ACRO Police Certificate Example: What the Certificate Looks Like

Before you read the sample layout

This article shows what an ACRO Police Certificate looks like on the page (fields, trace wording, security features). For ordering, fees and legalisation, use the ACRO Police Certificate guide and the cost and processing time page. Do not substitute a Subject Access Request (SAR) for a Police Certificate — embassies expect the ACRO format.

What an ACRO Police Certificate example looks like

Before ordering, most applicants want to see an ACRO Police Certificate example to understand what the document actually contains. The layout is consistent across certificates, and every field plays a role when an embassy reviews your file. Here is what appears on the page, section by section.

Certificate reference and issue date. Every certificate carries a unique reference number and the date it was issued. The issue date matters more than applicants expect: many immigration authorities only accept certificates issued within a recent window, so an older certificate from a previous application may need to be reordered.

Your personal details. The certificate states your full name, date of birth, place of birth, nationality and passport number exactly as you supplied them in the application. This is where typos do real damage. If the passport number on the certificate does not match the passport in your visa file, the embassy may question the document’s validity.

Address history. ACRO lists the addresses you declared, covering the period you specified in the application. Consular officers use this to confirm the search covered the relevant period of your UK residence.

The trace status. This single line is the heart of the document. It tells the reader whether anything was found on police records, and it is the first thing an embassy official looks at.

Offence details, where applicable. If records exist, the certificate sets them out in a structured table: the date of each offence, the offence itself, the date of conviction, the court and the sentence imposed. Spent convictions may appear with contextual information depending on the disclosure rules applied to your case.

Security features. The certificate is produced on secure paper with protective features so that receiving authorities can verify it is genuine. This is also why embassies often want either the original or a properly legalised copy rather than a scanned printout.

When you read a sample certificate, look at it the way a consular officer would: does the identity data match the passport, is the issue date recent enough, and what does the trace status say? Those three checks decide whether the document passes.

No Trace and No Live Trace: what the statuses mean

The two most common outcomes are No Trace and No Live Trace, and the difference confuses applicants every week.

No Trace means the search found no record of you at all on the relevant police systems. Nothing exists to disclose.

No Live Trace means records relating to you were found, but nothing in them is currently live or disclosable. In practical terms, the certificate still shows no convictions, but the wording acknowledges that historical entries exist in the system.

From an embassy’s point of view, both statuses generally indicate a clear record, because neither discloses an offence. The complication is that a minority of receiving authorities phrase their requirements around a specific outcome, and an applicant who expected No Trace can worry when No Live Trace appears instead. You cannot request a different wording: the status reflects the search result, and ACRO does not edit it on request. If your certificate comes back with an unexpected status, the sensible move is to ask the receiving embassy directly whether it satisfies their requirement before you spend money on legalisation.

ACRO Police Certificate vs DBS check

Applicants frequently ask whether a DBS check can substitute for a Police Certificate. It cannot, and understanding why saves a wasted application.

The two documents even look different and follow different legal frameworks. An immigration authority asking for a police certificate wants the ACRO document specifically; a DBS certificate naming a UK employer will usually be rejected. If you have already completed a DBS check for work, treat it as irrelevant to your visa file and order the ACRO certificate separately.

Standard Service £55 vs Premium Service £95

ACRO offers two processing levels, and the choice comes down to your deadline.

The Standard Service (£55) suits applicants who are early in their visa process and can wait for the standard queue. The Premium Service (£95) moves your application to the front, which matters when an embassy appointment is already booked and the certificate must be in hand by a fixed date.

A practical rule: work backwards from your embassy appointment. Add the ACRO processing time, then the apostille, then any postal transit, and only then decide whether the standard queue is safe. The page on ACRO Police Certificate processing time sets out current timescales for both services so you can make that calculation with real numbers. Paying £50 extra for the premium queue is often cheaper than rebooking a missed visa appointment.

Does an ACRO certificate need an apostille for use abroad?

Whether your certificate needs an apostille depends entirely on the receiving Embassy or immigration authority. Some accept the certificate as issued; others require it to be legalised before they will look at it. The requirement is set by the destination country, not by ACRO, so there is no universal answer.

There is, however, one rule that applies to everyone ordering legalisation for this document: an e-apostille is not available for ACRO police certificates. The GOV.UK guidance on getting a document legalised (www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised, source accessed 2026-09-14) lists ACRO police certificates among the document types that cannot be legalised electronically. The same restriction covers birth, marriage, death, partnership and adoption certificates, DBS certificates for England and Wales, and disclosure certificates for Scotland. In other words, even though the E-apostille (£35) service exists and works well for eligible documents, it is simply not an option for this certificate.

That leaves the paper route. The Standard (paper) apostille (£45) attaches a physical apostille certificate to the original document, which is what embassies expect when they ask for a legalised ACRO certificate. Because the document must physically travel to and from the Legalisation Office, the paper route takes longer than an electronic one would, which is another reason to start early.

Solicitor certification enters the picture when an embassy accepts a certified copy rather than the original. A solicitor certifies that they have seen the original and that the copy is a true likeness, and in some cases the certified copy can then be legalised. This is useful if you need to keep your original certificate for another purpose, but it only works where the receiving authority explicitly allows copies. Always confirm the embassy’s position first: paying for certification and an apostille on a copy that the embassy then rejects is a mistake applicants make regularly.

Case: the certificate that came back as No Live Trace

Situation. An applicant preparing a residency file abroad orders an ACRO Police Certificate expecting a clean result. The certificate arrives showing No Live Trace rather than No Trace. The applicant has a caution from over a decade ago, assumed it was long forgotten, and now worries the wording will sink the application. The embassy appointment is in three weeks.

Steps. First, the applicant reads the certificate properly: No Live Trace discloses no offence, it only indicates that historical entries exist. Second, they contact the receiving embassy and ask in writing whether a No Live Trace certificate meets the requirement; the reply confirms it does, since no conviction is disclosed. Third, because the embassy requires legalisation, they order the Standard (paper) apostille (£45) on the original certificate, having confirmed on GOV.UK that the e-apostille route is not available for this document type. Fourth, they check the remaining calendar: ACRO processing, apostille and courier transit still fit before the appointment, so the Standard Service (£55) already ordered does not need upgrading.

Result. The embassy accepts the certificate with the No Live Trace status, the apostille is attached in time, and the residency file proceeds without a reapplication. The lesson from the scenario: the status line is not a verdict, and the receiving embassy, not the internet, is the authority on whether your wording is acceptable.

Applying for the certificate: what you will need

The application itself is straightforward, but ACRO is strict about the details. You will need your passport details and a complete address history covering the last ten years, including any periods spent overseas. Incomplete address histories are one of the most common reasons applications stall.

If someone else is applying on your behalf, for example a family member or an agent while you are abroad, ACRO requires a letter of authorisation signed by you, together with your identity documents. Without it, a third-party application will not be processed, so make sure the letter is in the pack before anything is submitted.

For the full ordering procedure, service comparisons and current requirements, the main guide to the ACRO Police Certificate walks through the entire application from start to finish.

See also

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