Police Clearance Certificate Fees and Processing Times

Official sources do not publish a single, standard police clearance certificate fee or processing time that applies across all countries and issuing authorities. The cost and waiting time depend entirely on the country, state or territory issuing the certificate, and on the authority’s current workload. Before you apply, you must check the issuing authority’s own website for the exact fee and its published processing time, because these figures change and are not set by any central migration body.

Why there is no universal fee or timeline

A police clearance certificate (also called a certificate of good conduct or criminal record check) is issued by a national or sub-national police authority, not by a migration department. Each issuing authority sets its own fee, its own application process and its own service standard. Some authorities issue certificates within days; others take weeks. Some charge a flat fee; others charge per document or per application channel.

Migration authorities do not set these fees or times. They only require that you submit a valid certificate when you apply for a visa or immigration status. This means the fee and the waiting time are outside the control of the visa office, and you cannot rely on a visa processing time table to tell you how long the certificate itself will take.

What the official guidance confirms about processing times

The official guidance for this article does not contain any police clearance certificate fee or processing time figures. It does, however, give you a clear picture of how official processing times are published and how they work in practice, using the UK visa system as an example.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) publishes processing times for visa applications made outside the UK. These are based on the current volume of applications and are measured against agreed customer service standards. The table below shows the published times for common visa categories as of the last update to the guidance.

Visa category	Published processing time
Standard Visitor	3 weeks
Student	3 weeks
Partner or spouse	12 weeks
Parent	12 weeks
Child	12 weeks
Skilled Worker	3 weeks
Health and Care Worker	3 weeks
Global Talent	3 weeks
Youth Mobility Scheme	3 weeks
British National (Overseas)	12 weeks
Returning Resident	3 weeks

These times are based on the UK working week, Monday to Friday, and include UK public holidays. They do not include public holidays in other countries. If you paid for a faster decision, the times are different.

The guidance also states that your application may take longer if the information is not accurate, if you need to provide further evidence, if your supporting documents need to be verified, if you need to attend an interview, or if UKVI is experiencing increased demand. You will be contacted within the current processing times if your application will take longer.

What this means for your police clearance certificate

The key point is that a police clearance certificate is one of the supporting documents that can cause your visa application to take longer. The UKVI guidance explicitly lists “your supporting documents need to be verified” as a reason a visa application may take longer than the published time. This is a direct link between the police clearance certificate and your overall timeline.

If your certificate is issued by an authority that is slow to respond, or if the certificate needs to be verified by the visa office, your visa application may exceed the published processing time. You should therefore obtain your police clearance certificate as early as possible, and you should not book travel before you apply or before a decision is made on your application.

How to find the correct fee and processing time

Because the fee and processing time are set by the issuing police authority, you must look at that authority’s official website. There is no central database that lists all police clearance certificate fees and times. The steps below are the only reliable way to get the correct figures.

1. Identify the authority that issues police clearance certificates in the country or state where you need the certificate. This is usually a national police force, a state police department, or a designated government office.
2. Go to that authority’s official website and look for the page about criminal record checks or police clearance certificates.
3. Check the fee schedule and the published processing time. If the page does not state a processing time, contact the authority directly.
4. Check whether the certificate has an expiry date or validity period. This is not set by any migration authority and varies by issuer.
5. Check whether the certificate needs to be apostilled, legalised or translated. These are separate requirements with their own costs and times.

What to verify before you apply

Before you submit your police clearance certificate application, confirm the following on the issuing authority’s official page:

• The exact fee, including any additional charges for expedited service, apostille or courier.
• The current processing time, and whether it is measured in working days or calendar days.
• The validity period of the certificate, if one is stated.
• The application channel: online, in person or by post.
• The documents you must submit, and whether they need to be certified or translated.

Do not assume that a fee or processing time you saw on a third-party website is current. Fees and times change, and only the issuing authority’s own page is authoritative.

What to do next

Your immediate step is to locate the official page of the police authority that issues the certificate you need. Read the fee and processing time information on that page, and note the date you checked it. If the page does not give a processing time, contact the authority and ask for the current service standard.

Once you have the certificate, keep a copy of it and of any receipt or confirmation. Submit it with your visa application, and allow for the possibility that the visa office may need to verify it, which can add time to your application. If your visa application is still within the published processing time, do not contact the visa office to ask for a status update; the UKVI guidance states that it will not provide information on the status of an application that is still within the current processing times.

If your application has taken longer than the published processing time and you have not been contacted, then you should contact the visa office. The same principle applies to any migration authority: wait until the published time has passed before you chase the application.