Spanish Registry Certificates

If you need a Spanish birth, marriage or death certificate or criminal record certificate, it is important to understand how to go about obtaining it and the different formats you may encounter.

Requesting a certificate

Certificates are issued by the Spanish Civil Registry (Registro Civil). You can request them online via the Ministry of Justice website, which is also available in English: https://www.mjusticia.gob.es/en/ciudadania/tramites.

Alternatively, you can apply in person at the relevant Civil Registry office, or by post.

Applications usually require basic details such as the full name, date and place of the event, and the reason for requesting the certificate. Processing times vary depending on the registry and whether the record has been digitised.

Different types of certificate

1. Certificación literal (full certificate).

Nowadays, the certificación literal is the most common, e.g. certificación literal de inscripción de matrimonio. This is a full transcription of the original register entry and is often required for legal purposes such as nationality, marriage abroad or probate.

If you get a new style certificación literal, it will look like this:

2. Extracto plurilingüe (multilingual extract)

It’s also possible to obtain a multilingual extract (extracto plurilingüe), which is formatted for international use:

3. Older certificates

Older certificates are often handwritten or typed on official paper with stamps and signatures like this one:

New and old-style certificates will now include a Secure Verification Code (CSV) at the bottom of the page. This code allows anyone to confirm authenticity online through the Ministry of Justice verification portal by entering the code shown on the document.

See the example below:

Final comments

Once you are in possession of the certificate you require, the next step is to have this professionally translated so that you can submit it to the requesting authority. To receive a quote for a certified translation of a Spanish certificate, please click the Request a Quote button.