When one needs a certified translation of a Criminal Record Certificate?

Criminal record certificate

It may happen that when applying for a job or internship, a candidate for a designated position will be asked by a potential employer to submit, along with other application documents, a certificate of criminal record. When it is necessary to provide a statement of no criminal record is regulated by laws on specific professions in which the candidate’s criminal record check for a designated position is a necessity.

It is also often the case that a candidate applies for a job or internship abroad, or comes from another country but applies for a job or student internship in Poland, in which case it will be necessary for him or her to provide a sworn translation of the certificate of criminal record. In this article, we’ll discuss what a criminal record certificate is and where to get one, in what situations a certified translation of a criminal record certificate might be required, and how to order such a translation as well as what the cost will be.

What a certified translation is and who can produce it?

A sworn translation – also known as a certified or authenticated translation – is a type of official translation whose conformity to the source document is certified by a sworn translator with his or her first and last name. This translation can be executed in written form. When the translation has been produced, the sworn translator affixes his or her own signature to the document and sets the official seal, confirming the authority granted to him or her by the Ministry of Justice.

What a criminal record certificate is and where to get one?

A criminal record certificate is an official certificate issued by a court stating that the person named in it has no criminal history. This certificate can be obtained in person by going to the information desks of the National Criminal Register, which are located at courts throughout Poland, or online. Interestingly, the law does not regulate how long such a certificate of criminal record is valid, so it is important to ask the institution where one will submit this document with what date the certificate will be accepted. Usually, institutions require that the certificate is not older than 3 months, but this is also a matter to be determined individually.

If one goes to get a criminal record certificate in person, to the court, the important information is that the application can be filled out on the spot, or it can be downloaded in advance, online. The form is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice. In addition, in the event that it is not possible for a person to submit this application in person, the document can be submitted for the applicant by an attorney of choice. By applying for a certificate of no criminal record in person, a ready-made and stamped certificate will be received on the spot. The cost of issuing such a certificate at the KRK information desk amounts to PLN 30.00.

Another option is to apply for a criminal record certificate online. In order to submit such an application, it is necessary to have a trusted profile or a qualified certificate to exclude the possibility of third parties impersonating the applicant. Then, one should create an account on the e-Platform of the National Criminal Register website and submit a request for information about the person. For this form of obtaining a certificate of no criminal record, the cost of issuing such a certificate is PLN 20.00. The certificate will be issued within 20 calendar days, counted from the day following the day of submission of the application for a certificate of no criminal record.

The third option available to the applicant for obtaining a criminal record certificate is to send the completed application, along with proof of payment for the issuance of such a certificate, by registered mail. These documents should be sent to the address: Information Office of the National Criminal Register, which is located at ul. Czerniakowska 100 , 00-454 Warsaw, or to the address of one of the NCR’s information points. The applicant should receive a stamped and signed certificate of criminal record within 7 days, from the day the application is received by the NCR’s Information Office.

As for the payment for the issued criminal record certificate, it can be paid in several ways:

• in cash at the cash desk of the Ministry of Justice,
• in cash at the court’s cash register,
• by means of court fee stamps (to be purchased at court cash desks),
• by transfer to the bank account of the Ministry of Justice,

However, it is important to remember that this payment must be paid at the time of application and, for example, in the case of payment by bank transfer to the bank account of the Ministry of Justice, it is necessary to attach to the application a payment confirmation generated from the bank in which we have an account and from which the payment in question was made.

Certificate of criminal record in English and in Polish – when a sworn translation is necessary?

We already know what sworn translations and a criminal record certificate are, as well as where we can obtain such documents. So it’s time to discuss the situations in which it will be necessary to present a certificate of criminal record in Polish or a sworn translation of a certificate of  criminal record in English.

The submission of a criminal record certificate is stipulated in many laws as a condition of employment. As indicated in Article 19(2) of the National Criminal Register Law, it is necessary that in the application submitted for the issuance of a criminal record certificate or a request for information about a person, it is necessary to specify the purpose for which the certificate is issued and the scope of the data to be the subject of the information contained in the certificate.

Thus, if the law regulating the practice of a particular profession stipulates that a candidate’s clean criminal record is required for a particular position, the employer may then require that the candidate for the position demonstrate the fact that he or she has no prior criminal record. This is when such a certificate of no criminal record must be presented. Examples of professions in which the presentation of a certificate of clean criminal record is required are, for example.:

• teachers and employees of kindergartens,
• sworn translators,
• judges, bailiffs ,prosecutors, advocates, notaries,
• revenue control employees and tax advisors,
• police officers, detectives,
• representatives of border guards, customs agents,
• licensed security guards,
• owners of currency exchange offices,
• local government employees,
• students

So, as we can see, there is a sizable group of professions in which the presentation of such a certificate is a prerequisite for applying for a specific position. Another situation in which it is required to submit a certificate of clean criminal record is when, for example, university students want to undertake student internships or take part in volunteer work as part of which they will have contact with minors (i.e., people under 18 years of age).

Due to the amendment of the aforementioned regulations – i.e. the Law on Countering the Threat of Sexual Offenses of May 13, 2016 – whenever a resident of Poland, or outside of Poland, wishes to engage in activities related to contact with minors, he or she must present the appropriate certificate, certifying that he or she has no criminal record.

Then, in the form, which we can download from the website of the Ministry of Justice, in item No. 13 with the title: “Scope of data to be subject to information about the person” should be written: “Article 21 (3) of the Law of May 13, 2016 on Prevention of Sexual Crime Threats and Protection of Minors (Journal of Laws 2024, item 560).”. Then, in item No. 12 of the same form, which concerns the type of data to be the subject of the information, mark: “Criminal file” and “Juvenile file”.”.

In the case of persons with non-Polish citizenship, it is also necessary to obtain a criminal record certificate from the country of which the person is a citizen, and if this document is drawn up in a foreign language, a sworn translation into Polish of the criminal record certificate must be made.

In addition, if a person – applying for a job or an internship in which he or she will have contact with minors – has resided outside the territory of Poland for the past 20 years, he or she is required to submit a statement of all the countries in which he or she has resided during that time, and then obtain and present certificates of non-criminal record from all the countries mentioned in the aforementioned statement.

Recently, MS Mostowy Translator’s Office performed just such a sworn translation when we were approached by a student applying for an internship related to working with minors. This student, at the time indicated in the law, resided in two countries, Norway and Iceland, so it was necessary for him to submit to the internship manager certificates of no criminal record from those very countries. Since both documents were in English, it was necessary to make a sworn translation of both criminal record certificates, which MS Mostowy Translation Firm was more than happy to assist the client with.

The same situation occurred when the MS Mostowy Translator’s Office  was approached by a student residing in Australia and the US for the period of time indicated by the law. This student also needed to make a sworn translation of his criminal record certificates from both countries in order to be able to submit them to the internship manager at a Polish university. Thanks to our assistance and the high-quality sworn translation we provided, our client was able to seamlessly be admitted to an internship related to a teaching specialization involving the study and care of minors.

Sworn translation of a criminal record certificate – how to order it and what is the price?

In a situation where a sworn translation of a criminal record certificate is needed, whether into English or from English, all the Client needs to do is contact MS Mostowy Translator’s Office. We will then ask you to send us scans or, if the documents are electronic only, PDF files of which the client needs a translation. Then, after receiving the documents from the client, we will count the number of characters corresponding to the translation pages and get back to the client with a response regarding the potential cost of a certified translation and the completion date.

What is worth noting is that the cost of translation is not quoted on the basis of physical pages, but on the basis of the number of calculated pages. In the case of a certified translation, one calculation page is equal to 1125 characters with spaces. In the case of a certificate of no criminal record in the Polish version – if it is a version filled in by hand by the client – a sworn translation takes 3 calculation pages, despite the fact that physically the document takes up only one A4 page.

However, a sworn translation must describe all the elements on the certificate, not just its content. These elements, therefore, are all Polish, official and court seals, stamps, signatures of the person issuing and receiving the certificate, as well as stickers with information about the stamp duty paid, which increases the final number of characters. On the other hand, if the criminal record certificate is issued in an abbreviated electronic version, this document already occupies only 2 calculation pages of certified translation, since it does not contain any stamps, stickers, or signatures.  

As for the English version of the criminal record certificates, the documents vary depending on the country in which they were issued. Recently, due to the entry into force of the aforementioned so-called “Kamilek’s Act”, we have seen a very high inflow of requests for certified translations of criminal record certificates from Norway. This document, drawn up in English, takes up two physical pages of A4 format, however, the number of calculated pages that comes out after their translation amounts to 4 pages of certified translation.

On the other hand, for example, translations of criminal record certificates from Ontario, or the state of Texas in the United States, which MS Mostowy Translator’s Office has had the pleasure of completing, are also issued only in electronic form, so they do not have any stamps or handwritten signatures. Each of the aforementioned documents takes up 2 calculation pages of sworn translation.

So, as we can see, although it might seem that a criminal record certificate is a template document, a sworn translator still needs to see a scan of the document before quoting it to know which version of the document he/she is dealing with. Since criminal record certificates are relatively repetitive documents, the turnaround time can thus be much shorter than for other documents. On the other hand, when it comes to the price of such a sworn translation, the best way to get a reliable and authoritative quote for a sworn translation of a criminal record certificate is to send the sworn translator a scan of the document for review.

FAQ: Certificate of no criminal record translation