Why this document gets a page of its own
Because it is, by some distance, the criminal record certificate most often ordered wrong. Canada runs two different checks with similar names, and only one works here. Anyone who orders the wrong one finds out weeks later, once they have already paid and already lost their slot.
And because its issuing time is the least predictable of any certificate we handle: it can be resolved in three days or take four months, depending on what the comparison turns up.
Exactly which document you need
The one that works is the Certified Criminal Record Check, the fingerprint-based certificate issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) through its CCRTIS service (Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services).
Do not confuse it with the name-based criminal record check or the Police Information Check issued by local police forces. Those compare name and date of birth, they work for a Canadian employer, and they do not evidence before the Spanish administration what it needs evidenced.
The test for telling them apart is simple: if nobody took your fingerprints, it is not the document.
How it is requested
Fingerprints must reach CCRTIS electronically, which means going through an accredited company in Canada that digitises and transmits them. They are not posted to Ottawa or handed in at any police station.
If you are in Spain, the usual path is to have ink fingerprints taken — at a Policía Nacional station, a consulate or a private provider — and send them to an accredited Canadian company for digitising. Before engaging anyone, confirm that they transmit directly to the RCMP: some intermediaries act only as couriers and add weeks without adding anything.
Timings, which govern everything else here
| Situation | RCMP turnaround |
|---|---|
| No match against any record | 3 business days or less |
| Manual processing or possible match | up to 120 business days |
That range is the single most important operational fact on this page. Planning as though it will always be three days is the fastest route to missing an immigration appointment.
And the RCMP's turnaround is only the first: then comes the Global Affairs Canada apostille, with its own, and then the translation. They add up; they do not overlap.
The apostille: Global Affairs Canada, not the province
Canada has issued Hague apostilles since 11 January 2024. Before that, a Canadian document bound for Spain had to go through consular legalisation, and outdated information still treats that as current.
Because the RCMP certificate is a federal document, its apostille is issued by Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa. Not the province where you live or where your fingerprints were taken: that federal-provincial split is one of the biggest time-wasters when it goes wrong.
And the ordering rule that applies to the whole file: apostille first, translate second. The apostille is part of the document and is translated with it. The other way round, the sworn translation will not include it and has to be redone.
What we translate
The translation reproduces the document in full: RCMP headings and seals, identifying data, the outcome of the comparison — with or without records — the file reference, the date of issue and the Global Affairs Canada apostille.
If the certificate does record convictions, those are translated too. Leaving them out is neither an option nor a help: a sworn translation reproduces the document as issued, and a trimmed translation invalidates the whole thing.
On names: if yours appears on the certificate differently from your passport — without accents, surnames in another order, a second surname Canada does not record — tell us beforehand. A translator's note explaining the discrepancy resolves in one line what otherwise ends in a request for clarification.
Spanish procedures where it is filed
- Residence and work authorisations before immigration offices and the Subdelegación del Gobierno.
- Arraigo applications: social, work, family and training.
- Spanish nationality by residence.
- Visas applied for at Spanish consulates in Canada.
- Professional registrations and public competitive examinations requiring a criminal record certificate.
Delivery format and turnaround
We deliver a PDF with a qualified electronic signature, valid before the Spanish administration and with no shipping cost. If your procedure demands paper, you can add delivery of a physical copy.
The RCMP certificate is short, so its translation fits the fastest turnarounds. The quote tool gives you the exact amount and delivery date before you pay.
Mistakes we head off
- Ordering the name-based check instead of the fingerprint certificate.
- Looking for the apostille in the province when the document is federal.
- Translating before apostilling, and having to redo the translation.
- Planning around the optimistic three-day turnaround.
- Requesting the certificate first: it is the document that expires, so it goes last.
Related pages
If your file includes documents from other countries, you will probably also need sworn translation of criminal record certificates from everywhere you have lived. For the Canadian procedure step by step, see our guide to the RCMP criminal record check and to apostilles in Canada since 2024.