A Police Clearance Certificate is an official record of any criminal record (arrest/conviction/proceedings) the applicant may have during his/her residence in the country of issue. In different countries, it is known by different names. For example, Police Clearance Certificate, Good Conduct Certificate, Certificate of Good Character, Criminal Records, Penal Clearance Certificate, Good Citizen Certificate (In Hong Kong), National Police History Check / Police Check (In Australia), etc.

• For job/ employment purposes.
• For migration purposes.
• For residence visa purposes.
• For higher study purposes, etc.

A police certificate may be required for the purpose of employment visa, Student Visa, Satisfying an individual employer’s request, Applying for vocational positions requiring clearance, Naturalization, License, Change of name, etc.

In the UAE, each certificate is issued intending to be used in only one country. If clearance is required for use in more than one country, individual applications must be submitted for each country. The option is available to request either an English or Arabic version at the time of submitting the application.

The validity of the certificate may vary widely. It may be a period mentioned on the certificate or determined by the criteria set by the countries where the certificate is to be used.
For instance, UAE police clearance certificates are valid for 3 months from the date of issue as mentioned on the certificates. However, Australia recognizes police certificates for 12 months from their issue dates for both visa and citizenship applications for the sake of consistency across different jurisdictions. Meanwhile, Ecuador only accepts certificates submitted within 3 months of their issuance, irrespective of the validity period mentioned on the certificate.