences | 6 months |
| Sentences of less than 12 months (e.g. driving licence disqualification of less than one year) | 2 years |
| Less serious sentences of between 1 and 3 years | 3 years |
| Less serious sentences of more than 3 years and less than 5 years | 5 years |
| Serious sentences of 5 years or more | 10 years |
It is important to keep in mind that the time limits are counted from the day after the sentence is served. If, for example, you have to pay a fine, the period starts counting the day after the payment.
If during that period you commit a new crime, the count is interrupted and starts again from scratch once the new sentence has expired.
How do I make the cancellation?
After having served the sentence and having waited the period of time corresponding to the type of crime committed, you must ask the Court for the certification that testifies that this period of time has been served.
With this document, you must visit the corresponding authorities to prove that the period has been served.
With this documentation, you will present the request for cancellation of criminal records, a free procedure different from the certificate. It can be done in two ways:
- You can submit the cancellation request completely online, through the electronic headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, with Cl@ve or a digital certificate.
- If you prefer to do it in person or by mail, you must complete the official cancellation request form and send it to the Territorial Management of Justice or the Central Registry of Sentences.
After this study phase, you will receive a notification confirming that everything has been deleted. But that is not all: you must have a document that proves it.
Hence, finally, you will have to ask for a certificate that confirms that your criminal records have been canceled, and therefore they won’t be taken into account in the future under any circumstances.
As we have seen, this cancellation process can be done online, in person, or by email.
How long does cancellation take and what effects does it have?
The Ministry of Justice has a legal period of three months to resolve the cancellation request, although in practice it may take a little longer depending on the administration’s workload.
Once approved, the effects are as follows:
- The records disappear from the Central Registry of Sentences.
- They can no longer be used as an aggravating circumstance in a subsequent criminal procedure.
- They will no longer appear on a new criminal record certificate, so you can present it without problem in any procedure (employment, competitive examinations, immigration, etc.).
For practical purposes, it is as if the conviction had not existed, except in very specific cases that do not affect the majority of cases.
When canceling criminal records, do not forget to cancel police records as well
Many people cancel their criminal records but forget about police records, and that is a mistake. Police records are also completely important.
What’s the difference?
While criminal records require a jury’s sentence and are registered in the “Registro de Penados” (corresponding to the Ministry of Justice), police records aren’t.
In addition, although police records are derived from arrests and complaints, they do not always imply a criminal record.
However, a criminal record does imply a police record, and that is why you must also cancel them if you want to prevent them from having legal effects in the future.
Police records are found in different databases. There are two types:
- Those generated by national police and in its database “Perpol».
- Those generated by the Guardia Civil in the “Intpol».
All arrests you have been part of will appear in these databases, apart from the search warrants to arrest and transfer you under judicial disposition.
How to cancel your police records?
After having cleared your criminal records (that is the first requirement), you must provide a judicial certificate confirming that the procedure has been archived with a firm resolution, and that includes:
- Number and date of the police report.
- Reason for the arrest or complaint.
- What happened to your case (filed, acquitted, etc.).
You can download here the police records cancellation form.
And access here the form to cancel your police record with the Guardia Civil.
Why get the help of a lawyer to cancel your criminal or police records?
While it is true that this is not a very complex procedure, there are many individuals who prefer to use the help of a lawyer who manages all the paperwork for them.
On the one hand, this allows them to save considerable time, since the lawyer knows exactly what needs to be done at all times, and will therefore prepare the relevant documents faster.
But, on the other hand, the applicant goes to a lawyer because of the fear of interacting with the various institutions in charge.
That is, they may prefer not to visit the police station themselves to submit the different application forms (so they prefer to appoint a lawyer to do it for them); or not to be visited at home.
Whatever the reason, or if you have any questions, our expert lawyers are at your complete disposal.
Frequently asked questions about the cancellation of criminal records in Spain
Are criminal records canceled by themselves?
Can I cancel my criminal record early?
How much does it cost to cancel criminal records?
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