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Spain PCC and Appostille

RIVAVE

Full Member
Jun 13, 2019
41
2
Currently I am in New Delhi and completed my studies from Barcelona in 2013. I am applying for Canada PR and for the same I was asked to get Criminal record certificate. I applied as per ministry website and received the criminal record certificate and can download from their website as per Code given, however I can't see any Apostille on the Certificate.

I want to know that is it mandatory to have Apostille on certificate while applying for Canada PR as Canada is not under Hague Convention. Also, can you please suggest as how to translate the same to english by certified translator. In addition to that, as per Canada high commission website - it is mentioned that if the criminal record certificate has digital signature , then certificate should be legalised- therefore can you please tell me the meaning of leaglised.

Therefore , for all above concern , may I know if some one has gone through the same process or have some idea ?
 

calgary17

Hero Member
Mar 11, 2017
731
307
London, ON
Currently I am in New Delhi and completed my studies from Barcelona in 2013. I am applying for Canada PR and for the same I was asked to get Criminal record certificate. I applied as per ministry website and received the criminal record certificate and can download from their website as per Code given, however I can't see any Apostille on the Certificate.

I want to know that is it mandatory to have Apostille on certificate while applying for Canada PR as Canada is not under Hague Convention. Also, can you please suggest as how to translate the same to english by certified translator. In addition to that, as per Canada high commission website - it is mentioned that if the criminal record certificate has digital signature , then certificate should be legalised- therefore can you please tell me the meaning of leaglised.

Therefore , for all above concern , may I know if some one has gone through the same process or have some idea ?
Hi there,

Were you able to figure out if you needed the PCC to be legalised?
Also, did you get the digital certificate or the physical one?
 

RIVAVE

Full Member
Jun 13, 2019
41
2
Hi there,

Were you able to figure out if you needed the PCC to be legalised?
Also, did you get the digital certificate or the physical one?
Hi - this needs to be legalised fro m Ministry of Justice at Spain and then Ministry of Foreign affairs at Spain and then by Canada consulate at Madrid. Post that yo have to translate by a certified translator . Thats the process.

I received the hard copy
 
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Sukyi

Newbie
Sep 3, 2019
5
2
Hi! I am trying to do the same. However its difficult to understand the ministry of justice' webpage as to how to apply online. Rather, is it possible for people living outside Spain to do so? That would be really helpful. Thanks!
 

nicolesmith

Full Member
Sep 22, 2020
20
13
Hi Guys. I'm facing the same issue. What did you do? I just received a digitalized document, with legalization made in the minister of justice. Is that right? I don't live in Spain, but I hired an agency to get my police certificate there for me.
 

Sukyi

Newbie
Sep 3, 2019
5
2
Hi, I did the same. Though quite expensive, I hired an agency that had connections with Spanish diplomats (in my case, India)
and obtained a digitalised document along with legalisation. I hope you also asked for translation of the same in English/French. I submitted the same and got my PR approved only recently. So, that should do. Good Luck!
 
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nicolesmith

Full Member
Sep 22, 2020
20
13
Hi, I did the same. Though quite expensive, I hired an agency that had connections with Spanish diplomats (in my case, India)
and obtained a digitalised document along with legalisation. I hope you also asked for translation of the same in English/French. I submitted the same and got my PR approved only recently. So, that should do. Good Luck!
Thank you so much for your reply. So you just got the legalisation in ministry of justice, right? I'm a bit nervous because I saw that most people take the document to be legalized in the ministry of foreing affairs as well.
Just another question, was your document in black and white too?
About the translation, I just got the original document and now I'll translate it.
Thanks one more time for your help!
 
Last edited:

Sukyi

Newbie
Sep 3, 2019
5
2
Yes, I got it legalised at the ministry of justice, that should be enough. And yes, the digitalised/electronic document is in black and white.
 
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Titoos

Member
Feb 26, 2021
10
0
I studied in barcelona during 2012-2013. For IRCC i gave an authorization to my friend in Barcelona and yesterday he received the PCC from Ministry Of Justice. This is Electronic Copy. As Canada is not in HAGUE , do we need to legalise it ?
 

Abiep

Full Member
Aug 19, 2021
20
1
I studied in barcelona during 2012-2013. For IRCC i gave an authorization to my friend in Barcelona and yesterday he received the PCC from Ministry Of Justice. This is Electronic Copy. As Canada is not in HAGUE , do we need to legalise it ?
Hi, I am in need of a guidance for the same.
Could you help me with any updates or answers if you have
 

Abiep

Full Member
Aug 19, 2021
20
1
Hi, I did the same. Though quite expensive, I hired an agency that had connections with Spanish diplomats (in my case, India)
and obtained a digitalised document along with legalisation. I hope you also asked for translation of the same in English/French. I submitted the same and got my PR approved only recently. So, that should do. Good Luck!
Hi,

I need a PCC from Spain as well. I too am currently in India.
Planning to send the documents by FedEx.
Could you please help me with some inputs?
 

snagappa

Newbie
Sep 14, 2021
1
1
If anyone still needs help with applying for a Spanish Criminal Certificate from India, these are the steps I followed:
1. Obtain a certified copy of your passport (Hague Apostille) - I got this done through BLS International. It's mostly painless, but you may need to follow up and it can take a few days.

2. Download the Form 790 006 from the Spanish Ministry of Justice website. If you need help with filling this form, an English translation is available here: http://www.expatsinspain.eu/PDF Files/Criminal Record Certificate (Form 790).pdf
You won't be able to fill in the CCC (Client Account Code) for where the funds are being sent from since Indian bank accounts don't have IBANs.

3. Find an appropriate means to pay the fee for the certificate to the Ministry of Justice account. The fee is EUR 3.82 just now, and a lot of banks/organisations will not transfer such a small amount. I was able to organise a transfer through HDFC Bank. You will need to include the confirmation of payment with your application - I attached the Swift Payment Advice for my application.

4. Obtain a prepaid return label from correos.es (https://www.correos.es/es/es/particulares/enviar/enviar-al-extranjero/paquetes-al-extranjero). I used the international priority option to have my certificate sent back to India. Stick this on an envelope for them to return your certificate to you.

5. I don't know if these steps are necessary
- I included a cover letter stating the period that I lived in Spain, and the passport and NIE numbers that I traveled under. I asked a friend to translate this to Spanish. I included both English and Spanish letters in my application package.
- I included a photocopy of my expired passport (bio/address pages) and NIE (without any legalisation) which I used in Spain, as well as all expired passports that I had since that time.

6. Send all the documents to the Ministry of Justice - it turns out that my documents were not delivered to the address listed on the MoJ website (Calle Bolsa 8), but instead were somehow redirected to San Bernardo 45. I have seen this address listed on the Embassy of Spain in Ireland's website. You will need to confirm the correct address that your application needs to be sent to since I may have got lucky.

I received the certificate after about 3 weeks - the tracking info didn't update for about 2 weeks until it arrived in India. The certificate is in black and white with the Ministry of Justice legalisation on the back.

Extra:
I ended up sending a second application for the certificate since my first certificate was stuck with Correos. I thought it would be easier to have this sent to a friend in Spain, so I included a prepaid envelope for delivery in Spain, as well as an authorisation to send the certificate by email to me and to send the certificate to my friend in Spain. After approximately 2 weeks, I have not received an email, nor have I seen any updates to the tracking of the prepaid envelope. The issues with this application could either be with the delivery address (FedEx couldn't deliver to Calle Bolsa 8) or with the authorisation, so please check with others if you plan to try getting the letter sent to friends in Spain.
 
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Abiep

Full Member
Aug 19, 2021
20
1
If anyone still needs help with applying for a Spanish Criminal Certificate from India, these are the steps I followed:
1. Obtain a certified copy of your passport (Hague Apostille) - I got this done through BLS International. It's mostly painless, but you may need to follow up and it can take a few days.

2. Download the Form 790 006 from the Spanish Ministry of Justice website. If you need help with filling this form, an English translation is available here: http://www.expatsinspain.eu/PDF Files/Criminal Record Certificate (Form 790).pdf
You won't be able to fill in the CCC (Client Account Code) for where the funds are being sent from since Indian bank accounts don't have IBANs.

3. Find an appropriate means to pay the fee for the certificate to the Ministry of Justice account. The fee is EUR 3.82 just now, and a lot of banks/organisations will not transfer such a small amount. I was able to organise a transfer through HDFC Bank. You will need to include the confirmation of payment with your application - I attached the Swift Payment Advice for my application.

4. Obtain a prepaid return label from correos.es (https://www.correos.es/es/es/particulares/enviar/enviar-al-extranjero/paquetes-al-extranjero). I used the international priority option to have my certificate sent back to India. Stick this on an envelope for them to return your certificate to you.

5. I don't know if these steps are necessary
- I included a cover letter stating the period that I lived in Spain, and the passport and NIE numbers that I traveled under. I asked a friend to translate this to Spanish. I included both English and Spanish letters in my application package.
- I included a photocopy of my expired passport (bio/address pages) and NIE (without any legalisation) which I used in Spain, as well as all expired passports that I had since that time.

6. Send all the documents to the Ministry of Justice - it turns out that my documents were not delivered to the address listed on the MoJ website (Calle Bolsa 8), but instead were somehow redirected to San Bernardo 45. I have seen this address listed on the Embassy of Spain in Ireland's website. You will need to confirm the correct address that your application needs to be sent to since I may have got lucky.

I received the certificate after about 3 weeks - the tracking info didn't update for about 2 weeks until it arrived in India. The certificate is in black and white with the Ministry of Justice legalisation on the back.

Extra:
I ended up sending a second application for the certificate since my first certificate was stuck with Correos. I thought it would be easier to have this sent to a friend in Spain, so I included a prepaid envelope for delivery in Spain, as well as an authorisation to send the certificate by email to me and to send the certificate to my friend in Spain. After approximately 2 weeks, I have not received an email, nor have I seen any updates to the tracking of the prepaid envelope. The issues with this application could either be with the delivery address (FedEx couldn't deliver to Calle Bolsa 8) or with the authorisation, so please check with others if you plan to try getting the letter sent to friends in Spain.
This is such a well put guide for getting the Spain Criminal Recod Certificate.
Really appreciated!

I do have one question,
Does the PCC need to be legalized from the Ministry of External Afdairs in Spain and Canada Consulate in Spain as it is mentioned at some places?
 

Abiep

Full Member
Aug 19, 2021
20
1
Yes, I got it legalised at the ministry of justice, that should be enough. And yes, the digitalised/electronic document is in black and white.
Hi,
Legalization from Ministry of External Affairs and Canada Consulate in Spain is not necessary then?
 

Sukyi

Newbie
Sep 3, 2019
5
2
Hi,
Legalization from Ministry of External Affairs and Canada Consulate in Spain is not necessary then?
Hi!

I too have seen posts about that but in my case, IRCC accepted the legalisation made at the ministry of justice.
I m not sure if its mandatory, it just worked for me.