Getting Your Certificado do Registo Criminal in Portugal in 2026 — A Practical Guide to the €5 Online Pedido, the €7 Counter Fee, the 90-Day Validade, the Multilingual European Model and the Apostila Route for Non-EU Use

The Certificado do Registo Criminal is the Portuguese criminal-record certificate — the official document that confirms what (if anything) sits on a person's criminal-record file at the Direcção-Geral da Administração da Justiça (DGAJ). For a foreign resident in Portugal, it is the recurring paper that surfaces in five practical files: an AIMA residency renewal, a citizenship-by-residency application, a job offer in a regulated profession (teaching, healthcare, security, financial services, taxi drivers, sports coaches working with minors), a visa or residency file in another country, and a series of smaller administrative moments — adoption applications, hunting and firearms permits, dangerous-breed dog registration, volunteering with minors, taxi licensing, and admission to a profession-regulating Ordem. This guide walks through the operational process in 2026: the online and counter routes, the fees, the validity window, the language options and the apostila pathway for use abroad.

Where the File Lives

The Portuguese criminal-record file is held by the Direcção-Geral da Administração da Justiça (DGAJ), the directorate inside the Ministério da Justiça that operates the Identificação Criminal service. The legal frame is the Lei da Identificação Criminal — currently consolidated as Lei nº 37/2015 in the most recent rewrite — which sets out what gets recorded, who can access the record, how long entries stay before they are removed (the cancelamento period varies by offence type and sentence severity), and which certificate model applies to which purpose. The certificate is produced from the file the DGAJ maintains; it is not a notarised statement and it is not assembled by the courts directly.

The Five Certificate Models

The same underlying file produces different certificate models depending on the declared purpose. The model code goes on the document and signals to the receiving entity what level of disclosure was authorised:

• Modelo de fim geral — the default certificate for most personal and administrative purposes, including AIMA renewals and citizenship files.
• Modelo para profissão regulamentada — used where Portuguese law conditions admission to a profession or position on a clean record; the disclosure level is fixed by sector.
• Modelo para emprego que envolva contacto regular com menores — the heightened-disclosure model for any role with sustained contact with children, applied to teachers, paediatric healthcare staff, sports coaches, scouts leaders and similar positions.
• Modelo de fim de adopção — required by the adoption file at the Conselho Nacional para Adoção and at the Segurança Social's processo de candidatura.
• Modelo de fim eleitoral / candidatura — the certificate political candidates produce when filing candidacy papers.

The European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters allows for a sixth practical option — the European Multilingual Model, returned in a standardised EU format with parallel-language columns — which the online portal generates automatically when the requester selects a use within another EU member state. That model is recognised by every EU consulate, employer and administration without further translation.

How to Request Online — €5

The fastest and cheapest route is the dedicated portal at registocriminal.justica.gov.pt. The fee is €5 per certificate, payable in the request flow by Multibanco reference, credit card or PayPal. The operational sequence:

• Authenticate. Sign in with the Cartão de Cidadão (using the card reader and the four-digit authentication PIN), with the Chave Móvel Digital (the most common route for residents who have set it up), or with eIDAS — the EU's cross-border digital identity, which lets the holder of a recognised EU-member-state electronic ID log into the Portuguese portal. Foreign residents without a Cartão de Cidadão typically need either Chave Móvel Digital or an eIDAS-compatible national ID; without either, the in-person route is the fallback.
• Declare the purpose and pick the model. The portal presents the use-case list; the selection determines which certificate model is generated.
• Pay the €5. Multibanco reference is generated immediately and stays valid for several days; credit-card or PayPal payment posts on the spot.
• Receive the certificate. The digital certificate is available in the portal account within three business days of payment for residents inside Portugal, with a one-line PDF carrying an código de acesso — a six- to eight-character access code the requester can hand to whichever entity needs to verify the document. For residents abroad, the legal processing limit is ten business days.

The código de acesso is the key operational feature of the online certificate. Rather than passing around the PDF, the requester gives the receiving entity the code; the entity uses the same portal to verify authenticity and confirm the live status of the record. The certificate retains validity for 90 days from issue; once the window passes, the code stops returning a valid result.

How to Request In Person — €7

The counter route is needed where the requester does not have a Cartão de Cidadão, Chave Móvel Digital or eIDAS-compatible ID, or where the certificate is for a minor (online requests are not available for minors — the parent or legal guardian has to attend in person). The fee at the counter is €7. The available locations:

• Espaço Cidadão outposts inside the Loja do Cidadão network and many Câmaras Municipais — the most common route for in-person requests, with single-counter staff handling the file end-to-end.
• Serviços de Identificação Criminal directly — the DGAJ counter at the Palácio da Justiça in Lisbon (Avenida D. João II), and parallel counters in district court buildings.
• Tribunais — judicial courts that operate an identification-criminal counter, available unevenly across the country.
• RIAC (Rede Integrada de Apoio ao Cidadão) on the Azores — the regional equivalent of the Loja do Cidadão network, running parallel counters across the archipelago.

The in-person certificate is normally issued on the spot where the requester carries a valid identification document (Cartão de Cidadão, passport, or título de residência). Where the system is offline or the file needs cross-checking, the certificate is mailed inside three business days.

The Telephone Route

The DGAJ also runs a telephone request line — 300 003 990 or 210 489 010, available on business days between 09h00 and 18h00. The telephone route is operationally the same as the in-person counter (€7, same model selection, mailed dispatch) but is useful where a counter visit is not practical and the requester cannot use the online portal.

The Validity Window — 90 Days

Every Portuguese registo-criminal certificate carries a 90-day validity period from the issue date. Foreign-issued criminal-record certificates submitted into Portuguese files (for an AIMA application, a citizenship file or a hiring process) also have to be inside the 90-day window — the rule is symmetrical. The practical consequence is that anyone collecting documents for a multi-document file should pull the certificate near the end of the assembly process, not at the start; a certificate that expires before the file is closed will need to be re-pulled.

Languages and the Multilingual Model

The standard Portuguese certificate is issued in Portuguese, with an English version available on request at the counter (the option also appears in the online flow). For use inside another EU member state, the European Multilingual Model generated by the portal is the cleanest path — it carries parallel-language columns and is recognised without further translation by every EU consulate, employer and public administration.

For use in a non-EU jurisdiction — a US Green Card application, a Canadian permanent-residency file, a UK visa, an Australian skilled-migration file — the certificate needs both a certified translation into the destination language and an apostila (in Hague Convention countries) or a consular legalisation (in non-Hague countries). See the apostille and consular-legalisation guide for the operational steps and the certified-translations guide for the no-sworn-translator framework Portugal uses.

The Apostila Step

The Portuguese apostila for a criminal-record certificate is issued by the Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR), the Apostila de Haia competent authority for documents emitted by Portuguese judicial and identification-criminal bodies. The process is online — the PGR portal accepts the certificate, applies the apostila and returns the document electronically — and the fee is set by the PGR's tariff (modest, in the order of €15-€20 depending on the document type). The apostila is automatically recognised in every Hague Convention country, and Portugal moved to the electronic apostila format in the 2010s, which most consulates abroad now accept.

Free Cases

The €5 / €7 fees are waived in a defined set of cases the Lei da Identificação Criminal lists:

• Medalha Militar (military decorations) files;
• Serviço Militar (military service);
• Presidential candidacy files;
• Equality-of-rights status applications under specific public-policy schemes;
• Adoption-by-fostering files (in some sub-cases).

The fee exemption is applied at the counter or in the online flow when the use-case is selected; the document carries no fee record.

What Goes on the File — and What Comes Off

The criminal-record file contains entries for criminal convictions handed down by Portuguese courts and convictions notified to the Portuguese authorities by foreign jurisdictions under the European framework decisions on the exchange of criminal records. Each entry carries a cancelamento period — the time after which it is removed from the file:

• Misdemeanour convictions (penas de multa) typically come off five years after the sentence is served.
• Suspended prison sentences come off five to seven years after the sentence is served, depending on the underlying offence severity.
• Effective prison sentences come off ten years after the sentence is served, with longer periods for the most serious offences.
• Sex offences against minors and certain trafficking offences carry extended cancelamento periods and are flagged on the heightened-disclosure model for any work with children.

Once an entry is cancelled, it is removed from the file and does not appear on any certificate model — including the heightened-disclosure model for work with minors, with the narrow exceptions the law spells out for the most serious offence categories. The mechanism is the legal expression of the right to rehabilitation; the certificate is not a permanent record of past convictions, it is a current-status statement.

Common Failure Modes

• Pulling the certificate too early. The 90-day clock is short; a certificate generated three months before the AIMA appointment will be expired by the day of the visit.
• Wrong model. A general-purpose certificate handed to an employer hiring teachers does not satisfy the heightened-disclosure requirement; the file will be rejected at intake. Always confirm the model the receiving entity needs.
• Skipping the apostila for non-EU use. A US lawyer or a Canadian immigration consultant will return the application if the apostila step is missing; the certificate is not self-authenticating outside the Hague Convention framework.
• Missing the certified translation. The apostila authenticates the Portuguese signature; it does not translate the text. Non-Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions need a separate certified translation.
• Online request for a minor. The portal will not accept a minor's request; the parent or guardian has to attend in person with the minor's documentation.
• Stale Chave Móvel Digital association. A foreign phone number tied to the Chave Móvel Digital that has been disconnected will block the authentication step; refresh the contact data through eportugal.gov.pt before the request.

What This Means for Expats

• For an AIMA residency renewal: pull the general-purpose certificate online for €5, hand the access code to AIMA during the appointment, and stay inside the 90-day window. The certificate is one of the standard documents on the renewal list.
• For a citizenship-by-residency application: the Portuguese certificate is one part of the file; the country-of-origin certificate (with apostila and certified translation) is the other. Plan both together inside the 90-day window.
• For a job in a regulated profession: request the appropriate model — heightened-disclosure for work with minors, regulated-profession model for healthcare, security, financial services. The employer or the Ordem will say which.
• For use in another EU country: select the European Multilingual Model in the online flow — no translation needed, no apostila needed, the document is recognised across the EU.
• For use in the US, UK, Canada, Australia or another non-EU country: pull the Portuguese certificate, request the PGR apostila, commission a certified translation, and submit the three together. Budget two to three weeks across the full chain.
• For a minor's certificate: attend in person with the minor's identification and a document showing parental authority; the online portal is not an option.

Sources: DGAJ Identificação Criminal portal at registocriminal.justica.gov.pt; eportugal.gov.pt and gov.pt service descriptions; Lei nº 37/2015 (Lei da Identificação Criminal) as in force in 2026; Procuradoria-Geral da República apostila tariff; DECO PROteste and Doutor Finanças procedural guides.