Police clearance certificate from Ukraine: how former students and workers get it from abroad
Immigration offices, employers and medical councils often ask for a police clearance certificate from every country where you lived. If that country was Ukraine, the document is an extract from the records of Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs. Here is how to get it once you have left, and what it needs before your country will accept it.
Your form may call it a police clearance certificate, PCC, police certificate, police report, police character certificate, character certificate, certificate of good conduct or criminal record certificate. In Ukraine all of these are one document: an extract from criminal records (витяг про несудимість), often translated as a certificate of no criminal record. It is issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (МВС, MVS). Foreigners, including former students, get the same document as Ukrainian citizens.
Short or full: ask before you order
The ministry issues two versions:
- Short: only whether the person has a criminal record.
- Full: also whether the person has ever been prosecuted, and any restrictions under Ukrainian criminal procedure law.
The ministry itself advises checking with the receiving organisation which version it needs. If the organisation’s instructions only say “police clearance”, ask them. A second order means another month.
Why the online route rarely works for foreigners
Since September 2025 Ukrainians can order a paper certificate with an apostille in the Diia app or on the ministry’s portal services.mvs.gov.ua. For a foreigner who has left Ukraine this route is usually closed:
- Diia requires a Ukrainian passport or residence permit stored in the app and a confirmed Ukrainian tax number.
- The ministry’s portal requires a Ukrainian qualified electronic signature.
- Paper certificates ordered online are delivered only within Ukraine.
There is also an electronic certificate with a QR code. It is useful inside Ukraine, but it cannot be apostilled or legalised, so foreign authorities generally do not accept it.
Three ways that do work from abroad
1. A representative in Kyiv. A paper request can be submitted in person or by a representative authorised by you. The ministry accepts paper requests at its Department of Informatization, 10 Akademika Bohomoltsia Street in Kyiv. The certificate is ready within 30 days, and an apostille adds up to 5 days. The representative collects it, arranges the apostille or legalisation and the translation, and sends everything to you. Ask your representative which form of power of attorney they need before you sign one at home.
2. A Ukrainian consulate in your country. According to Ukraine’s government services guide, foreigners who temporarily lived in Ukraine can apply to the consular section of the Ukrainian embassy in their country of residence. Ask that consulate how long it takes and whether it can arrange the apostille or legalisation, because the certificate still has to travel between Kyiv and the consulate.
3. Diia, if you still have access. If you have a valid Ukrainian residence permit and tax number in the app, order the paper version with an apostille and have it delivered to someone in Ukraine who will forward it.
Apostille or legalisation
What the certificate needs depends on where it will be used:
| Destination | What the Ukrainian certificate needs |
|---|---|
| Countries in the Apostille Convention: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, China, the EU, the UK, Canada, the USA and others | an apostille from the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the paper certificate |
| Countries outside it: Nigeria, Ghana, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, Turkmenistan and others | consular legalisation: Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then your country’s embassy accredited to Ukraine |
Since 1 January 2023 the apostille on a police certificate has been issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Older guides and some forums still say otherwise. For legalisation the certificate needs no separate Ukrainian step before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once the certificate is issued, the full legalisation cycle in my price list, including translation and the embassy stamp, takes about 20 working days. The country-by-country table, with the local names for each step, is on the apostille and attestation page.
Names, translation and validity
The certificate is issued in Ukrainian, with your name in Ukrainian letters. Three things save trouble later:
- In the request, give every name you have used and your date and place of birth exactly as in your passport. If your name was spelled differently on your Ukrainian residence permit, mention that spelling too.
- Find out who must make the translation. Some countries accept a translation certified in Ukraine. Others want a sworn or certified translator in their own country. For countries outside the Apostille Convention, a translation made in Ukraine goes through its own chain: notary, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, embassy.
- Check how recent the certificate must be. Most authorities set their own limit, so order it close to the date you will submit it, allowing for the month it takes to issue.
If you need it soon
The ministry’s month cannot be shortened. What can be shortened is everything around it: getting the request in on the first day, the apostille or legalisation straight after, and a translation prepared in parallel. If your visa or registration deadline is close, write to me with your nationality, the years you lived in Ukraine and the country that asks for the certificate. I will tell you which route fits and what it will take.
Quick answers
- Can a foreigner get a Ukrainian police clearance certificate online?
- Only with access to Ukraine's e-services. The Diia app requires a Ukrainian passport or residence permit and a confirmed Ukrainian tax number, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs portal requires a Ukrainian qualified electronic signature. The electronic certificate cannot be apostilled or legalised in any case. Most former foreign students therefore order the paper certificate through a representative in Kyiv or through a Ukrainian consulate.
- How long does a Ukrainian police certificate take?
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs prepares a paper certificate within 30 days, and the apostille adds up to 5 days. Delivery, translation and, for countries outside the Apostille Convention, consular legalisation come on top.
- Who puts the apostille on a Ukrainian police certificate?
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the same ministry that issues the certificate. It apostilles only the paper certificate, never the electronic one.
- My country does not accept apostilles. What does the police certificate need?
- Consular legalisation. The paper certificate goes directly to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which certifies it, and then to your country's embassy accredited to Ukraine. Nigeria, Ghana, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt are among the countries that need this route.
Sources checked on 7 November 2026: Ukraine’s government services guide (guide.diia.gov.ua) on the extract on criminal record, including the paper request procedure and the answer for foreigners abroad; the Diia service pages and the 11 September 2025 notice on paper certificates with an apostille; the Ministry of Internal Affairs news of 11 September 2025 on processing times; the Main Service Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs clarification of 22 September 2025; Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs pages on legalisation.