Pakistani documents for Spanish immigration: police certificate, apostille and translation

Every type of arraigo requires that you have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the five years before you entered Spain, for offences that exist in Spanish law (Article 126.d). The information sheet on social arraigo turns that into a document: a criminal record certificate issued by the authorities of the country or countries where you lived in those five years (sheet 28, April 2026, in Spanish).

• From Pakistan: according to the Embassy of Pakistan in Madrid's "Character Certificate" form, the certificate is processed by the district police, and the Embassy's letter authorises another person to process and receive it on the applicant's behalf (Embassy form). The Embassy states that most of its services can be handled by post through Correos (consular page); it does not say whether this one can, so ask the Embassy. The requirements, time and cost are set by the Pakistani authority.
• From other countries: if during those five years you lived in another country before arriving in Spain, you will also need that country's certificate, with its apostille or legalisation and its translation.
• When another country's certificate is not needed: Article 130.2 says you do not have to prove the absence of a criminal record in a third country if you have stayed in Spain continuously for the five years immediately before the application, or if you already proved it in an earlier application made within those five years and you have not left Spain since.
• From Spain: you do not have to provide it. The Immigration Office requests the Central Criminal Records Register report and the police report itself (Article 130.2).

If you applied for the 2026 extraordinary regularisation and the certificate did not arrive, that provision had its own route: you showed that you had requested it and that a month had passed without receiving it, and the authorities requested it through diplomatic channels, with the procedure suspended for up to three months (twenty-first additional provision, section 9). That route only applies to the 2026 extraordinary regularisations (twentieth and twenty-first additional provisions), whose application deadline ended on 30 June 2026; in ordinary arraigo you must provide the certificate.

• Passport: a complete copy of your valid passport, which is what the arraigo information sheets ask for.
• Marriage or birth certificates: to prove family ties in social arraigo or family reunification. The social arraigo sheet asks for them to be recent (sheet 28). They follow the same rule: apostille in Pakistan and sworn translation.
• For nationality: the file also asks for documents from your country of origin; the details are in our guide to Spanish nationality by residence (in Spanish).

If your name or date of birth does not match exactly between your passport and another document, sort it out before you file: a difference like that can lead the Office to ask for more documents and delay the file.

Official sources consulted on 30 October 2026

• Hague Conference on Private International Law, status of the Apostille Convention (Pakistan: in force since 9 March 2023).
• Hague Conference, objections to Pakistan's accession.
• Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, information sheet 61 on legalisation and translation of documents (May 2025, in Spanish).
• Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, information sheet 28 on social arraigo (April 2026, in Spanish).
• Royal Decree 1155/2024, Reglamento de Extranjería, Articles 126 and 130 and the twenty-first additional provision, consolidated text in the BOE.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, consular page of the Embassy of Pakistan in Madrid.
• Embassy of Pakistan in Madrid, model Character Certificate letter to the District Police Officer.
• Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, search tool for sworn translators-interpreters.