Request for judicial records from France

According to resolution 6045 of 2017, the competent authority may require the applicant for a Colombian visa to submit judicial records from his or her country.

The entity in charge of issuing French background certificates is the Directorate of Criminal Affairs and Pardons of the Ministry of Justice. The certificates are diverse depending on their destination, applicant and content:

Newsletter No. 1:

It can only be issued to the judicial authorities and the prison administration, but the person to whom the records belong has the right to simple consultation. It contains convictions, fines, deprivations of civil rights, administrative and disciplinary decisions, total or partial deprivation or suspension of parental authority, expulsion from French territory issued against foreigners, penal compositions, commutations, pardons, reductions and suspensions of sentences, parole decisions and convictions issued by a foreign country with agreement with France and against a French national.

Newsletter No. 2:

It may only be issued to administrative authorities and certain private bodies for the reasons provided for by law, but the person to whom the records belong has the right to simple consultation. It contains all convictions for felonies and misdemeanors, including foreign convictions, with the exception of those benefiting from judicial or automatic rehabilitation, those against minors, foreign convictions against minors, those for police offenses and those with suspended sentences after the probation period, unless a socio-judicial follow-up or a sentence of prohibition to exercise a professional or voluntary activity involving regular contact with minors or a sentence of ineligibility of longer duration has been pronounced.

Bulletin No. 3:

It can only be requested to the person to whom the records belong or his or her legal representative. “It is a confidential and strictly personal document, intended for private individuals” containing:

• Convictions for crimes and offenses with suspended prison sentences exceeding 2 years,
• Convictions for felonies and misdemeanors of less than 2 years imprisonment suspended if the court has ordered the citation,
• Certain disqualifications or incapacities in the course of execution
• The measure of socio-judicial monitoring and the penalty of prohibition to exercise a professional or voluntary activity involving regular contact with minors.
• Sentences handed down by foreign courts against a French national exceeding 2 years of unsuspended imprisonment.

Bulletin no. 3 can be requested free of charge by clicking on the following link: Request for extract of criminal record (bulletin no. 3) – Casier judiciaire national – Ministère de la Justice

Requirements for the application for a judicial record from France

• The online application requires email and FranceConnect or a proof of identity, which can be: French or foreign identity card, passport, French or European residence permit, birth certificate, driver’s license, marriage certificate, marriage certificate, family record book, republican title for foreign minor, in general, all documents issued by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), certificate of civil status (translated).
• Natives of Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia or French Polynesia must apply for registration from the court of their place of birth with a photocopy of one of the above-mentioned proofs of identity.
  • Wallis and Futuna: Court of First Instance of Mata-Utu
  • New Caledonia: Noumea Court of First Instance
  • French Polynesia: Court of First Instance
    Click here to see the contact information for each court.
• If the bulletin n°3 of a minor born in France is required, the legal representative can apply for it online as described above or by mail to the National Criminal Record, 44317 Nantes cedex 3.
• If the bulletin n°3 is required for a child under 12 years of age born in France, born outside France or of unknown place of birth, the child’s legal representative must request it by mail addressed to the National Criminal Record, 44317 Nantes cedex 3 together with proof of the child’s identity and a copy of the family record book.
• If the bulletin n°3 of a protected adult is required, his guardian must request it by mail addressed to the National Criminal Record, 44317 Nantes cedex 3 together with the guardianship sentence designating him as his legal representative.