Police Clearance Certificate (PCC): Application Service

What is a police certificate?

A police certificate, often called a Police Clearance Certificate or PCC, is an official document listing any disclosable convictions recorded against you in a country’s criminal records system. Immigration authorities, employers and licensing bodies use it to confirm your background. Depending on the country, the same document may be called a criminal record check, a certificate of good conduct or a certificate of no criminal record.

Who issues police certificates?

There is no single global issuer: each country runs its own system. In the UK, the ACRO Criminal Records Office issues police certificates for visa and immigration purposes. In Australia, the Australian Federal Police handles the National Police Check for federal matters. In Bangladesh, applications are submitted through the official pcc.police.gov.bd portal. Always apply to the body named by the authority that requested your certificate.

Police certificates for visa applications

Most immigration systems ask for a certificate from your country of nationality and from every country where you have lived for a significant period, often twelve months or more. If your residence history spans several countries, you may need several certificates, each from the correct national source. Validity is also set by the requesting authority: many expect a certificate issued within the last six to twelve months, so time your applications around your visa appointment date.

UK police clearance certificate: which route applies to you

The UK has several overlapping systems, and choosing the wrong one wastes weeks. The table below compares the main routes.

Route	Best for	Key point
ACRO police certificate	Visas and immigration	The certificate most foreign visa authorities expect from UK residents
Subject access request	Seeing your own UK record	Free of charge, but rarely accepted for visa purposes
DBS check	Employment in England and Wales	Requested through employers or registered bodies for roles with vulnerable groups
Disclosure Scotland / AccessNI	Employment in Scotland or Northern Ireland	Separate systems with their own application routes

A subject access request is useful when you want to know what data is held about you, but it is not a substitute for an ACRO certificate in immigration processes. If your goal is a visa, start with the ACRO police certificate route.

Records from other organisations

A police certificate only covers records held by that country’s police system. UK-issued certificates cannot disclose convictions recorded abroad, and overseas certificates cannot disclose UK records. Military records, spent convictions and cautions may also be treated differently depending on the certificate type, which is another reason to confirm exactly what the requesting authority wants to see.

Fingerprints for your visa application

Some countries issue certificates based on fingerprints rather than a name and date of birth search. If your destination requires this, you book a fingerprinting appointment with an approved service, have your prints taken on the specified card, and send it to the issuing authority. Appointment availability varies, so book before you submit the rest of your application.

Case study: a Bangladeshi national applying from the UK

Situation: you are a Bangladeshi citizen living in Britain who needs a PCC for a work visa. Steps: register on pcc.police.gov.bd, pay the prescribed fee online, upload your documents and book an appointment to have a copy of your passport attested at the Bangladesh High Commission in London, then attend and submit the application. Result: once processed, the certificate is issued through the portal and can be used for your visa file. If you no longer have a Bangladeshi mobile number, which the portal verification may expect, contact the helpdesk listed on pcc.police.gov.bd for the accepted alternatives before you start.

Documents required for a UK police check

Issuing bodies keep identity checks strict because the certificate is only as reliable as the search behind it. Expect to provide a valid ID document, such as a UK passport, and a complete address history covering the last five years with dates for each address. Previous names should be declared as well. The full preparation list is set out in the checklist above.

After the certificate: apostille and legalisation

Many visa authorities want the certificate legalised before they accept it. Here the paper trail matters more than people expect. According to the GOV.UK guidance on getting a document legalised (checked 14 September 2026), the electronic apostille is not available for several document types, including ACRO police certificates, DBS certificates (England and Wales), disclosure certificates from Scotland, and civil registration documents such as birth, marriage, death, partnership and adoption certificates. In practice this means your police certificate must go through the standard paper legalisation process, which adds a step after issuance. Our document legalisation service handles this stage, and the full apostille and document legalisation service covers the complete chain from certificate to stamped document.

The process varies by country, so plan around it

Application forms, fees, identity requirements and processing times all differ from one country to the next, and some systems still require in-person attendance. Build a buffer into your visa timeline, confirm the exact certificate type before paying for anything, and check the requesting authority’s own guidance as your first source of truth.

See also

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