Overseas Criminal Record Certificate Requirement

The Home Office published new Policy Guidance introducing the overseas criminal record certificate requirement rule from 1st September 2015 for applications for initial leave as Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrants, and their PBS dependents over 18.

The overseas criminal record certificate requirement rule requires applicants to provide an overseas criminal record certificate from any country (excluding the UK) they have lived in continuously for 12 months or more over the past 10 years, since aged 18 years old.  So for instance, if you have lived in ten countries for 12 months each in the last 10 years then you would be required to produce 10 criminal record certificates from the 10 countries you have lived in.

The certificates will be valid if they have been issued within 6 months of the visa application. If applicant is not able to receive a certificate due to the legislation of a particular country or because of any other reasons, the applicant must provide a letter describing the attempts to obtain a certificate and confirming why it is impossible. UKVI will consider the explanations and if it concludes that it is possible to obtain certificate, the applicant will be asking again to provide a certificate.

The rule is being introduced in phases with Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrants and their PBS dependents being phased in first from 1st Septemeber 2015. The rule will be applied to further categories at later dates.

We will continue to keep you updated.