Police certificates
Police certificate translation
Partner visa checklists name police certificates from the countries you have lived in, and the overseas ones are rarely in English. We translate the whole certificate — the issuing authority, the exact wording of the result, reference numbers, stamps and dates — and deliver it digitally, with NAATI certification available for your Home Affairs application.
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Where it is asked for
What Home Affairs says about police certificates
Quoted from the Department’s own pages, so you can see the wording your certificate will be read against.
Partner visas
The 820, 309, 801 and 100 checklists name overseas police certificates from countries the applicant has lived in, and say to “Have all documents translated into English. Provide original and translated documents in your application.” The same checklist notes that police certificates are valid for 12 months for immigration purposes. An Australian Federal Police certificate is already in English and needs no translation.
Source: Home Affairs, subclass 820 checklist (page last updated 10 August 2026)
Colour scans of both versions
“Scan or photograph all documents (English and non-English) in colour” — the original certificate is uploaded alongside its translation, so the case officer can compare the two. A clear colour scan is also what we translate from, and it lets us read the stamps and security print properly.
Who may translate it
“All documents not in English must be translated into English. Translators in Australia must be accredited by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.” Translating here in Australia? That is the NAATI certification option at checkout. Our page on NAATI translation online sets out what it includes. Translating abroad? The subclass 820 checklist says translators outside Australia “do not have to be accredited”, but each translation must carry their full name, address and telephone number, and their qualifications and experience in the language, all in English.
Sources: Home Affairs, translating documents (page last updated 16 September 2026); subclass 820 checklist (page last updated 10 August 2026)
What a careful job includes
The result, and everything around it
A police certificate is a short document with a lot riding on a few lines. These are the parts we make sure survive the move into English.
The issuing authority
A certificate is only as useful as the body that issued it. We translate the name of the ministry, police force or court on the letterhead, and any office named in the body, so the reader can see who searched the records and who is signing off on the result.
The exact wording of the result
Certificates phrase the outcome in different ways: that no record was found, that no convictions are held, or that a record exists and what it contains. We translate that sentence as it is written rather than reducing it to a one-word summary, because the precise wording is what the case officer is there to read.
Reference numbers, stamps and dates
The certificate number, the date of issue, the period the search covered, your name and date of birth as the authority recorded them, the wording on every stamp and seal, and each signature block with its signature marked [signed]. Dates are written out in full so that day and month cannot be swapped, and reference numbers are copied character for character.
Ordering for a partner visa and translating in Australia? Home Affairs’ wording points to a NAATI-accredited translator — choose the NAATI certification option at checkout, and the translation arrives with the translator’s details and digital stamp on it. Newly arrived on an eligible visa? Check the free government service first.
Pricing
The full price on screen before you order
Translation is $39.99 per page into English, delivered digitally. Add NAATI certification for $59.99 per page, prepared by a NAATI-certified translator with a digital stamp carrying a scannable QR code. Most police certificates are one or two pages, and the total is shown before you pay.
See every document the partner visa checklists name. Everything else we translate is listed under our certified translation services.
Questions
What people ask about police certificate translation
Often, yes, but who issued it matters more than its name. Home Affairs defines police certificates as “official documents issued by a nation’s law enforcement body” and says one is “also called a penal clearance certificate”. The AFP’s National Police Certificate is “sometimes called a national police check”. The names do not always swap, though. Home Affairs says “We do not accept state- or territory-issued police certificates”, and the UK’s ACRO says its police certificate cannot be used as a certificate of good character or good conduct. The translation renders the title as the issuing authority printed it, so check it against the wording of the request you were given.
It is part of the character requirements for a visa. Home Affairs may ask for a police certificate “from every country you lived in”, usually where you are over 17 and lived for at least 12 months in the past 10 years in a country it lists, Australia included. Each must cover the time from when you turned 16 up to its issue date, or your whole time in that country. It may also ask for one from each country where you served in the military for over 12 months. Ship and oil rig workers with over 12 months on board in the past 10 years ask the country whose flag the vessel sails under.
It can. The AFP’s 100-point identity checklist says “Foreign documents must be accompanied by an official translation”, such as an overseas document you count towards your points. Fingerprints in a language other than English need an official translation too, though Home Affairs says you do not need to give fingerprints for Australian police checks. The AFP’s paper form says documents do not need to be certified “unless a translation is being provided”, and a certified copy is a step you arrange yourself. The AFP does not define an official translation there; for official purposes, choose the NAATI option.
Order online once you have the certificate. Photograph or scan every side in colour, including a stamped reverse and any apostille attached to it. On the order page, choose the language the certificate is written in, the document type “Police clearance certificate” and the page count, then Standard or NAATI certification. Up to four pages can be ordered online; a longer set goes through an enquiry. If your name is in a non-Latin script, send your passport spelling through the contact page with your order number, because it is used when romanising your name. The finished PDF arrives by email.
Spanish, French and Tamil are all on the order page, along with Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Chinese and dozens more, and a police certificate costs the same in each. Choose the language the certificate is written in, not the country that issued it. On the NAATI option, the order goes to a translator certified for that direction. If we cannot arrange the translation for your language, we tell you promptly and refund the order in full. Some languages are not listed, Afrikaans among them. For those, ask us first or choose “Other language”. Spanish to English translation covers that language in more detail.
The certificate fee goes to the authority that issues it, and the translation is a separate cost. When we checked on 18 September 2026, the AFP charged $56 per application, or $113 with fingerprints, plus a card surcharge when you pay online, and the UK’s ACRO charged £70; other countries set their own fees, so check each authority’s page for the current one. Translating an overseas certificate is $39.99 a page, and NAATI certification adds $59.99 a page. Count every side that carries text, a stamp or a seal: a stamped reverse is a page, and so is an attached apostille or legalisation page. Normal delivery is included, and the full price shows before you pay.
The two run on separate clocks: the issuing authority sets how long the certificate takes, and the translation window starts when you order. The AFP says most digital certificates arrive within a few days if you apply online. The UK’s ACRO says processing can take up to 30 working days, not counting postage, and it sends certificates by post only. For other countries, Home Affairs’ locations list shows each authority and its process.
Our Normal delivery is within 3 days, Urgent is 12–24 hours for $49, and ASAP is within 4 hours for $99 where a translator for your language is free. We do not deliver on Sundays: a delivery that would fall on a Sunday arrives on the Monday. These windows are estimates, not a fixed arrival time; if one is going to be missed, we tell you as soon as we know. What decides how long a translation takes has more.
No. A translation renders one document, and a new certificate carries at least a new issue date, so it needs a new translation. Home Affairs says police certificates “are valid for 12 months from the issue date”, and it may ask for a new one if you went back to a country after your previous certificate expired. The AFP says how long its certificate is accepted is up to the organisation asking for it. Your old translation still matches your old certificate, but not the new one. Order the new translation once the new certificate is in your hands.
Yes, every entry, exactly as the certificate records it. The AFP says its certificate lists “disclosable court outcomes”, and ACRO’s shows applicable convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings. Every translation is a true and complete rendering of the document, so nothing is left out or toned down. We do not check whether the certificate is accurate, so raise an entry you believe is wrong with the body that issued it; the AFP, for one, has a Disputed Record form. Home Affairs warns that false or misleading information can lead to a visa being refused or cancelled, and points to a registered migration agent or independent legal advice for help.
Not for a visa or citizenship application. TIS National’s Free Translating Service lists “Police clearance / penal certificate” among its eligible documents, but its eligibility page also says “Document translations required for visa or citizenship applications, and documents issued by private citizens, are not eligible.” It takes personal documents that help with employment, education and community engagement, so a certificate needed for a job here may qualify if you also pass its visa, onshore and document-limit tests. Who qualifies for the free service sets out each test.
The order page takes jobs out of English as well as into it. ACRO says it “does not offer a translation service”, so a UK certificate needed abroad in, say, Spanish has to be translated separately, and the same goes for an AFP certificate going overseas. On the order page, choose English as the language to translate from.
If we cannot arrange the translation for that direction, we tell you promptly and refund the order in full. Before you order, ask the overseas authority whose translations it accepts and whether an apostille must go on first. ACRO does not offer apostilles and points to GOV.UK; in Australia, apostilles come from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Neither certificate needs translating for an Australian visa, since both are in English.
IRCC says a police certificate not in English or French needs a translation “from a certified translator”, and defines one as “a member in good standing of a professional translation association in Canada or abroad”, confirmed by a seal or stamp showing a membership number. Our NAATI option carries a NAATI-certified translator’s digital stamp; ask IRCC or your representative whether that meets IRCC’s definition before you order. The Standard option carries no stamp. IRCC also does not accept translations by family members.
NAATI stopped issuing accreditation in 2018, so a form that asks for a “NAATI accredited translator” today means one who holds current NAATI certification. That is who prepares the certified option: a NAATI-certified translator for your language direction — a Certified Translator or Certified Advanced Translator, or a Recognised Practising Translator where NAATI does not test the language. Their practitioner number is on the translation and you can check it in NAATI’s online directory.
Sources checked 18 September 2026: Australian Federal Police, national police checks, for the application fees and the identity documents it asks for; Home Affairs, subclass 820 checklist (page last updated 10 August 2026) and translating documents (page last updated 16 September 2026). ACRO and IRCC publish their own fees and rules on their own sites; check yours there before you order.