This article explains how to get your China Certificate of No Criminal Record (CNCR) authenticated by the Consulate of Portugal in Shanghai, China.
Document authentication and China CNCR are also known as legalization and China police certificate/check/clearance respectively. China CNCRs authenticated by the Portuguese Consulates/Embassy are often used for purposes of immigration to Portugal.
This article assumes that you already obtained a CNCR issued by local police. If you have not started the CNCR application and you would like to have some guidance on the process, please take a look at our Guides to Applying for Certificate of No Criminal Records in China.
Please note that only CNCRs issued by the police authorities in Shanghai and the Provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang can be authenticated by the Consulate of Portugal in Shanghai. For the other areas of China’s mainland, you will need to apply to the Consulate of Portugal in Guangzhou or the Embassy of Portugal in Beijing.
STEP 1: Notarization
Notarization of your CNCR is the first prerequisite step to consular authentication. If you wonder why notarization is a prerequisite, please take a look at our Introduction About Document Authentication/Legalization.
WHERE TO APPLY?
It is always a local notary office in your city that can notarize your CNCR. For example, if your certificate is issued by the Shanghai police, you need to apply for notarization with a notary office in Shanghai. Notary offices in other cities are unable to notarize a Shanghai CNCR.
To find a notary office in your city, search for it on the internet. Not every notary office is licensed to do foreign-related notarization. Before visiting a notary office, you may want to call the notary office to confirm if they can handle the notarization.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS?
Below is a list of the documents commonly required by a notary office for notarizing CNCRs:
- Certificate of No Criminal Record
- Identification documents, such as China ID and household register for a Chinese citizen and passport for a foreign national.
- Power of attorney, if a third party is appointed to handle the application.
Note that different notary offices may have slight variations in document requirements. For example, some notary offices may require foreign nationals to provide Temporary Residence Registration Forms.
PROCESSING TIME?
1 to 2 weeks.
TRANSLATION?
For purposes of authentication by the Embassy/Consulates of Portugal in China, notarial certificates are required to come with either English or Portuguese translation. The notary office that notarizes your document will get the translation and make it part of the completed notarial document as shown in the below sample. Please confirm with the entity that requires you to provide the authenticated document which language of translation is needed.
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.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
When filing the notary application you need to tell the notary officer that the notarial certificate will also be authenticated by the Consulate of Portugal. Upon completion of the notarization, the notary office may issue a Letter of Introduction for Authentication in addition to the notarial certificate. The letter and the notarial certificate will be put into a sealed envelope for submission to the foreign affairs office as explained in STEP 2.
STEP 2: Authentication by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Before your Notarial Certificate of No Criminal Record can be authenticated by the Consulate of Portugal in Shanghai, it has to be first authenticated by China’s Ministry of Foreign affairs (MFA).
WHERE TO APPLY?
Your application for MFA authentication needs to be filed with the foreign affairs office that serves your area. Shanghai Foreign Affairs Service Center has two branch offices, one in Jing’an District and the other in Pudong District. The contact information of the foreign affairs offices in the Provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang can be found on China Consular Service Website (in Chinese). Also, some notary offices provide services of delivering MFA authentication applications to foreign affairs offices, so applicants need not visit the foreign affairs offices in person.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS?
- Notarial Certificate of No Criminal Record. (NOTE: for some foreign affairs offices, the notarial certificate needs to be put into a sealed notary envelope.)
PROCESSING TIME?
Routine service takes 4 working days and expedited service 2 working days.
STEP 3: Authentication by the Consulate of Portugal in Shanghai
After you picked up the notarial certificate with MFA’s authentication stamp, you will be ready to proceed with the application for Portuguese consular authentication.
WHERE TO APPLY?
Click here to view the contact information of the Consulate of Portugal in Shanghai. Applicants or a third-party representative can visit the Consulate in person to make the authentication application. If it is inconvenient for you to go there in person, ask the foreign affairs offices in STEP 2 if they provide services of delivering documents to the Consulate on behalf of applicants.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS?
- Notarial Certificate of No Criminal Record Authenticated by China’s MFA
PROCESSING TIME?
3 working days
SAMPLE AUTHENTICATED CERTIFICATE OF NO CRIMINAL RECORD
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