How to request a police record in Spain?
The existence of an unfavorable police report is one of the most recurring justifications that motivates refusals in matters of nationality and foreigners. That police report will be unfavorable when we have a police record. But the truth is that said police records are not usually the subject of much attention. It is often mistakenly considered that it is enough to have no judicial record, and that not having said judicial record means that there will be no police record either.
What are police records?
Police records are basically unfavorable records that appear in the Police database. It is very important to indicate that in Spain not only one, but several police forces operate. Each one of them has its own files that store our personal data, so that, to make sure that there is no unfavorable police data, we should request access to all those police forces (since, if we limit ourselves to carrying out these procedures before a single police force, the data that may exist in the files of the other police forces will not be deleted).
What are the police forces to which I should address my request?
- National Police. Record Management File of PERSONS of police interest.
- Civil Guard. File of police interest INTPOL.
- Autonomous Police. In Catalonia, to the Mossos d’Esquadra. SIP PF file. (You must consult which is the file of the regional police)
How do I exercise my right to access my data before the Police?
The first thing we must do is request access to our personal data by filling out the corresponding request made available to us by the previously named police forces (via online). Finally we will obtain a resolution by which it will be specified whether or not I have a police record in that police force. If you do not have a police record, the process ends there, but nevertheless if you do have a judicial record, you must continue with the cancellation of these.
How do I exercise my right of cancellation before the Police?
Once I have identified what information is recorded by the Police and is considered a police record, we will have to process our request again using a form made available to us by the police forces we previously named (via online) and also provide a certificate issued by the Court that the criminal procedure has been processed, in which it is stated that said procedure has been definitively archived by a resolution that is already final or that the criminal procedure was convicting, and that all criminal and civil responsibilities were satisfied or extinguished.
How long does it take to resolve the resolution?
The resolution of the cancellation must be resolved in about 10 days, although in many cases it ends up being more, as a result of the time it takes to send the resolution that decides the cancellation to our address.
José María Martínez Fernández.
Founding Partner of Martínez Caballero Abogados.