The casier judiciaire, bulletin n°3, is France's criminal record certificate — the only one of the three "bulletins" the person concerned can request directly, and the one Spain asks for on residence, work or study visas lasting more than 6 months. The good news for anyone coming from France: unlike other countries, no apostille is needed to submit it to a Spanish authority.
How to request it
The fastest way is the online application through the official Casier Judiciaire National portal (casier-judiciaire.justice.gouv.fr). It's free and only requires an email address. Delivery takes one to twenty-four hours if processed via FranceConnect or email; requested by post, it takes around two weeks, including delivery.
Why no apostille is needed (unlike the medical certificate)
Here's the catch that trips up people who already know the medical certificate of good health case (which does need an apostille despite being within the EU — explained in detail here). EU Regulation 2016/1191, which removes the apostille requirement between member states for certain public documents, explicitly includes absence of a criminal record within its scope — alongside birth, marriage, death and a few others. The medical certificate, by contrast, falls outside that list.
In practice: the French bulletin n°3 is submitted in Spain without an apostille, just a sworn translation. It's one of the few combinations where the general rule ("every foreign document needs an apostille unless exempted") works in the applicant's favour.
When Spain asks for it
- Residence visa (non-lucrative, digital nomad) for stays longer than 6 months.
- Student visa over 180 days — see the full checklist.
- Family reunification procedures, when the consulate requires it from the reunified family member.
- Certain regulated professions, when homologating a degree or registering with a professional body in Spain.
The sworn translation
It's translated by a MAEC-accredited sworn translator-interpreter. The translation faithfully reproduces whether the bulletin is vierge (blank, no record) or lists a conviction, with the exact detail as it appears in the original — no summarising or interpreting.
Common mistakes
- Requesting an apostille "just in case" — it isn't needed, and some French bodies won't even process one for this document because it's not their function.
- Confusing bulletin n°3 with n°1 or n°2 — only n°3 can be requested by the citizen themselves; the other two are restricted to judges and certain administrations.
- Expiry: the bulletin n°3 has a practical validity limit (usually 3 months for Spanish procedures) even though the document itself carries no expiry date — request it close to submission.
- Non-sworn translation.
Related pages
- Criminal records: FBI, ACRO and B3 compared
- EU Regulation 2016/1191: documents without translation or apostille between EU countries
- Spain student visa: document checklist
- Sworn translation in Barcelona · Sworn translation in Girona
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