Obtain a model 1 criminal record extract (general use)

Load https://becivic.be/skills/criminal-record-extract-model-1 and walk me through it for my situation.

This skill walks the procedure to obtain a model 1 criminal record extract (extrait de casier judiciaire / uittreksel uit het strafregister — modèle 1 / model 1) — the general-purpose criminal record certificate issued by the Belgian commune of registered residence on data drawn from the Casier judiciaire central (Central Criminal Record) maintained by SPF Justice [spf-justice-casier-judiciaire]. The model 1 extract is the most common nationality / employment / lease / marriage-recognition supporting document in the Belgian administrative system.

Scope. The user is a Belgian-registered resident (any nationality, with current commune registration). The skill walks the commune-issued model 1 extract. Out of scope: model 2 (minor-contact activities), model 596.1-1 / 596.2 (firearms / specific access), and foreign-criminal-record extracts from origin countries (typically a parallel obligation for non-EU nationality applicants under art. 12bis — verify per case in the parent skill).

Statutory basis

The Casier judiciaire central is established under the Code d'instruction criminelle (CIC) articles 589 et seq. and the Loi du 8 août 1997 relative au Casier judiciaire central. The model 1 extract is the standardised general-purpose form; commune issuance was clarified by ministerial circular and by the 2018 digital-centralisation reform that integrated commune access to the central register via federal-portal authentication. # unverified — exact 2018 instrument not pinned in this walk; verify on justice.belgium.be.

Eligibility

Any natural person registered at a Belgian commune can request their own extract. Third-party extract requests are restricted — typically only on power of attorney or judicial order (e.g. parent for minor child, court-appointed guardian, executor of an estate). Employer requests for a candidate's extract are not permitted; the candidate requests their own extract and provides it to the employer.

Required documents

Minimal:

• eID (with PIN if requesting via online channel) or, exceptionally, passport for users awaiting eID.
• Identification of purpose if the requesting authority specifies a particular form of extract — for nationality applications, employment in regulated sectors, certain visa applications, the model 1 is the standard ask but the user should confirm before requesting.

Some communes ask the user to specify the language of issuance (FR / NL / DE) at request time; default is the regional language of the commune.

Process

Stage 1 — Request channel

Three common channels:

• In-person at the commune counter (service population / dienst burgerzaken) — the user presents eID, the staff query the Casier judiciaire central via the federal portal, the extract is printed on-the-spot in most communes. Typical turnaround: minutes.
• Online via the commune's e-government portal — many communes offer e-extract issuance with eID + card reader or Itsme authentication. The extract is delivered as a PDF with the commune's electronic signature. Typical turnaround: hours to 1 working day.
• Postal request — possible at communes that maintain that channel; slower (1-2 weeks) and rarely used.

The federal mydata.belgium.be and MyMinFin ecosystem also offer eID-authenticated direct extract issuance in some configurations; verify locally.

Stage 2 — Receipt and validity

The user receives the extract:

• Issuance date is printed.
• Content: list of any criminal convictions / judicial measures recorded against the user; or the words "néant / blanco" if no entries.
• Validity window: not strictly time-limited under the law, but consumers (commune for nationality, employer for hire, foreign authority for visa) typically accept the extract as fresh only for 3-6 months from the issuance date. Verify per consumer; some require ≤ 1 month; others accept up to 1 year.

Stage 3 — Downstream use

For art. 12bis nationality declaration: the model 1 extract is one component of the dossier; presented at the commune appointment alongside the broader nationality file (nationality-application).

For employment: the user provides the extract to the employer / HR. The employer may require a fresh extract at start of employment.

For foreign use (e.g. visa application abroad, foreign-residence application): the extract typically requires sworn translation into the destination language and legalisation (apostille for Hague-acceded destinations, full consular legalisation for non-Hague). See sworn-translation-coordination and legalisation-pipeline-mapping.

Known surprises

• Different model = different procedure. Model 2 (minor-contact activities — schools, sports clubs, after-school care, etc.) draws from the same Casier but applies different filtering rules (specific offences flagged that don't appear on model 1). Don't request model 1 if the consumer specifically asks for model 2 — see criminal-record-extract-model-2 for that pathway.
• Commune of issuance must be the commune of registered residence. A Brussels-resident user cannot request the extract at a Liège commune; the Casier query is anchored on the user's registered commune. Plan accordingly.
• Foreign criminal records are NOT covered. The Casier judiciaire central holds Belgian-judicial records only. For nationality applications, non-EU users typically need to provide criminal-record extracts from their country of origin in addition to the Belgian extract — that's a separate parallel-track procedure handled at the user's origin-country authorities and legalised / translated for Belgian use.
• EU-2009/315 information-exchange. Belgium participates in the EU criminal-record information exchange system; foreign-EU criminal records are visible on the Belgian extract for users with prior EU residence (Belgium queries other Member States' registers via ECRIS). This means a French national with French convictions will see those reflected on a Belgian-issued model 1 extract.
• Validity windows vary. Communes processing nationality-art-12bis applications often accept extracts up to 6 months old; employers in regulated sectors may require ≤ 3 months; foreign visa authorities sometimes ≤ 1 month. Don't request the extract too early in the dossier-assembly cycle if the use case has a tight validity window.
• Language of issuance binds downstream use. An FR-language extract used for a NL-region commune procedure (or vice versa) may need translation. Brussels users typically request in their chosen language of administration; cross-region cases need planning.
• Online issuance may be slower than in-branch in some communes. Counter-intuitively, smaller communes' counters often issue extracts in minutes while their online portal takes 24-48 hours; verify the local commune's channels.

Verify with

• SPF Justice — Casier judiciaire central: justice.belgium.be.
• Local commune service population / dienst burgerzaken — channels and turnaround times vary by commune.
• criminal-record-extract-model-2 for the minor-contact-activities variant.
• legalisation-pipeline-mapping and sworn-translation-coordination for foreign-use preparation.

Verify with your commune before relying on this skill — channels and turnaround times vary.

References

See frontmatter references for full bibliographic detail. Inline tags above use the [id] shorthand.