Information on the criminal record certificate requirement
From April 2017, the Government plans to extend the requirement to provide a criminal record certificate to the following applicants:
From April 2017, the Government plans to extend the requirement to provide a criminal record certificate to the following applicants:
- Tier 2 (General) entry clearance applicants coming to work in the education, health and social care sectors.
- Partners of the main applicants as above.
- Partners applying overseas to join an existing Tier 2 (General) migrant working in one of these sectors.
Certificates must be provided for any country in which the applicant has resided for 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years prior to their application, while aged 18 or over.
If you are a prospective Tier 2 (General) migrant in an occupation defined by one of SOC codes above, your prospective employer should inform you of this requirement when they assign a Certificate of Sponsorship.
If you apply after the requirement takes effect in April 2017, you must provide:
- Either an original or scanned copy of a criminal record certificate for each country (excluding the UK) where you have resided for 12 months or more in the last 10 years (whether continuously or in total), while aged 18 or over, issued by the relevant overseas authority.
- A translated copy of any certificate that is not in English, in line with our requirements. More details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/certifying-a-document.
Guidance on how you can obtain certificates is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-foroverseas-applicants.
Where a country is not included in the above guidance, you should not assume that there is no process for obtaining a certificate. You should contact the Embassy or High Commission in the relevant country for more information. Certificates from your most recent country of residence will normally only be considered valid if they have been issued no earlier than 6 months before your application date. Certificates from countries prior to your most recent country of residence must normally cover the entire period of residency (up to ten years prior the application date) but will otherwise be considered valid indefinitely.
If you are unable to obtain a certificate covering the required period, you must explain in your application what attempts you have made to obtain a certificate and why this has not been possible. If you do not explain why you are unable to provide a certificate, we may contact you or your representative in writing.
