Guidance on the application process for

criminal records checks overseas

This guidance explains the application process for obtaining overseas criminality
information to provide to employers in the United Kingdom.

It includes information on meeting the requirements of the United Kingdom Immigration

Rules to provide an overseas criminal record certificate in support of a visa application.

April 2017

1
Contents

Query Page

1. I am a foreign national / UK national who has spent time abroad. 3

My prospective employer in the UK is asking for a criminal record
check for my time spent abroad. Who should I contact?

2. I am a UK national who needs to get a police certificate for visa 3

application purposes? Who should I contact?

3. I am about to start work as a volunteer / teacher at a nursery / 3

school abroad. They have asked for a police certificate. How do I
get this?

4. I am starting a new job abroad and my overseas employer has 4

asked for a UK police clearance check. Where do I go for this?

5. What are the statutory requirements for carrying out checks on 4

foreign nationals and UK nationals who have spent time abroad
and want to work in the UK?

6. I am applying for a visa to come to the UK do I need to produce a 5

criminal record certificate?

7. I cannot obtain a criminal record certificate from the relevant 6

country? What happens now?

8. Other useful links 6

2
1. I am a foreign national / UK national who has spent time abroad. My
prospective employer in the UK is asking for a criminal record check for my time
spent abroad. Who should I contact?

Details of how to obtain such a check from the relevant authorities abroad are available
on GOV.UK.

If the country concerned is not listed, please contact the relevant embassy or consulate
for further details. Contact details can be found on GOV.UK.

2. I am a UK national who needs to get a police certificate for visa application

purposes? Who should I contact?

The ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) issues Police Certificates to people who
want to emigrate or have been required to produce a Police Certificate (sometimes
known as a “Certificate of Good Conduct”) by an Embassy, High Commission or
Consulate. The certificate details whether or not the applicant has a criminal record
in the United Kingdom.

Call: 0845 60 13 999 (International Callers: 0044 1962 871 111)

Email: [email protected]
Further details can be found on the ACRO Criminal Records Office website.

3. I am about to start work as a volunteer / teacher at a nursery / school

abroad. They have asked for a police certificate. How do I get this?

It may be possible to acquire an International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) when

you are applying to work in a school or organisation outside of the UK where you will
be in regular contact with children.

The ICPC is a criminal records check against police and intelligence databases in the
UK that would reveal any convictions or reasons as to why someone should not work
with children. It is similar to the DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check that is
required for anyone working professionally with children in England and Wales. The
certificate contains your complete conviction history, as recorded on police central
records, including ‘spent’ and ’unspent’ convictions. Additionally, the certificate
contains criminal conviction information about offences committed in other
foreign countries where such information has been disclosed to the UK through
existing exchange mechanisms.

Before submitting an application, you should check that your employer will
accept the ICPC. Some overseas employers use other UK disclosure services
such as the DBS (formerly the CRB) or Disclosure Scotland, whilst others are
unable to access these services so will need to use the ICPC.

More information and details about the application process can be found on the ACRO
Criminal Records Office website and CEOP Command website.

3
4. I am starting a new job abroad and my overseas employer has asked for a
UK police clearance check. Where do I go for this?

If your employer or employment agency is based in the UK, then your employer may
be able to apply for a DBS certificate rather than a UK police clearance check.

If this is not the case, and you will be working with children then you may be able to
apply for an ICPC (see 3 above).

If these do not apply to your case, then currently the only way that an individual can
obtain a formal criminal record check on themselves is by way of a Basic Disclosure
which details any unspent convictions that may be recorded against them. At present
Basic Disclosures are only issued by AccessNI in Northern Ireland and Disclosure
Scotland, although DBS plan to introduce them from April 2017.

You can also make a Subject Access Request to ACRO to obtain a copy of information
held about you, under the provisions of the Data Protection Act.

Information on this process can be found on the ACRO Criminal Records Office
website.

However you will need to verify whether your prospective employer will be content to
accept the results of such a request for their purposes.

5. What are the statutory requirements for carrying out checks on foreign
nationals and UK nationals who have spent time abroad and want to work in the
UK?

There are some statutory requirements for employers to carry out such checks in the
health and education sectors, but elsewhere it is only best practice to do so.

For further guidance regarding applicants who have lived or worked outside of the
UK, please see paragraphs 75/76 in the Department for Education’s (DfE)
publication “Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and
Colleges”.

4
6. I am applying for a visa to come to the UK do I need to produce a criminal
record certificate?

If you are applying for entry clearance under any of the following visa routes, you must
provide a criminal record certificate for any country (excluding the UK) where you have
livedfor 12 months or more (whether continuous or in total), in the 10 years prior to
your application, while aged 18 or over.

 Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
 Tier 1 (Investor)
 Tier 2 (General) Worker in education, health or social care sectors (see
below)
 Dependent partner (over 18 years old) of the main applicant in any of the above
routes, either together with the main applicant or separately.

All those applying under the Tier 2 (General) route to take employment under one of the
Standard Occupation Codes listed below are subject to this requirement:

1181 - Health services and public health managers and directors

1184 - Social services managers and directors
2217 - Medical radiographers
2218 - Podiatrists
2219 - Health professionals not elsewhere classified.
2221 - Physiotherapists
2222 - Occupational therapists
2211 - Medical practitioners
2212 - Psychologists
2213 - Pharmacists
2214 - Ophthalmic opticians
2215 - Dental practitioners
2223 - Speech and language therapists
2229 - Therapy professionals not elsewhere classified
2231 - Nurses
2232 - Midwives
2312 - Further education teaching professionals
2314 - Secondary education teaching professionals
2315 - Primary and nursery education teaching professionals
2316 - Special needs education teaching professionals
2317 - Senior professionals of educational establishments
2318 - Education advisers and school inspectors
2319 - Teaching and other educational professionals not elsewhere classified
2442 - Social workers
2443 - Probation officers
2449 - Welfare professionals not elsewhere classified

When a certificate of sponsorship is issued, an applicant applying for entry clearance in

the Tier 2 (General) route will be informed by their sponsor whether they will be
required to provide a criminal record certificate.
5
Note that visa applicants in all other sub-categories of the Tier 2 route are not currently
required to provide criminal record certificates. Also, those already in the UK seeking to
extend their stay in one of the above categories are not presently included.

More information can be found on GOV.UK.

7. I cannot obtain a criminal record certificate from the relevant country.

What happens now?

It is not always possible to obtain a certificate from countries that do not have
functioning criminal record regimes or refuse to provide these to anyone other than
their own citizens.

For visa purposes, if you are unable to obtain a certificate you must provide an
explanation with your visa application, which details your attempts to obtain a
certificate and confirms why this has not been possible. UKVI will consider your
explanation against the situation in those countries and decide whether to waive the
requirement. If UKVI concludes that it is possible for you to obtain a certificate but you
have failed to do so your application is likely to be refused.

In the absence of available checks, we would expect employers to obtain as much

information as possible in the form of references etc before deciding whether or not to
make an offer of employment.

8. Other useful links

 ACRO Criminal Records Office

 AccessNI

 Disclosure Scotland

 Making a subject access request

 Subject access requests (Metropolitan Police area)

 Disclosure & Barring Service

 How to Obtain Criminal Records Checks for overseas applicants

 Department for Education (DfE)

 Overseas criminal record certificate requirement for entry clearance
applications