Police certificates and apostilles: start early

The date on the paper starts the clock

Ninety days is the window Portugal's embassy in Washington sets for its pensioner and own-income residence visa: the police certificate must be issued less than 90 days before you submit. Spain's consulate there accepts one issued within the 6 months before you apply for a telework or non-lucrative visa, and Thailand's embassy gives "an FBI certificate issued within 3 months" as its example for the Destination Thailand Visa.

The clock starts when the certificate is issued, not when you ask for it. The apostille and often a sworn translation have to fit inside the same window, and you cannot apply until the last of them is done. That makes the order matter more than any single document.

Those windows come from pages written for US applicants. A consulate in Ottawa, Canberra or Wellington may set a different one, so read the page for the one you will use. The Portugal guide and Spain guide cover the visas themselves, and the Portugal and Spain comparison sets the two side by side. [V1] [V3] [V4]

Getting the check from your own country

In the United States the FBI issues an Identity History Summary, often called a rap sheet. You apply online and give fingerprints electronically at a participating post office, or mail a fingerprint card. The FBI's December 2024 figures are $18 a person, about 15 days once a mailed card arrives and up to 30 days for a mailed request, and you cannot pay extra for speed. It asks people not to send requests to forward the result to the Department of State for an apostille, so that step is yours.

Canada's check is the RCMP's certified criminal record check, which uses fingerprints. It takes 3 business days or less when there is no match to a criminal record, and up to 120 business days if manual processing is involved or there is a possible match. The federal fee is C$25 when you need the check for a visa, plus whatever the police or accredited company taking your fingerprints charges. From outside Canada you first get a paper copy of all ten fingerprints from an authorised agency where you are, such as police or a foreign government's embassy, and an accredited company in Canada then submits it. Don't mail the card to the RCMP.

The Australian Federal Police issues a National Police Certificate, and most are completed within 48 hours, with digital certificates arriving by email. The fee is A$57, or A$114 with fingerprints. A name and fingerprint check takes 15 to 30 business days and must be applied for by post.

New Zealand has no document called a police clearance certificate. The nearest thing is the Ministry of Justice's criminal record check, which covers convictions, costs nothing to request and is aimed at 20 working days, with around 90% in under a week. Under the Clean Slate scheme an eligible record is concealed automatically; if a country wants the full record, the Ministry says to check with its embassy or consulate. [P1] [P3] [P4] [P7] [P10] [P11]

Details that get an application sent back

Spain's Washington consulate will refuse a check whose staples have been taken out. It accepts an FBI check only, not a state or local one, and a check that has been altered or damaged in any way is refused. The apostille must certify the signature on the check itself, not the stamp of a local notary, and the translation must be by a sworn or certified translator.

Thailand's embassy, on its retirement visa page, says an online criminal record without an authorised signature is unacceptable, so a plain download may not be enough there.

Costa Rica works differently for its digital nomad stay. Its immigration directorate checks criminal and police records itself through national and international databases as part of a security review, and the only document it says needs an apostille or consular legalisation is the income certification from an accountant or notary. The Costa Rica guide and the Thailand guide cover those visas.

That leaves Italy, France, Mexico and Malaysia, where the validity period and the apostille rule are not published. Ask the consulate for your region. [V1] [V2] [V5] [V6]

Apostilles and authentications

An apostille is a certificate attached to a public document, confirming that the signature, stamp or seal on it is genuine. It is for documents used in countries that belong to the 1961 Hague Convention. Where the destination does not, you may need an authentication or legalisation instead, which can add a step at that country's embassy. The offices below can't tell you which one the receiving authority wants, so ask that authority.

In the United States, the State Department's Office of Authentications issues apostilles for documents signed by a federal official, which is the route for an FBI check. A state document such as a birth certificate is certified by the state that issued it. Notarising a federal document makes it invalid.

The Apostille Convention took effect in Canada on 11 January 2024. Global Affairs Canada authenticates documents from the Government of Canada and from provinces and territories that don't issue their own apostilles, free of charge. Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan issue their own. Allow up to 5 business days for mail each way; there is no rush service. Name-based criminal record checks are authenticated, but how a fingerprint-based certified check is handled is not published; ask Global Affairs Canada before you send one.

In Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the only authority that can legalise a document, and its list includes National Police Checks and fingerprint reports. The fee is A$105 per apostille or authentication.

In New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs charges NZ$37 for an apostille, processed within 15 working days, or NZ$120 for the urgent service within 5 working days. Its country list marks Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Mexico and Costa Rica as apostille countries, but Thailand and Malaysia as Category A, where authentication costs NZ$74. [P2] [P5] [P6] [P8] [P9] [P12] [P13]

Translations

Spain's consulate wants a sworn or certified translation of the check into Spanish. The translation needs no apostille of its own, and the apostille needs no translation.

Each home country has its own route. New Zealand's Internal Affairs can translate as part of an apostille application at NZ$95 each, or you can arrange your own, which a New Zealand notary must then notarise. Australia legalises a translation only if it carries the translator's name and signature, the date and the seal of a NAATI-certified translator, on every page. Canada asks for a certified translation when a document it authenticates contains a language other than English or French. No turnaround time for a sworn translation is published, so get a date from the translator in writing before you book your appointment. [V1] [P5] [P8] [P12]

If you have lived somewhere else

Someone who lived in Mexico for eight months last year and now applies from the US has two countries' police to deal with. Spain's Washington consulate asks for a second check from every other country where you spent more than 180 days. The look-back is the last 2 years on the telework page and the last 5 years on the non-lucrative page. Those checks need their own apostille, unless an EU member state issued them.

The second country may have its own wait and fee, and its own idea of how long a certificate stays valid. [V1] [V2]

Working back from the appointment

Take the shortest window and count backwards from the appointment. Of the windows above, Portugal's 90 days and Thailand's 3 months are the shortest. The window runs from the date the certificate is issued, so the wait before issue sits outside it but counts toward your lead time, while the apostille, any translation and the post all sit inside it.

By our arithmetic, 120 business days at the RCMP is about 24 weeks, so someone in Canada with a possible match could be waiting nearly six months before the certificate exists. A New Zealander waiting up to 20 working days for the Ministry of Justice and then 15 working days for an apostille has about 35 working days, roughly seven weeks, before any translation or postage.

Apostille processing times at the State Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are not published. Ask them before you set a date. [V3] [P3] [P10] [P12]