UK Apostille, Document Legalisation and Police Clearance Services

If you lived in the UK and now need proof of your criminal record for a visa, residence permit, citizenship application or a job abroad, three services usually come together: the ACRO Police Certificate, the FCDO apostille and, where the destination country demands it, a certified translation. This page explains how the pieces fit, where people most often lose time, and which detailed guide covers each step.

What an ACRO Police Certificate is and what it shows

An ACRO Police Certificate is an official document issued by ACRO, the ACRO Criminal Records Office, that sets out your disclosable criminal history in the United Kingdom, or confirms that no such records exist. When an immigration authority abroad asks for a “UK police clearance certificate”, this is normally the document it means.

The certificate carries your personal identifiers, including name, date of birth, nationality and passport details, together with any convictions, cautions, warnings and reprimands that are disclosable under the rules in force on the date of issue. If nothing disclosable is held, the certificate says so in plain terms. It draws on UK-wide police records, which is why it works for people who lived anywhere in the UK, not only in England and Wales.

One distinction matters early: the certificate shows what is disclosable, not everything a police system might hold. Older or spent material, and intelligence that never led to a sanction, generally does not appear. That is exactly why a subject access request, which reveals far more, is not a substitute for the certificate.

Who needs one, and for which countries

People who previously lived in the UK and are now applying for a visa, residence permit, citizenship or employment abroad are the core audience for this certificate. Immigration consultants and employers also request it on behalf of applicants. The table below shows the most common situations; requirements change, so always confirm the current rules with the consulate or receiving authority before you order anything.

The pattern is consistent: the receiving authority wants a document issued by a UK body, in the original, sometimes legalised, sometimes translated. What varies is the legalisation and language layer, which is where most delays happen.

ACRO Police Certificate vs Subject Access Request vs DBS

For a visa or residence application you need the ACRO certificate. A subject access request and a DBS check are different documents, and neither replaces it. People mix them up constantly, and the mistake usually costs weeks.

A subject access request is a data protection right: you ask what information is held about you, and there is normally no charge. It can be genuinely useful if you suspect something is on your record and want to see it before applying. But a consulate will not accept it, because it is not a certificate and its content is not filtered for disclosure rules.

A DBS check is employer-driven and tied to eligible roles in England and Wales; you cannot simply order one on yourself for a foreign visa. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the domestic screening bodies are separate again. For anything destined for an authority abroad, the starting point is the ACRO certificate, and our police clearance certificates for use abroad guide covers the country-by-country picture in more depth.

How to apply: documents, tariffs and timing

The application itself is online, and the full walkthrough lives in our ACRO Police Certificate application guide. The document set is short but unforgiving: a scan of your passport, two proofs of your current address, and the complete history of every UK address you lived at, with dates. A National Insurance number helps ACRO match your records, but the application can be made without one.

The address history trips up people who moved often. Reconstruct it from old tenancy agreements, bank statements sent to each address, utility bills, tax letters or employment records. Gaps or inconsistencies between the address history and your passport stamps are a common reason for follow-up queries, so reconcile the two before submitting.

ACRO offers two service levels. The standard service returns the certificate in around 10 working days. The premium service takes around 2 working days and exists for exactly one situation: a submission deadline that the standard service cannot meet. If your visa appointment is three weeks away and the certificate still needs an apostille, the premium option is not a luxury, it is the difference between making the deadline and missing it.

How long the certificate stays valid, and when to order it

For visa purposes, most authorities treat a police certificate as valid for roughly 6 to 12 months from the date of issue, counted on the date you submit your application. Some countries are stricter than others and will reject a certificate that was issued before a specific cut-off relative to the application date.

This creates a planning problem: order too early and the certificate may expire before you submit; order too late and you may miss your slot. The practical approach is to fix your submission date first, then work backwards, adding the certificate processing time, the apostille time and, if needed, the translation time. If the maths gets tight, the premium service buys back most of a fortnight.

Apostille, legalisation and translation for the destination country

An apostille from the FCDO confirms the authenticity of the signature and seal on your certificate so that another country will accept it. Here is a detail that catches people out: the e-apostille is not available for ACRO police certificates, according to the gov.uk guidance on getting documents legalised (checked 14 September 2026). The same restriction covers civil registry documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates, and DBS certificates for England and Wales. The paper route applies, which means physical handling and postage, so build that time into your plan.

Some countries go further than an apostille. Full legalisation through the relevant embassy is typically required for destinations such as the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt and Thailand. The sequence matters: the certificate usually needs its apostille before the embassy will attach its own legalisation. Our document legalisation and apostille services page sets out both routes in detail.

If the receiving authority works in another language, you will also need a certified translation of the certificate, and often of the apostille as well. A translation that does not meet the authority’s certification standard is the most expensive way to learn about certification standards, so check the requirement first. Our certified translation services in the UK page explains what a compliant translation looks like.

Case: a conviction or an error on the certificate

Situation. An applicant for Canadian permanent residence receives her ACRO certificate and finds a caution listed that she believed was spent, along with a misspelling of her middle name. Her biometrics appointment is six weeks away, and the certificate cannot be submitted in this state.

Steps. She contacts ACRO and requests a review of the disclosure, sending evidence: the original court and caution paperwork and a copy of her passport showing the correct spelling. ACRO re-examines what should have been disclosed and whether the record matches her identity. Once the review concludes, a corrected certificate is issued. Because the deadline is now close, she orders the reissue on the premium service, then sends the corrected original straight for the apostille and orders the certified translation in parallel.

Result. The corrected certificate arrives with the accurate name and the correct disclosure, carries its apostille within the planned window, and is accepted with the rest of her application. The lesson: check the certificate the day it arrives, because a review takes time that you cannot conjure at the end. If the disclosure itself is disputed, start the review before booking any dependent appointments.

Which guide do you need next?

Each stage of the process has its own detailed page. If you are starting from zero, begin with the ACRO Police Certificate application guide, which covers the application form, the tariffs and the review procedure. If your certificate is already in hand, the document legalisation and apostille services page explains the FCDO apostille and embassy legalisation, and the certified translation services in the UK page covers the language layer. For the wider picture of background checks and police certificates across different destination countries, see police clearance certificates for use abroad.

See also

• Our Partner Programme
• ACRO Police Certificate: Application and Legalisation for Use Abroad
• Certified Translation for UK Visa Applications