The National Civil Registry has just taken another significant step that will continue improving services for Colombians living abroad, now in Europe, and surely later for those in other parts of the world. It involves the implementation of the Civil Registry Web System (SRC Web), a technological tool that streamlines and facilitates civil registry and identification procedures.
Since this Thursday, Colombians residing in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, in Spain, can obtain in real time civil registry records of birth, marriage or death at the Colombian consulates in these cities, which are the first in European territory to have this system, as they are the consular offices with the highest production of civil registry records: Between 2024 and 2025 a total of 6,926 procedures were carried out: 3,489 in Madrid, 1,996 in Barcelona and 1,441 in Valencia.
Significant progress in the modernization of processes
These services, being implemented in Spain, are already available at the consulates in Miami and Caracas, said the national registrar of civil status, Hernan Penagos. “The idea is to be able to expand them to many other consulates in different parts of the world, allowing for agile and rapid registration in the civil registry of Colombians who require it. With this tool, we will be able to carry out procedures that used to take weeks and even months,” he announced.
During the launch of the system at the Central General Consulate of Colombia in Madrid, Penagos stated that the implementation of the tool in these consulates represents significant progress in the modernization and strengthening of civil registry and identification processes. This is decisive, taking into account the high number of Colombians residing there and the current regularization process underway.
With the launch of this system, civil registry information is incorporated in real time into the Registry’s databases, which represents faster and more timely access to civil registry records, identity cards, and citizenship IDs for Colombians living abroad.
“Every registration process of a national who is born or has been living in a country for some time takes weeks because it is done manually and must be digitized,” explained Penagos. “Now, by linking it in real time with the National Identification Archive of the Registry [in Colombia], it will be immediate, and at the same moment, a person can obtain their civil registry record, identity card, or citizenship ID.”
For his part, the central general consul of Colombia in Madrid, Javier Dario Higuera Angel, highlighted that the installation of this tool is of great importance for Colombians abroad because it optimizes response times from authorities in identification matters, guarantees more efficient and secure procedures, and will contribute to the regulatory process of Colombians in Spain.
Important for Colombians in regularization in Spain
“Since April 16, a regularization process has been taking place in Spain and, therefore, there will be many Colombians, estimated between 200,000 and 290,000, who will have access to this process, and they need identity documents and certificates required by this regularization process to be provided in a timely manner,” said Higuera Angel.
“Hence the importance of the institutional response on identification issues to accompany Colombians in that process and ensure they have access to the opportunities being offered by the Government of Spain,” he added.
The National Registry also installed new Integrated Service Stations (EIS) at the Colombian consulates in Madrid and Barcelona, a technological tool through which identity cards, citizenship IDs, and even the certificate of Colombian nationality can be issued more quickly.
Registrar Penagos highlighted coordination with the Colombian Consulate in Madrid, precisely in relation to the presidential elections that begin one week earlier abroad, on Monday, May 25, and will run until Sunday, May 31.
“We have already installed a digitization station to speed up the publication of electoral records, which is a key tool for electoral transparency in our country, and we will also have a team from the Registry delegated to support the electoral process in this country,” he concluded.