Cuban criminal record certificate: what it shows, how to request it and when records are cancelled

The Cuban criminal record certificate (certificado de antecedentes penales) is required by many immigration procedures in other countries, and by several Cuban procedures too. This guide sums up what the Penal Code (Law 151 of 2022), the 2026 Consular Fee Schedule and Resolution 486 of 2025 of the Ministry of Justice say.

What counts as a criminal record

Under article 98 of the Penal Code, final sentences imposed by the following constitute criminal records and are entered in the Central Register of Sanctioned Persons (Registro Central de Sancionados):

• The courts, except a reprimand and a fine of less than three hundred quotas.
• Military courts for non-military offences, with the same exceptions.
• Military courts for military offences, when the judgment expressly so provides.
• Foreign courts on Cuban citizens, in the cases and under the conditions established by law.

How to request it from abroad

At the Cuban consulate, the 2026 Consular Fee Schedule lists the criminal record certificate among the documents from the Civil Registry and other registers: 30 USD or EUR when you apply and 110 on delivery. If it must be legalised by the destination country’s embassy in Cuba and by the Ministry of Justice, 70 and 50 are added.

Resolution 486 of 2025 authorises several entities in Cuba to obtain and legalise criminal record certificates for use outside Cuba — among them Servicios Legales S.A., Consultoría Jurídica Internacional S.A., Bufete Internacional S.A. and the Specialised Services Law Office of the National Organisation of Collective Law Firms — and, abroad, the Cuban consular offices.

Cuban procedures that require it

Several Cuban rules require criminal record certificates, sometimes also from the country of residence. In that case, the foreign certificate must be legalised and certified at the Cuban consulate, with a Spanish translation if it is in another language (article 12 of Annex II of the Consular Fee Schedule).

• Renouncing Cuban citizenship: from Cuba and from the country of residence (article 47 of Law 172 "On Citizenship").
• Recovering Cuban citizenship: from the country of residence or nationality (article 59 of Law 172).
• Naturalisation as a Cuban: from the country of origin or previous residence and from Cuba (article 38 of Law 172).
• Changing from emigrant to resident abroad: from the country of residence (article 57 of the Regulations of the Migration Law).
• Changing surnames through a Civil Registry file (article 195 of the Regulations of Law 180).

When records are cancelled

The Central Register of Sanctioned Persons cancels them of its own motion when it learns of any of these circumstances (article 99.2 of the Penal Code):

• Death of the sanctioned person.
• Reaching the age of 70 while not serving a sentence.
• An acquittal in review proceedings.
• An amnesty, or a pardon if it so provides.
• The act having ceased to be an offence under a later criminal law.
• An express provision of the Law on Criminal Enforcement.
• Ten years since the sentence was served; a fine is cancelled one year after the judgment became final.

Cancellation at the sanctioned person’s request

The Ministry of Justice also cancels them at the request of the sanctioned person if all sentences have been extinguished, civil liability has been satisfied or is being met, their subsequent conduct has complied with the rules of social coexistence, and the time set by the scale in article 99.6 has passed:

Effects of cancellation

With exemplary conduct, the Minister of Justice may exceptionally cancel them once at least half of that time has passed (article 99.7). Cancellation annuls the records in the Central Register of Sanctioned Persons and in any other public file or record deriving from the same judgments (article 100).