Police verification certificate: which route, and what it actually says
Two routes for two different purposes, an address history that decides how long it takes, and an honest account of what to do when the verification comes back adverse.
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Which route do you need?
Answer this before anything else. A certificate obtained on the wrong route is not a partial success — it is a month spent and an application to make again.
What is the certificate for?
- A visa, immigration, residency or employment abroad
Do you hold a valid Indian passport?
- Yes
Passport Seva. Apply online, then attend the appointment.
Administered through the Passport Seva system and the Regional Passport Offices. The application asks for the destination country and the purpose. Where your passport was recently issued after a police verification, a further verification is sometimes not required.
- No
A passport is a prerequisite for this route. Deal with that first.
The Passport Seva PCC is a service for passport holders. Where the passport itself is pending, the sequence is the passport first and then the certificate.
- Yes
- A tenancy, a domestic employer, a school or college, or a licence
The State police — the commissionerate or district police portal.
No passport required. This is the route for anything within India, and it is usually quicker and cheaper than the Passport Seva route for the same purpose.
- I am not sure which one they want
Ask them, in writing, before you apply.
One email. A certificate issued on the wrong route is not partially useful, and the mistake runs in both directions — a Passport Seva PCC obtained at some cost for a tenancy is as wasteful as a State certificate offered to a consulate.
- I am living abroad and need an Indian PCC
The Indian mission in the country where you live.
Its own page sets out what it requires. The address history matters more rather than less here, because the verification has to be carried out at Indian addresses you no longer live at — assemble the dates and supporting documents before applying.
Keep the written answer from whoever asked for the certificate. Where a process runs over months and staff change, a record of what was required is worth having.
Most of the documents on this page are issued by a State government, not by the Union. The Act behind a document is usually central — the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, for instance — but the forms, the fees, the processing times, the portal and the office you actually go to are fixed by each State under its own rules. That means there is no single national fee or timeline for a domicile certificate, an income certificate or a legal heir certificate, and any page that quotes you one has invented it. We give you the statutory framework, which is the same everywhere, and the name of the office and portal for your State, which is where the current fee is published. Where a figure is set by a central authority — UIDAI, the Department of Publication, Passport Seva — it is stated as such and attributed.
A police verification certificate — usually called a police clearance certificate, or PCC — states that the police records for the address given disclose nothing adverse against the applicant. There are two distinct routes and they are for different purposes. For anything connected with going abroad — a visa, immigration, foreign employment, residency — the route is Passport Seva, which issues a PCC to a passport holder for a stated destination country. For domestic purposes — a tenancy, a domestic employer, an educational institution, a licence — the route is the State police, through the commissionerate or district police portal. Applying on the wrong route is the single commonest way people waste a month, because a PCC issued for one purpose is frequently not accepted for the other.
Key takeaways
- Two routes, two purposes. Passport Seva for anything to do with going abroad; the State police for anything domestic. Establish which one the body asking for it will accept before you apply.
- A PCC is about the address, not about you in the abstract. The police verify the addresses you give, and an address you lived at and did not declare is the commonest reason verification takes longer than it should.
- It is a statement about police records, not a character reference. It says the records disclose nothing adverse for the addresses checked — not that nothing has ever happened anywhere.
- It has a shelf life in practice even where it does not state one. Consulates and employers commonly require a PCC issued within a stated period, and that requirement operates independently of anything the issuing authority says.
- An adverse entry is not the end of it. Establish what the entry actually is, obtain the case documents, and deal with it head-on — a disclosed and explained entry is a far better position than a discrepancy discovered by the person checking.
From application to certificate
One of these stages consumes almost all the time, and three of the four things that control it are entirely within your hands.
- Office practice
- No reliable period
- 1
Confirm the route
A day
Ask the body requiring the certificate, in writing, which route it accepts and whether it requires one issued within a stated period. One email, and it prevents the commonest failure on this page.
→ A written record of what is actually required
- 2
Assemble the address history
Within your control, and worth doing properly once
Every address over the period the application asks about, with dates and no gaps — including the hostel, the months at a relative’s house, and the flat you left in a hurry. A document for each where you can.
→ The substance of the application
- 3
Apply, and attend the appointment
Depends on appointment availability
Online through Passport Seva followed by a Passport Seva Kendra or Regional Passport Office appointment; or through the State police portal or at the station with jurisdiction over your address.
→ A file with the police, and a reference number
- 4
Police verification
The stage that consumes almost all the time
An officer from the station checks local records and, in many cases, visits or asks about the address. Be reachable. Where you have moved recently, volunteer the previous address so the officer can establish continuity.
→ The report the certificate is based on
- 5
Issue
No published period
Check every particular against your passport and Aadhaar before leaving, take copies, and note the date of issue — because whoever asked for it is probably measuring from that date.
→ The certificate, with a practical shelf life at the receiving end
- 1
Confirm the route
A day
Ask the body requiring the certificate, in writing, which route it accepts and whether it requires one issued within a stated period. One email, and it prevents the commonest failure on this page.
→ A written record of what is actually required
- 2
Assemble the address history
Within your control, and worth doing properly once
Every address over the period the application asks about, with dates and no gaps — including the hostel, the months at a relative’s house, and the flat you left in a hurry. A document for each where you can.
→ The substance of the application
- 3
Apply, and attend the appointment
Depends on appointment availability
Online through Passport Seva followed by a Passport Seva Kendra or Regional Passport Office appointment; or through the State police portal or at the station with jurisdiction over your address.
→ A file with the police, and a reference number
- 4
Police verification
The stage that consumes almost all the time
An officer from the station checks local records and, in many cases, visits or asks about the address. Be reachable. Where you have moved recently, volunteer the previous address so the officer can establish continuity.
→ The report the certificate is based on
- 5
Issue
No published period
Check every particular against your passport and Aadhaar before leaving, take copies, and note the date of issue — because whoever asked for it is probably measuring from that date.
→ The certificate, with a practical shelf life at the receiving end
Being reachable at the address is the single largest thing you control. A verification that cannot be completed is the commonest cause of delay, and it has nothing to do with what is in any record.
No stage carries an invented number of days. Where a body publishes a period it is that body’s to publish; where nothing reliable exists, this timeline says so.
Four documents people ask for interchangeably
These come from different sources, say different things and are not substitutes for one another — and being asked for the wrong one is common enough to be worth checking.
Police clearance certificate
What the police records show
A statement that police records checked for the applicant, at the addresses given, disclose nothing adverse. It speaks about records, for declared addresses, as at the date of issue. It is not an opinion about you.
Basis: Issued through Passport Seva for purposes abroad, or by the State police for domestic purposes.
Character certificate
Somebody’s opinion of your conduct
An opinion, usually from an educational institution, an employer or a gazetted officer, about a person’s conduct and standing. It is a reference rather than a record check, and it will not generally be accepted in place of a PCC.
Basis: The issuing institution’s own practice.
Police verification for a passport
A step inside another process
The verification carried out when a passport is issued or re-issued. It is a stage in the passport process, not a certificate you receive — though where it was recently done, it can shorten a subsequent PCC application.
Basis: The Passports Act, 1967 and the passport rules.
Tenant or domestic help verification
A local police intimation
The intimation a landlord or an employer files with the local police about a tenant or a domestic worker. It is a notification by somebody else about you, not a certificate issued to you, and the two are frequently confused when a landlord asks for “police verification”.
Basis: Local police requirements, which differ by city.
These are four separate questions. Winning one of them does not decide any of the others.
When somebody asks for “police verification”, ask them which of these they mean. The answer decides where you go, what it costs and how long it takes.
The two routes, and choosing between them before you apply
This is where most of the wasted effort in this area comes from, so it is worth settling first.
The Passport Seva route issues a police clearance certificate to a passport holder, for a stated purpose and usually a stated destination country. It is administered by the Ministry of External Affairs through the Passport Seva system and the Regional Passport Offices, and it is what a consulate, a foreign employer or an immigration authority will normally expect. A valid Indian passport is a prerequisite for it.
The State police route issues a certificate through the police commissionerate or the district police, on their own portal or at the station. It is what a landlord, a domestic employer, an educational institution or a licensing authority will normally accept, and it does not require a passport.
The mistake is symmetrical and equally costly in both directions: a State police certificate offered to a consulate that wanted a Passport Seva PCC, or a Passport Seva PCC obtained at some cost for a tenancy that would have taken a station-level verification. Ask the body that is asking for it, in writing, which one it accepts. The question costs an email and saves a month.
| Passport Seva PCC | State police certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Issued by | The Regional Passport Office, through the Passport Seva system. | The police commissionerate or district police. |
| Is a passport required? | Yes. A valid Indian passport is a prerequisite. | No. |
| What it is for | Visas, immigration, residency, foreign employment — anything connected with going abroad. | Tenancy, domestic employment, educational institutions, licences and permissions within India. |
| Does it name a destination country? | Usually, yes — the application asks for the country and the purpose. | No. |
| Where you apply | Online through Passport Seva, followed by an appointment at a Passport Seva Kendra or the Regional Passport Office. | The State police portal, or at the police station with jurisdiction over your address. |
| What decides how long it takes | Whether police verification is required at all. Where the passport was recently issued after verification, it can be much quicker. | The station-level verification of the addresses given. |
| The fee | Published by Passport Seva on its own fee schedule. | Fixed by the State police, and published on its portal. |
This page does not reproduce either fee. Both are published by the authority that sets them and both change; a stale figure is worse than none. What is worth planning around is the sequence and the verification, not the amount.
What the certificate actually says — and what it does not
A police clearance certificate is a statement about records. It says, in substance, that the police records checked for the applicant, at the addresses given, disclose nothing adverse. Understanding that precisely explains most of what people find confusing about it.
It is not a character certificate. Nobody has formed a view about you. It is not a statement that you have never done anything wrong anywhere, and it does not purport to cover addresses you did not declare or jurisdictions the checking police have no records from.
It is not a criminal record extract either. What is checked, and what appears if anything does, is a matter for the issuing police, and the practice differs between routes and between States.
And it is not permanent. A certificate speaks as at the date it is issued, which is precisely why the bodies that ask for one usually require a recent one.
The practical consequence of all of this is that the addresses you declare are the substance of the application. A PCC is only as good as the address history it was issued against, and an omitted address is the most common cause of both delay and of a certificate that later turns out not to satisfy the person who asked for it.
The hostel for two years, the six months at a relative’s house between cities, the rented flat you left in a hurry. Each of those is an address the police may have records for, and each is an address the person checking your PCC may already know about from another document. An omitted address is what turns a routine verification into a query, and a discrepancy discovered by a consulate is far worse than an address you declared yourself.
The process, and where the time actually goes
The shape is the same on both routes: an application with your address history, then a verification at the police station with jurisdiction over the addresses, then the certificate.
The verification is where the time goes, and it is not a formality. An officer from the station checks the local records, and in many cases visits or asks about the address. Two things determine how quickly that happens: whether you can be found at the address, and whether the address history is complete and consistent.
On the Passport Seva route there is an important variation. Where a passport was recently issued after a police verification, a further verification is sometimes not required, and the certificate can issue much more quickly. Whether that applies to you depends on your own passport history, and it is worth checking Passport Seva’s current position rather than assuming either way.
- 1Ask the body requiring the certificate, in writing, which route it accepts and whether it requires a certificate issued within a particular period.
- 2Assemble the address history — every address you have lived at over the period the application asks about, with the dates, and with a document supporting each where possible.
- 3Apply on the correct route: Passport Seva for anything to do with going abroad; the State police portal or station for anything domestic.
- 4Attend the appointment, where the route requires one, with the original documents.
- 5Be available for the police verification. A verification that cannot be completed is the commonest single cause of delay, and it is entirely within your control.
- 6Where a residence is recent, tell the station about the previous address as well — an officer who cannot establish continuity will refer the matter back rather than close it.
- 7Collect the certificate, check every particular on it against your passport and Aadhaar, and take copies.
- 8Note the date of issue, and diarise it against the deadline of whoever asked for it.
What to do if there is an adverse entry
This is the section people need most and the one that is hardest to find written down honestly.
First, establish what the entry actually is. "Adverse" covers a range: a first information report registered years ago, a case that was closed, a case that ended in acquittal, a matter that is still pending, a complaint that never became a case at all, or an entry against a name similar to yours that is not you.
That last possibility is worth taking seriously before anything else. Name similarity is a real and frequent cause of an adverse entry against the wrong person, and it is resolved by identity documents rather than by argument.
Where the entry does relate to you, the position depends on what it is, and the general approach is the same in every case: obtain the documents, disclose, and explain.
| The entry | What to obtain | How to deal with it |
|---|---|---|
| A case in which you were acquitted | The certified copy of the judgment or order of acquittal. | Disclose it and produce the order. An acquittal is a disposal, and a documented disposal is a far stronger position than an undisclosed entry. |
| A case that was closed, or where a closure report was accepted | The final report and the order accepting it. | The same approach. What the person checking wants is evidence of how the matter ended. |
| A pending case | The case number, the court, the section, and the current status. | It cannot be made to go away and should not be concealed. Many purposes have a specific question about pending proceedings, and answering it accurately is the only safe course. |
| A first information report that never became a charge sheet | The FIR and whatever record exists of what happened afterwards. | Establish and document the outcome, which frequently nobody in the family knows. |
| An entry against a similar name that is not you | Your identity documents, and the particulars of the entry. | Raise it with the police that made the entry, with identity proof. This is a matter of identification, not of explanation. |
| A verification that came back adverse without explanation | A written statement of the reason. | Ask for it in writing. You cannot answer a reason you have not been told, and an oral account at a counter is not something you can act on. |
The consistent thread is documentary. A disclosed and documented entry is manageable in almost every context; the same entry discovered later, undisclosed, is much harder to recover from — and in an immigration context, non-disclosure is often treated far more seriously than the underlying matter.
That is a question for an immigration lawyer in the destination country, not for a page about Indian certificates. Different countries treat disposals, spent convictions and pending matters very differently, and what is required is advice on the rules that will actually be applied. What this page can say is that the Indian documents — the FIR, the charge sheet if any, the judgment, and the order of disposal — are what any such advice will be built on, so obtain them first.
The things that actually make it faster
None of these is a shortcut. They are the four things that reliably stop a routine verification becoming an extended one.
- A complete address history. Every address, with dates, and no gaps. A gap in the timeline is a question the officer has to resolve, and resolving it takes weeks.
- Consistency across documents. The address on your Aadhaar, on the application, and on whatever supporting document you produce should be the same address, written the same way.
- Availability. Somebody who answers the phone and is at the address when the officer calls. This is the single largest controllable factor in the whole process.
- The previous address, where you have moved recently. An officer verifying a residence of a few months will look for continuity, and volunteering the earlier address prevents a referral back.
- Documents for each address where you can: a rent agreement, a utility bill, a bank statement, an electoral roll entry. Not always asked for, and useful when a question arises.
- Starting early. The certificate has a practical shelf life at the receiving end but no benefit in being obtained at the last moment — and a verification that needs a second visit will not fit into a fortnight.
An ordering of the four against one another, from how these matters present. It is not a measurement, and no dataset exists that would support one. Three of the four are entirely within the applicant’s control, which is the useful point.
How long it lasts
A police clearance certificate speaks as at the date it is issued. Whether it states a validity period differs by route and by State, and it matters far less than the second question.
The second question is what the body asking for it requires. Consulates, immigration authorities and employers commonly require a certificate issued within a stated period — measured from the date of issue, not from the date you apply with it. That requirement operates independently of whatever the issuing authority says about validity, and it is the one that will actually be applied to you.
So the planning rule is the reverse of what people assume. Do not obtain a PCC as early as possible; obtain it early enough. Work backwards from the deadline, allow for the verification, and allow for the possibility that the certificate you obtain in January will be too old for an application filed in October.
And where a process is long — an immigration application over many months — expect to be asked for a fresh certificate at some stage, and keep the address history and the supporting documents assembled so that the second application is quicker than the first.
Worked examples
Example 1: The certificate obtained on the wrong route
- The purpose
- A skilled-worker visa application
- What was obtained
- A certificate from the district police, at the station
- What the consulate wanted
- A police clearance certificate from the Regional Passport Office
- 1.For anything connected with going abroad, the route is Passport Seva, which issues a PCC to a passport holder for a stated purpose and destination.
- 2.The State police certificate is a real document and it was not the one asked for. Consulates and immigration authorities generally expect the Passport Seva certificate.
- 3.The whole application had to be made again on the correct route — a fresh application, a fresh appointment and, potentially, a fresh verification.
- 4.The step that would have prevented it costs one email: ask the body requiring the certificate, in writing, which route it accepts.
- 5.Keep the answer. Where a process runs over months and staff change, a written statement of what was required is worth having.
A month lost to a question that takes an email to answer. This is the commonest single error on this page and it runs in both directions.
Example 2: The address that was left out
- Address history given
- The current flat, and the family home before it
- Omitted
- Eighteen months in a hostel in another city between the two
- What happened
- The verification was referred back, and the file sat
- 1.The gap in the timeline is what causes the problem, not the hostel. An officer looking at eighteen unexplained months has a question that has to be resolved before the file can close.
- 2.Worse, the omitted address may be known to the person checking — from a passport, a university record, or a previous employer’s file — in which case an omission looks like a discrepancy.
- 3.The fix is to declare every address, with dates, and with a document for each where possible: a hostel receipt, a rent agreement, a bank statement, an electoral roll entry.
- 4.Where an address was brief or informal, say so and explain it. A declared address that the police cannot verify is a smaller problem than an address that was not declared.
- 5.Assemble the history once, properly, and keep it. Any second application — and there are often second applications — becomes much quicker.
Declaring the inconvenient address is always the better choice. The verification is about the addresses; a gap is a question, and a question is a delay.
Example 3: The adverse entry that belonged to somebody else
- The verification
- Came back adverse
- The applicant
- Has never been party to any proceeding
- What emerged
- An entry against a person with a very similar name
- 1.Ask for the reason in writing. An oral account at a counter is not something that can be acted on, and you cannot answer a reason you have not been told.
- 2.Obtain the particulars of the entry — the case or FIR number, the station, the date, and the name and other particulars recorded against it.
- 3.Compare the identifying particulars: full name, father’s name, date of birth, address. Name similarity is a frequent cause of a misattributed entry.
- 4.Raise it with the police that made the entry, with identity documents. This is a question of identification, and it is resolved by documents rather than by argument.
- 5.Where the entry genuinely does relate to you, the approach changes entirely: obtain the case documents, disclose, and explain. Do not treat concealment as an option, particularly in an immigration context, where non-disclosure is often treated more seriously than the underlying matter.
Two very different situations behind the same word. Establish which one you are in before deciding what to do, and get the reason in writing either way.
More questions about this page
What is a police clearance certificate?▼
Should I apply through Passport Seva or the State police?▼
Do I need a passport for a PCC?▼
How long does a police verification take?▼
How much does a PCC cost?▼
How long is a police clearance certificate valid?▼
What happens if there is an adverse entry?▼
Do I have to declare every address I have lived at?▼
Can I get a PCC if I am living abroad?▼
What is the difference between a PCC and a character certificate?▼
Official sources checked
The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.
- The route for a police clearance certificate connected with travel or residence abroad, and the authority for the current fee and requirements. Requested and confirmed reachable while this page was built; the fee itself is published there and is deliberately not reproduced here.
- The Act under which passports and travel documents are issued, and the framework the Passport Seva route sits within.
When it goes wrong: adverse entries, delays and the wrong certificate
The consistent thread through all of this is documentary. Get the reason in writing, obtain the underlying documents, and disclose — a documented entry is manageable almost everywhere, and a concealed one is not.
| What the refusal says | What it actually means | The cheapest fix |
|---|---|---|
| The verification came back adverse, with no explanation. | “Adverse” covers a wide range: an old FIR, a closed case, an acquittal, a pending matter, a complaint that never became a case, or an entry against a similar name that is not you. | Ask for the reason in writing, with the particulars — the case or FIR number, the station and the date. You cannot answer a reason you have not been told, and an oral account at a counter is not something you can act on. |
| The entry belongs to somebody with a similar name. | A real and frequent cause of a misattributed entry, and it is a question of identification rather than of explanation. | Compare the identifying particulars — full name, father’s name, date of birth, address — and raise it with the police that made the entry, with your identity documents. |
| The entry does relate to you, and the case ended long ago. | An acquittal, a closure report accepted, or a case that was withdrawn. All of these are disposals, and a disposal is a much stronger position than an unexplained entry. | Obtain the certified copy of the judgment or the order accepting the final report, and produce it with the application. Disclose rather than hope.If that fails — Where this affects a visa or immigration application, the rules that will be applied are the destination country’s. That is a question for a lawyer there — and the Indian documents are what any such advice is built on, so obtain them first. |
| There is a pending case. | It cannot be made to disappear, and concealment makes it much worse. | Obtain the case number, the court, the section and the current status. Many purposes ask a specific question about pending proceedings, and answering it accurately is the only safe course — non-disclosure is frequently treated more seriously than the underlying matter. |
| The file has sat for weeks with no verification. | Most often the officer could not find the applicant at the address, or a gap in the address history raised a question that has to be resolved before the file can close. | Make yourself reachable and follow up at the station with jurisdiction over the address, quoting the reference number. Where you moved recently, volunteer the previous address so continuity can be established. |
| The certificate was issued and the body asking for it will not accept it. | Either it was obtained on the wrong route, or it is older than the period that body requires. | For the route: there is no partial remedy, and the correct route has to be applied for. For the age: obtain a fresh one, which is quicker the second time because the address history is already assembled.If that fails — Prevent both by asking, in writing, at the outset: which route, and issued within what period. |
The verification came back adverse, with no explanation.
What it means“Adverse” covers a wide range: an old FIR, a closed case, an acquittal, a pending matter, a complaint that never became a case, or an entry against a similar name that is not you.
The cheapest fixAsk for the reason in writing, with the particulars — the case or FIR number, the station and the date. You cannot answer a reason you have not been told, and an oral account at a counter is not something you can act on.
The entry belongs to somebody with a similar name.
What it meansA real and frequent cause of a misattributed entry, and it is a question of identification rather than of explanation.
The cheapest fixCompare the identifying particulars — full name, father’s name, date of birth, address — and raise it with the police that made the entry, with your identity documents.
The entry does relate to you, and the case ended long ago.
What it meansAn acquittal, a closure report accepted, or a case that was withdrawn. All of these are disposals, and a disposal is a much stronger position than an unexplained entry.
The cheapest fixObtain the certified copy of the judgment or the order accepting the final report, and produce it with the application. Disclose rather than hope.
If that fails — Where this affects a visa or immigration application, the rules that will be applied are the destination country’s. That is a question for a lawyer there — and the Indian documents are what any such advice is built on, so obtain them first.
There is a pending case.
What it meansIt cannot be made to disappear, and concealment makes it much worse.
The cheapest fixObtain the case number, the court, the section and the current status. Many purposes ask a specific question about pending proceedings, and answering it accurately is the only safe course — non-disclosure is frequently treated more seriously than the underlying matter.
The file has sat for weeks with no verification.
What it meansMost often the officer could not find the applicant at the address, or a gap in the address history raised a question that has to be resolved before the file can close.
The cheapest fixMake yourself reachable and follow up at the station with jurisdiction over the address, quoting the reference number. Where you moved recently, volunteer the previous address so continuity can be established.
The certificate was issued and the body asking for it will not accept it.
What it meansEither it was obtained on the wrong route, or it is older than the period that body requires.
The cheapest fixFor the route: there is no partial remedy, and the correct route has to be applied for. For the age: obtain a fresh one, which is quicker the second time because the address history is already assembled.
If that fails — Prevent both by asking, in writing, at the outset: which route, and issued within what period.
Assemble these before you apply, and keep them
- 1Every address you have lived at over the period the application covers, with dates, and with no gaps in the timeline.
- 2A supporting document for each address where you can — a rent agreement, a utility bill, a bank statement, an electoral roll entry, a hostel receipt.
- 3A mobile number that will be answered, and an arrangement for somebody to be at the address if you cannot be.
- 4Where you have moved recently, the previous address and its dates, ready to volunteer.
- 5Where any adverse entry exists: the FIR, the final report, the judgment, and the order of disposal, in certified copies.
- 6The written answer from whoever asked for the certificate, stating the route and any recency requirement.
Three of the four things that delay a PCC are within your control, and none of them is about your record. Complete addresses, consistent documents, and being reachable.
Where to apply
For anything connected with going abroad, Passport Seva. For anything domestic, your State police’s own portal or the station with jurisdiction over your address — those are run by each State and are not linked here, because they were not verifiable from where this page was built.
Passport Seva ↗(opens in a new tab)
The fee for either route is published by the authority that issues the certificate, and is not reproduced on this page. Both change, and a stale figure is worse than none. The Passport Seva address was requested and answered while this page was built.
You are here
Getting the police clearance certificate
What to do next
- 1
If your name differs across documents, resolve that first
A verification against an address history in one name and identity documents in another is a query waiting to happen.
The name-change dependency chain → - 2
If a State needs to certify where you live, that is a different document
A domicile or residence certificate certifies permanent residence for State-reserved benefits. A PCC says nothing about it.
Domicile certificate → - 3
Check which of the certificates you actually need
Police verification, character certificate, tenant verification and passport verification are four different things, routinely asked for interchangeably.
Which certificate do you need? → - 4
If your birth certificate carries an error, fix it before a passport needs it
Since the 2023 amendment it is the proof of date and place of birth for issuance of a passport, for anyone born after it commenced.
Correcting a birth certificate →