Are you planning to employ an Australian citizen, or have you worked in Australia yourself and need to document your clean criminal record for the Slovak Foreign Police? The process of legalizing documents from countries outside the EU can be administratively extremely demanding. At the Legalization Center, we have recently successfully completed the process of apostilling an Australian criminal record extract, which served as a supporting document for a residence permit application for the purpose of employment.
Specifics of the Australian Criminal Record Extract
Australian Criminal Record Extract (National Police Check), issued by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), is one of the most detailed documents of its kind. Unlike Slovak extracts, it also contains:
A photo of the person concerned directly on the document.
Visible fingerprints, which serve for unambiguous identification.
Due to these security features and strict Australian legislation, the process of obtaining higher verification (apostille) is relatively complex.
The image shows an official Apostille certificate issued in Canada in accordance with the Hague Convention.
Complexity of the process and time frame
Australia is a signatory to the Hague Convention, which is why an Apostille is required for its documents. Nevertheless, it is not a simple task. In our case, the entire process—from receiving the original to delivering the legalized document with the translation—took approximately 2 months.
This time included:
Delivery of the original document to our office (the original is essential for this process).
- Securing the apostille directly in Australia through our partner agencies.
- Safe shipping of the document back to Slovakia.
Certified translation into the Slovak language
In order for the Foreign Police in Slovakia to accept the document, the apostille alone is not enough. After the legalized document returned from Australia, we arranged an official (sworn) translation into the Slovak language for the client. The document was then firmly bound with the translation and secured with a tricolor ribbon, making it fully valid for the residence permit proceedings for the purpose of employment.
How can we help you?
If you need to provide proof of Australian clean criminal record, we recommend starting the process well in advance. At the Legalization Center, we will take over all communication with the Australian authorities for you:
We will assess your Australian document and verify its validity.
We will secure the original apostille directly in Australia.
We will provide an official translation into Slovak.
We guarantee safe delivery of documents by mail or courier.
