Apostille of criminal record check

A "criminal record check", "background check", "criminal history check", or sometimes called "certificate of lack of a criminal record", is often needed when you apply for work authorization in China. This document outlines the detailed process involved in obtaining and apostille of the document. The apostille can also be used in other Hague convention countries.

I. Steps to apostille background check through YWPW

1. Please fill out the online order form of our agency:

   Create New Order

   • For FBI criminal background check, please select "DC" for issuing state.
2. Print the confirmation page. You order ID, our mailing address, payment information (including credit card payment) and other instructions are shown on the confirmation page.
3. Mail us the original background check document and the order confirmation page to us.
4. Tell us the time and method you mailed your documents, including tracking number, so that we can track the movement of your mail.
5. Upon receiving your documents, we will check your application, and contact you if there is any issue. We then do apostille and mail it back to you.

II. Processing time and fees

• Normally 2-4 weeks. The government fee is $5-30, and our service fee $52.96.
• Service fee discount available (20-50%) if there are 2 or more documents.

III. How to get the background check document

There are two places that issues the criminal record check or background check:

• City police, county sheriff's office, or state police and law enforcement agency;
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The former checks the database of the city, county, or state, and the latter checks the database of FBI (only federal records will show up).

Now the question comes: What kind of Crimial Record Check do I need? Do I need both? This is very difficult to answer, and you should check with your prospective employer in China or your destination country.

Get criminal record check from city, county or state

• This step must be done by you or your friend -- because private information is involved, we cannot help.
• You may contact the city police, office of the county sheriff to get the document.
• More and more states now issue criminal record check at the state level (e.g., Florida, Texas, Kentucky, and Virginia). In most cases, you have the option to get it locally or at the state, but in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia, you should get it from State Police.
• If you get from state agency, please tell them that the document will be used abroad. It may or may not need notarization as it is signed by a state official. Please ask!
• If you get from local police, most likely you need to ask them to provide you with a notarized report. Some state police department also need to notarize in order to be acceptable by the Secretary of State for authentication. In contrast, report from a court may be signed by court clerk and does not need to be notarized.
• If in doubt, please ask and explain your purpose, so that they can give you a report in the right format.
• More state specific information is available towards the end of this page.

Get criminal background check by FBI

• According to FBI requirements, you must supply finger prints.
• We provide fast service through approved channel, and can get it for you normally within 2 weeks. Details in Chinese version.
• You may provide us an official PDF version for apostille.

IV. Questions and Answers

Question: Can I order the criminal record from government agencies and have it sent to you directly?

Answer: No. We do not accept criminal record directly from government agencies -- please ask it to be mailed to a friend, then forward to us.

V. Sample report

VI. State specific information

Florida

We recommend getting it from Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) directly:

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Criminal-History-Records/Record-Check

Then follow "Certified Search" link.

Kentucky

Get it from State Police. Ask for notarized copy.

Louisiana

Criminal record issued by State Police and signed by the "Record Clerk" with a red "True Copy" Stamp and an embossed seal is acceptable for certification by the LA Secretary of State.

Pennsylvania

You may get it from State Police. If you order a paper version, ask it to be notarized by State Police. If you order a PDF version, you may print it out and take it to a notary (must be a PA notary) to have it notarized.

Texas

We recommend getting it from Texas DPS directly. You may start from the FAQ page

https://www.dps.texas.gov/administration/crime_records/pages/faq.htm

phone (512) 424-5079. The document contains two pages, both are needed. The Texas Secretary of State requires a certified and notarized copy, but notary is not needed if it is signed by the DPS official in charge.

Please note that the online name based search will not produce a certified copy. You may go to local DPS office to do the figureprint search. If you are out of Texas, or in China, please do a fingerprint locally and follow http://www.dps.texas.gov/internetforms/Forms/CR-66.pdf page 2 FINGERPRINTS SUBMITTED BY MAIL THROUGH THE FINGERPRINTING VENDOR to send fingerprint card to DPS.

Virginia

Get it from State Police. Normally they will not provide a notarized copy, you need to request a notarized copy (e.g. select "Visa" for purpose -- please call state police to verify).