Police certificate

A police certificate is an official document issued as a result of a background check by the police or government agency of a country to enumerate any criminal records that the applicant may have. Criminal records may include arrest, conviction, and possibly criminal proceedings A police certificate is also known as good citizen certificate (in Hong Kong), good conduct certificate, police clearance certificate, national police history check (in Australia) or judicial record extracts.

Applicants may have to submit fingerprints and certain personal information to request a criminal record check, and the police or government agency may charge a fee.

A police certificate may be required if the applicant is:

Depending on each country's law, applicants may be required to submit police certificates of countries which they have stayed beyond periods as specified by law.

A police certificate may or may not have a period of validity noted on the certificate, and criteria for recognizing the validity of certificates vary widely. The criteria which different countries use to determine the validity of certificates are often independent of any dates or validity periods noted on certificates themselves.

Australia, for example, recognizes police certificates for 12 months from their issue dates for both visa and citizenship applications, independent of any validity period noted on the certificates themselves. Ecuador, in stark contrast, only recognizes police certificates (as of 2 March 2012) issued within 3 months of the date the certificates are presented (e.g., for a visa application), again independent of any dates or validity periods noted explicitly on the certificates themselves.

As in many countries, determining the validity periods of police certificates is often neither mandated nor noted in any legislation. In Australia, for instance, the approach has simply been adopted by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship for the sake of consistency across varying jurisdictions; in Ecuador, in contrast, the approach has been adopted by the Department of the Interior.

In Australia, individuals can request a police check which itemizes disclosable court outcomes. All police checks must be undertaken with the informed consent of the person being checked, unless the check is mandated by relevant legislation. This means that persons cannot validly obtain a police check on another individual without that individuals permission. Businesses can request a police check on the applicant behalf

A person may be required to present a Police Clearance Certificate as part of employment screening, as a pre-requisite for volunteer work, as preparation for a court appearance, to apply for a visa to enter/stay in some countries, or to satisfy a statutory requirement.

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Wikipedia