How to get a police certificate - Nicaragua

If you need to give your fingerprints for a police certificate, this isn’t the same as giving your biometrics (fingerprints and photo) for an application.

Name of the document you need

Certificado de Conducta or Récord de Policía and a Court Certificate (Constancia Judicial)

Police certificate and IRCC requirements

You must provide a police certificate when you apply for permanent residence in Canada.

You will also be requested to provide a police certificate to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) if you declared a criminal record on your application for an electronic travel authorization, work permit or study permit.

How to apply

If you live in Nicaragua:

The Certificado de Conducta or Récord de Policía is issued by the Dirección de Servicios Policiales. You must apply online (in spanish only) or in person at your local police station and present:

  • the original and a copy of your identification document
  • proof of payment of the processing fee (payable at any branch of local bank "BANPRO")

Court certificates (Constancia Judicial) are issued by the local courts (Juez del Distrito del Crimen) in the city or town in which you reside. After these are issued, they must be taken to the Supreme Court of Justice for legalization (see Contact information for complete address).

If you outside of Nicaragua:

The process is meant to be in person and in general is considered non-transferable. You must request one from your nearest Nicaraguan Embassy. Another possibility (subject to approval on a case-by-case basis by the Nicaraguan Police) is to sign a Power of Attorney to someone in Nicaragua who can apply on your behalf.

The court document (constancia judicial) can be obtained only in Nicaragua. If you are unable to provide a court certificate, please note that this could delay the processing time for your application. Please upload a letter with the following statement: “I cannot provide a court certificate for the full time I spent in Nicaragua because court certificates are not issued to foreign national at Nicaraguan Embassies.” The reason indicated will be reviewed and a determination will be made on relevance to the missing or /required documents or information.

Contact information

To have your court document legalized, please visit:

Corte Suprema de Justicia
Km. 7.5 Carretera Norte
Managua, Nicaragua
Telephone: 2233-2128, 2233-1063, 2263-1193

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