When planning to work or live abroad, you may be asked to provide a Police Clearance Letter or Criminal Record Check. Both the Police Clearance Letter and the Criminal Record Check are documents issued by a police detachment in Canada stating that your name and date of birth have been searched in the National Repository of Criminal Records maintained by the RCMP.
What is a Certified Criminal Record Check?
In addition to the basic Criminal Record Check or Police Clearance Letter where only your name and date of birth are searched, you may also need to include your fingerprints.
You can get a RCMP Certified Criminal Record Check. To do this, you will need to personally go to a local police station to have your fingerprints taken, or use a fingerprinting service.
Does the Police Clearance Letter or Criminal Record Check require Notarization?
Any criminal record check that is issued at a local police detachment must be notarized before going through the authentication and legalization process.
A Certified Criminal Record Check that is issued by the RCMP headquarters in Ottawa does not require notarization.
What are the requirements for the authentication and legalization, or apostille, process?
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFATD) in Ottawa will authenticate a notarized Police Clearance Letter/Criminal Record Check or a Certified Criminal Record Check issued by the RCMP headquarters in Ottawa. Once your document has been authenticated by DFATD, it is then submitted to the relevant diplomatic mission for legalization.
We have helped many clients with the authentication and legalization of their Criminal Record Checks and Police Clearance Letters. Contact us today and save several weeks of processing time!
Call us toll free at 1-888-433-1011 or visit us at idocscanada.ca
