Frequently asked questions in the application for Civil Registry certificates: birth, marriage and death

The new service of requesting certificates from the Civil Registry is part of the new information system that will come into operation with the entry into force on 30 April 2021 of "Law 20/2011, of 21 July, of the Civil Registry. (CRL)"

The Law conceives of the Civil Registry (CR) as an electronic registry in which computer entries are made, which attests to the facts and acts of the civil status and organises the instrumental publication thereof.

Material register publication consists of the set of substantive rights that derive from registration for the benefit of the registrant, who in turn is protected by the presumptions of legality, accuracy and integrity (articles 13, 16 and 81.3 CRL (Civil Registry Law).

Formal register publication derives from the fact of being a public registry and refers, from this standpoint, to the right that every citizen with full capacity to act, or assisted by his legal representative, has to inspect the entries of the Civil Registry that appear in his/her individual register, in an unlimited manner; access to the data that appear in the Civil Registry by the public administration in the performance of its duties and that of third parties that prove to have a legitimate interest in obtaining registration information of the data they request to know (Articles 15 and 80 et seq. of the CRL).

Certifications are those documents that allow obtaining the publication of the entries in the Civil Registry, at the request of the registered subjects, their legal representatives or third parties with legitimate interest.

The certification has the value of a public and evidentiary document with respect to the data contained in the entries of the Civil Registry. Said certifications are presumed to be accurate and constitute full evidence of the facts and acts registered in the Civil Registry but if, due to exceptional circumstances, the certification is not in accordance with the data contained in the Civil Registry, what results from this shall be abided by, without prejudice to the relevant liability.

The channels that can be used by an applicant are:

• Electronic Headquarters.
• In person at Civil Registry Offices (General Offices, Central Office, Consular Offices and collaborating offices).
• Collaborating Physical Window: For example: Notaries acting as third-party intermediaries.

As indicated above and in accordance with the provisions of Article 15 of the CRL, citizens will have free access to the data contained in their individual register and, hence, the persons who hold their legal representation or are authorised by the owner or said legal representative. However, registration information may also be obtained by a third party other than the holder of the individual registration, provided that it is identified and that there is a legitimate interest in it.

As a basic criterion for assessing the existence of this legitimate interest, it is established that the purpose of the request must be linked to the very nature of the Civil Registry and not to other business or commercial purposes.

Below, the types of interested parties are detailed by groups, taking into account that in all cases applicants must prove their identity or authenticate themselves when making the request:

• With free access to their own data or to the data of their represented or authoring party, consisting of:
  • The holder of the individual registration.
  • His/her legal representative, when the holder is a minor or with judicially modified legal capacity.
  • Different person who has authorisation from the owner or legal representative of the living owner, providing authorisation from the registered or legal representative, through the appropriate legal means.
• Persons other than the above for whom the existence of a legitimate interest is presumed, by virtue of their family relationship and the public nature of the Civil Registry. They would be:
  • The spouse.
  • The civil partner.
  • The ascendants and descendants up to the second degree.
• Third parties other than the holder of the individual registration, his/her legal representative or authorised party and persons with a presumption of legitimate interest arising from a family relationship who would have to prove or take responsibility for the existence of that legitimate interest. They would be:
  • Third-party intermediaries: For example, the application can be submitted by the Notary acting as a collaborating physical window, in his/her capacity as a public official; which states in his/her application that he/she has previously verified in the exercise of his/her duties the identity and the existence of legitimate interest of the final recipient of the certification. Hence, we speak of a third party intermediary, because it is the Notary who verifies the identity and legitimate interest of the interested party.
  • Unauthorised third parties: For example, creditors of the registered subject.
  • Administrative and Judicial Authorities: Those public administrations, entities or public bodies that, for any exceptional reason, do not have other accesses to the Civil Registry available on a temporary basis, but need to obtain certain information for a cause based on legal regulations, may contact the offices of the Civil Registry through this access regime for publication by certification. For example, Courts
  • Authorised by the Judge of First Instance: For example, when the registered subject has died and the request refers to especially protected data (Law 20/2011, Art. 84)

In view of the above, the new Law introduces the need to assess the legitimate interest of the applicant and, therefore, the new system models the different cases of the applicants, who must also be identified by electronic means.

The Ministry of Justice and the competent Autonomous Communities plan to complete the total transformation of the Registry Model in the current Civil Registry offices before the end of 2023. During this period of coexistence between the two models, the headquarters' service will ask the applicant for the documentation of accreditation of legitimate interest only when it is necessary.

You have two options for requesting civil registration certificates for birth, marriage or death: one with electronic identification and another without electronic identification.

You can access the procedure with electronic identification if you are registered in Cl@ve, this registration is NOT necessary if you use an electronic certificate or electronic ID.

Using the procedure that requires identification, you can obtain the certificates online on the spot, at any time. With the procedure that does not require electronic identification, the certificates cannot be issued on the spot.

Some procedures require that you identify yourself electronically (in the same way that you would also have to do if you carried out the procedure in person).

Cl@ve is a system managed by the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, aimed at unifying and simplifying citizens' electronic access to public services. Its main objective is that the citizen can identify himself before the Administration through the most convenient mechanism according to the procedure that he/she wants to carry out and in the simplest possible way, among the following: electronic certificate/DNI-e, Cl@ve pin, Permanent Cl@ve, Cl@ ve for EU citizens. These mechanisms make it possible to identify citizens when carrying out the procedure. For its use, some of the mechanisms require registration in Cl@ve. More information on the Cl@ve Official Website.

You only need to register in Cl@ve for Cl@ve PIN and PERMANENT Cl@ve, it is not necessary if you use Electronic Certificate or Electronic ID.

There are different ways to register with Cl@ve as well as an extensive network of offices where it is possible to register in person or obtain an electronic certificate. We recommend that you locate the nearest office, which will avoid unnecessary travel and waiting. In any case, all the information is available in the Official Clave page in the How can I register section?.

Yes, you can identify yourself electronically by electronic ID.

The use of electronic IDs for authentication in the certificate application process requires the installation on the citizen's computer of a browser, cryptographic card reader and operating system that are supported, in addition to the installation of a cryptographic module.

All the information of interest and downloads necessary to use the electronic ID (DNI) can be found at this link: Electronic ID.

Electronic public key certificates, not revoked, supported by @firma, the Validation Platform and electronic signature of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations will be admitted.

You can obtain a digital certificate from different certification service providers. An example of a provider is the Royal Spanish Mint, which provides certificates through various options and, for options requiring in person attendance at a Registration Office, has an extensive network of partner offices. More information can be found on this page of the Electronic Headquarters of the Royal Spanish Mint.

Maybe the answer is in Cl@ve. If you are unable to resolve the issue, please contact Cl@ve: By phone, by calling 060 or by leaving a message in the Cl@ve Inbox.

In the initial screen of the procedure you must select the "REGISTERED" option in "Person for whom you are requesting the certificate". This way you can request birth or marriage certificates in which you are the registered person, or one of those registered in the case of marriage certificates.

Yes, you can. On the procedure's initial screen, select the "THIRD PARTY" option under "Person for whom you are requesting the certificate". You may request birth, marriage, or death certificates in which you are not the registrant, or you are not one of the registrants in the case of marriage certificates

In these cases, you must indicate if the registrant has died or is alive and your relationship with him/her, selecting it in the first screen of the application: "In the capacity of".

Parents may act as legal representatives, for example, in respect of their children, when such children are minors.

The following are not considered to be included in the "Legal Representative" group:

• The legal representative who exercises the guardianship, who must provide the documentation that accredits him/her as legal representative if he/she is not already listed in the Registry.
• The voluntary representative who acts by civil or administrative mandate (lawyer, attorney or authorised party) who has to accompany the application with the document that empowers him/her as authorised party (power of attorney, appointment of free legal assistance, administrative authorisation...).

When acting as a legal representative in the application for civil registration certificates, you must mark a box in the application indicating that you accept the declaration of responsibility indicated for this purpose.

Until the full entry into force of Law 20/2011, the provision of supporting documentation or proof of legitimate interest to those third parties who require it will not, in general, be required. The provision of such documents may be required for the issuance of certificates only if the application is addressed to a Civil Registry office where the new Civil Registry model has already been implemented. The electronic headquarters application will request the supporting documentation only in this case, i.e. when the new Civil Registry model is implemented in the destination office.

The Ministry of Justice and the competent Autonomous Communities plan to complete the total transformation of the Registry Model in the current Civil Registry offices before the end of 2023.

During the period of coexistence of the laws of 8 June 1957 on the Civil Registry, and 20/2011, of 21 July, of the Civil Registry, wherein the new registration model is being progressively implemented, they will only have to provide these supporting documents if the office that processes the file is already under the mandate of Law 20/2011.

The applicant is warned that if he does not explain the reasons, necessity and addressee, the application will be refused

Such documents may be required when applying for a certificate as a third party in certain cases: When in the "In the capacity of" field select: "Authorised by the registrant or his/her representative" or "Others", for birth or marriage certificates.

To request your birth certificate if you were born in Western Sahara, you must indicate the following details on the form:

• Country of Birth: FORMER TERRITORIES OF SPANISH SOVEREIGNTY.
• Place of birth: EL SAHARA.
• Country of registration: Spain.
• Province of Registration: Madrid.
• Civil Registry: Central Civil Registry.

It will not be possible to make applications for the same certificate until 15 days after the previous one. This limitation does not affect certificate applications which may be issued immediately.

That is, in order to apply for the same certificate: the same applicant for the same registration, the same subject and the same type of certificate; it will be necessary to wait 15 days from the previous application. This limitation only affects certificates that cannot be generated online.

If the birth, marriage or death occurred abroad, the application may ask you to enter the registration data corresponding to the Central Civil Registry or the Consulate.

For the registry data of the Central Civil Registry, the fields to be filled in are as follows:

In the event that you have another certificate previously issued by the Central Civil Registry, you can find the data in it as indicated in the following image:

And for the registration data of the consulate, the fields to be completed are as follows:

In the event that you have another certificate previously issued by the consulate, you can find the data in it as indicated in the examples:

To obtain civil registration certificates immediately, the facts about which they are requested must be associated with digitised or computerised civil registration offices, otherwise it will not be possible.

If the condition of the preceding paragraph is met, certificates may be obtained immediately in the following cases:

• When you are the registrant, that is, you are requesting it for yourself. Cases of Birth and Marriage Certificates
• In the following situations when you request it as a third party, i.e. you request it for another person:
  • If the registrant is alive and you are their legal representative. Only for birth certificates.
  • If the registrant is deceased and you are in the “Children of, Spouses of, and Civil Partners" group with respect to the registrant.

In all other cases, the certificate will not be obtained electronically on an immediately basis.

For now, it will NOT be possible to obtain certificates immediately for people with a single surname.

In the other cases not indicated in Can I obtain the civil registration certificates electronically on an immediate basis?. The application, depending on the case, will request certain data and will guide you in the process, there may be two situations:

• Your application will be sent to be processed by an official, and once studied and accepted, the certificate will be sent to the postal address indicated in your application.
• In the event that the fact about which the certification is requested is in a non-computerised civil registry office, the application itself will indicate that you must request it in person.

The application allows you to select it, but the certificate will only be provided in the requested language when possible. It may not be possible to issue them in the requested language for digitised and paper-based registrations.

You can use the form below in case you have any problems in applying for the certificates to contact the Citizen Service Centre.​