Police Clearance Certificates and Background Checks for Use Abroad

A police clearance certificate is an official document confirming whether you have a criminal record in a given country. Immigration authorities, foreign employers and residence permit schemes ask for it as part of a background check. For people applying from the UK, the standard document is a police certificate issued by ACRO; for Bangladeshi nationals, applications run through the national portal pcc.police.gov.bd.

What a police clearance certificate is used for

The short answer: it proves to a foreign authority that you have no undisclosed criminal history. A PCC police clearance certificate is typically requested for visa applications, overseas employment, permanent residence and citizenship. It is different from a domestic disclosure such as a DBS check, which is designed for employment screening inside the UK and is generally not what immigration authorities abroad want to see.

Who issues police certificates

Which body you apply to depends on where you have lived:

• ACRO Criminal Records Office: issues Police Certificates for people who have lived in England or Wales and need one for a visa or immigration purpose.
• Disclosure Scotland: covers police records for people who lived in Scotland.
• AccessNI: covers records for people who lived in Northern Ireland.
• Bangladesh Police: runs the online PCC service at pcc.police.gov.bd.
• Australian Federal Police: issues national police checks for people who need an Australian certificate, often for visas to third countries.

If you have lived in several countries, each one usually needs its own certificate, so start with the country where you spent the longest period.

Police certificates for visa applications

Most immigration systems that require a background check will name the exact certificate they accept. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States all commonly ask for police certificates from every country where an applicant has lived for a significant period, and many work and residence schemes elsewhere follow the same pattern. Check the instructions for your specific visa category before applying: the wrong certificate, or one issued by the wrong body, is a frequent cause of refusal.

Police certificate or subject access request: which one you need

These two documents get confused constantly, and choosing the wrong one costs weeks.

A subject access request is for your own information. Employers, landlords and foreign governments cannot make one on your behalf, and immigration authorities generally will not accept it in place of a police certificate. If your goal is a visa, apply for the certificate the visa authority names.

Documents and details you need to apply

Applications are broadly similar across issuing bodies. Before you start, prepare:

• a valid passport, which is the standard identity document;
• a full address history for the period the certificate must cover, with dates;
• the purpose of your application, since some bodies issue different certificate types for different uses;
• payment for the application fee, set by the issuing body.

Gaps or inconsistencies in your address history are the most common reason applications stall, so work through old tenancy agreements, utility bills or family records before filling in the form.

Applying through pcc.police.gov.bd from abroad

Situation: you are a Bangladeshi national living overseas and need a PCC for a visa or work permit.

Steps: create an application on pcc.police.gov.bd, complete the identity verification against your Bangladeshi passport, and provide a Bangladeshi mobile number, which the portal commonly uses for verification codes. Pay the fee using the challan code generated by the system, then submit the application for police verification in the relevant district.

Result: once verification is complete, the certificate is issued through the portal and can be collected or downloaded depending on the option you selected. Because verification runs through your local police district, timelines vary, so build in extra time if your visa appointment is fixed.

Fingerprints for a visa application

Some countries issue police certificates based on fingerprints rather than a name check, which they consider more reliable. If your destination country requires this, you will need to book a fingerprinting appointment at an approved location, have your prints taken, and have them forwarded to the relevant authority. Take your passport and any application reference with you, and confirm in advance whether the appointment provider sends prints directly or gives them to you to post.

Records on the Police National Computer

UK Police Certificates are based on records held on the Police National Computer, which covers convictions and other relevant information for England and Wales. You cannot always predict what a certificate will show, so if you suspect an old record exists, a subject access request first can save you from surprises in your immigration file. Records for Scotland and Northern Ireland sit with Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI respectively, each with its own application route.

Getting the certificate accepted abroad

Many countries only accept a foreign police certificate if it carries an apostille. Our document legalisation service handles this step, and our guide to UK apostille and legalisation explains the full process.

One detail worth planning around: according to gov.uk (page “Get a document legalised”, checked 14 September 2026), the electronic apostille (e-apostille) is not available for ACRO police certificates. The same restriction covers registry office certificates such as birth, death, marriage, civil partnership and adoption certificates, DBS certificates in England and Wales, and disclosure certificates in Scotland. In practice this means a paper original is the safe assumption for any police certificate destined for an embassy or immigration authority, so leave time for postage as well as processing.