Criminal Record Cancellation – Case Study

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There are occasions that a client needs to have a criminal record cancellation in Spain. (If the necessary time for the offence has expired). This may be for work purposes, for immigration issues or to check regarding concerns in travelling to Spain.

A Recent Criminal Record Case Study

We received an email from a lady, a UK Citizen. She told us that she was convicted 4 years ago of driving a car while under the influence of alcohol in Benidorm.

Then she was detained at the police station and then went into a Spanish Court. She was found guilty of the charge and fined, which she paid.

However this does not expunge the criminal record, as the necessary time has to elapse for this to happen. And it often does not happen automatically. This client had the court files and the arrest information (denuncía) that they were able to send us.

The Usual Procedure for Cancellation

Step 1: We request a Criminal Record Certificate if we do not have much information regarding the criminal procedure in the Court.

Then step 2: This step is to request the elimination of the criminal records (not a certificate, but a request). If we do not have much information, we must first do step 1.

Finally step 3: Once we have confirmation from the Ministry of Justice that the criminal record can be removed, we again request the Criminal Record Certificate. (As in step 1), but this time no record will appear.

In our lady’s case, we went directly to step 2 because she was able to send us a lot of documentation. She had the information for the criminal procedure. We requested the elimination of the criminal record. After receiving the following from the client:-

• court documentation and copy of police report (denuncía)
• full name, address, where they were born and full parents names
• usually we require 3 notarised copies of their passport (with a Hague Apostille affixed for international use)
• provision of funds (we can advise when we know the particular circumstances, but it is an inexpensive process).

Communications from the Ministry of Justice

Our client in this case, we therefore went straight to Step 2. After a few months (time scale is usually 1-3 months on average), we received a positive response to our petition for cancellation. Thus we were able to then move to Step 3. We obtained a Criminal Record Certificate showing now no criminal record. The client was delighted.

A previous client had a negative response, unfortunately. Therefore we needed to wait a year when we can be positive that the time prescription has elapsed and we will apply again.

If you need any assistance with a criminal record cancellation please let us know.