This Guide is about how foreign nationals obtain a Certificate of No Criminal Record in Beijing, China. The certificate is also known as a police certificate/check/clearance in other countries.
This guide was updated after Beijing police authorities issued the Implementation Rules for Handling Criminal Record Checks by Beijing Public Security Bureau on March 25, 2022.
Foreign nationals may need to obtain a Certificate of No Criminal Record in China for a variety of reasons including immigration, employment, etc. Typically, a Certificate of No Criminal Record is not acceptable for these purposes until it is notarized by a local notary office in China. (In some cases, it also needs to be authenticated by the embassy representing the country where the certificate is to be used. For more information about that process, please check our authentication guide.) And it is for this reason that our guide below has two steps, namely “STEP 1: Application for Certificate of No Criminal Record” and “STEP 2: Notarization of Certificate of No Criminal Record”.
STEP 1: Application for Certificate of No Criminal Record
WHERE TO APPLY?
You can apply for a Certificate of No Criminal Record at one of the district branch offices of the exit and entry administration of Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB). For contact information of the exit and entry administration branch office in each district of Beijing, please visit China’s National Immigration Administration (NIC) and select “Beijing”.
WHO ARE ELIGIBLE?
- Have had residence permits issued from Beijing.
- Have lived in Beijing for 180 days or longer.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS?
- Original passport(s). (If you are unable to provide your original passports, please consult with the exit and entry branch office in your district. In our experience, exceptions to this requirement are rare.)
- Temporary Residence Registration Forms (Optional)
- Power of attorney, if applicable.
PROCESSING TIME?
1 to 3 working days.
SAMPLE CERTIFICATE OF NO CRIMINAL RECORD
STEP 2: Notarization of Certificate of No Criminal Record
WHERE TO APPLY?
After you get the Certificate of No Criminal Record from the police, you need to submit the certificate to a local notary office for notarization and translation. There are multiple notary offices in Beijing that are licensed to notarize Certificates of No Criminal Record for use abroad. Beijing Fangyuan Notary Public Office is one of the most experienced notary offices in the city. For contact information of all the notary offices in Beijing, please visit 12348 Beijing Public Legal Service Website.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS?
- Passport(s)
- Certificate of No Criminal Record
- Power of attorney, if applicable.
PROCESSING TIME?
1 to 2 weeks.
SAMPLE NOTARIAL CERTIFICATE OF NO CRIMINAL RECORD
All notary offices across China issue Notarial Certificates of No Criminal Record in the same format. Please take a look at our article, What a Certificate of No Criminal Record Should Look Like.
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I want to ask whether I am eligible for obtaining police certificate in Beijing or not. I got scholarship for one year Chinese Language, from September 2018 to July 2019, but in winter vacation from 1st February to 3rd March I visited my home country .so Am I eligible for this certificate or not ?
Please guide me
Hi Erum. The fact that you exited from China in Feb. and re-entered in March is irrelevant to your China police certificate application in Beijing. The Beijing rules require that an applicant live in Beijing for a continuous period of 6 months or more, but Beijing authorities determine the period of your residence based on Temporary Residence Registration Forms (TRRFs). If a foreign national has a residence permit issued in Beijing, his TRRFs typically cover a period longer than 6 months. So, we cannot know for sure whether you are eligible for applying for a police certificate because we do not know how long your TRRFs cover.
Hello Zhang . Thank you so much for your response. I am really sorry for late response as I have just seen your reply. My residence permit issued in Beijing was from October 2018 to July 2019. I would really appreciate if you can guide me in this regard.
Hi Erum. Since you had a Beijing residence permit, you should be able to apply for a police certificate. Just follow our guide to file the application in Beijing. If you are interested in using our service, please click here to complete a request-a-quote form.
Hello Pete,
I am applying for immigration for Canada and they require Police certificates for all countries when I lived for at least 6 consecutive months. I did two exchange semesters in China during the same year. I first studied for 5 months in Beijing, then left china and went home for about 1,5 month and then entered china again to study for 5 months in Shanghai. Do you think a police certificate is required in this case? Because I read in this article that Beijing would only allow people to apply if they spent more than 6 months in the city.
Hi Emma. Did you hold any residence permit while studying in China? If not, neither Beijing nor Shanghai police would issue you a police certificate according to the current rules. I cannot answer the other question relevant to Canadian immigration as I have not had clients in the same situation.
I lived in beijing for 3 years but have now moved to Shenzhen. Will i need to return to Beijing to get my police check for my time there?
Thanks for leaving a comment. You can either return to Beijing in person or appoint another person to file the application for your police check.
I am applying for immigration for Australia and they require Police certificates for all countries when I lived for at least 6 consecutive months.i lived in beijing for 2 years so they require criminal certificate how did i get that and do i have to authentificate from embassy?
Hi Maliya. You can obtain a China police certificate in Beijing by either visiting the police office in person or appointing a third-party representative. You will not need to do document authentication.
Hello Pete,
I am applying for immigration for U.S. and they require Police certificates. I studied in Beijing as a foreign student in 2007-2009. I returned home every vacation and never stayed for more than six months at a time. 5 months study – 1,5 months at home. 4 semesters. Do you think a police certificate is required in this case?
Hi Make. Thanks for your comment. It is not required to stay 180 days at one time. If you held a Beijing residence permit for study, you should be able to apply for a police certificate.
But I don’t even remember if I had a permit. But I remember that I had several visas in my expired passport.
Residence permit is a visa-like stamp in your passport.