How to get police clearance certificate in Saudi Arabia?

To apply for the police clearance certificate in Saudi Arabia, you must follow a lengthy procedure. There are 4 ways to get the criminal clearance certificate in KSA;

• Online Police Clearance Certificate – Absher.
• Online Police Clearance Certificate – GRO.
• Manual Police Clearance Certificate during the stay in KSA.
• Saudi Police clearance certificate after the final exit.

Police clearance certificate – Absher

You can request a police clearance certificate during your stay in Saudi Arabia through your Absher account. To do it;

• Login to https://www.absher.sa/
• Click on the “Services” option.
• Select the “General Services” option.
• Click on the “Absher Reports” button.

On the next page,

• Click on the “Criminal Records Report“.
• Country: The country for which you want the criminal record certificate, such as Canada or Australia.
• Pay the SR 57.50 fee to get the police clearance certificate from Absher.

After making the payment, it will take almost 1-4 hours to get the police clearance certificate issued in Absher.

• Login to https://www.absher.sa/
• Click on the “Services” option.
• Select the “General Services” option.
• Click on the “Absher Reports” button.
• Click on “View Previous Requests“.
• Select the report and click on the “View Certificate” button.
• The system will show you the police clearance certificate. You can download and print it.

The Canadian or Australian authorities can also check/verify the PCC certificate issued through Absher.

Police clearance certificate – GRO

Any company with an active Elm system can request the criminal record certificate of any individual who has an active Absher account;

Step 1: GRO will log in to the Elm system, and under the AMN section, he will raise a request for the police clearance certificate with the;

• Individual Iqama Number.
• Mobile Number registered with Absher.

Step 2: A text message will be sent to the individual to approve or reject this request.

Step 3: The individual will log in to the Absher account and;

• Click on “My Services.”
• Select “General Services.”
• Click on “Qabul.”

• Click on “View pending requests.”
• View the request by clicking on “Details.”
• Confirm the request.

Step 4: The individual will receive a confirmation via text message from AMN [this may take a while].

Step 5: The company can print/save the Police Clearance Certificate online.

Getting PCC – Manually

Requirements

1. Copy of valid Iqama of the Applicant.
2. Copy of valid passport of the Applicant.
3. One (1) colored photo with white background.
4. Original Letter of Endorsement issued by the embassy and duly attested by the MOFA.

Letter of Endorsement / Authority Letter

To get the letter of endorsement/authority letter for the police clearance certificate from your embassy or consulate in Saudi Arabia, submit the following documents for each applicant;

• Copy of digital Iqama.
• Copy of Valid Passport.
• One (1) color photograph 6×4 cm in size.
• The fee (SR 0 – SR 100) varies from country to country.
• Duly filled application form.
  • Authority Letter Application for Pakistan.
  • Letter of Endorsement Application for India.
  • Letter of Endorsement Application for the Philippines.

Once you get the authority letter, make a MOFA appointment and visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its attestation. There is no need to translate the endorsement letter.

Visit the police station

Appointment: Now, make an appointment with the police to apply for the police clearance certificate. The locations of the police station where you can visit are;

• Jeddah: https://goo.gl/maps/Gd4DJF4jFWd4aXZV6
• Riyadh: https://goo.gl/maps/kGds4vBhtD634P1GA
• Dammam: https://goo.gl/maps/1RemSkKWZjGxyrVf7

Visit: All applicants must visit the Department of Criminal Evidence at the police station and submit all the above documents.

• The police officer will take fingerprints.

Collection: The applicant needs to visit the same police station to collect the Criminal Clearance Certificate on the prescribed date, along with the acknowledgment receipt. Usually, it takes;

• One week for dependents.
• Two weeks for employees.

If the applicant loses the acknowledgment receipt, a letter must be submitted to the police station regarding the loss. Upon successful identity check, a new acknowledgment receipt is issued. Upon signing the confirmation, the criminal record certificate will be released.

Steps after receiving the PCC

After collecting the Police Clearance Certificate from Saudi Arabia, you need to;

• Attest it from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, i.e., MOFA Attestation.
• Have the Police Clearance translated into English.
• Take the attested criminal clearance certificate and the translation copy to your embassy for the attestation of translation (optional).

PCC from outside Saudi Arabia

If you have left on a final exit, there are two ways to apply for a police clearance certificate applying from outside Saudi Arabia.</span>

First Method

You can come to Saudi Arabia on an Umrah visa or a Visit Visa and follow the abovementioned process to apply for the PCC. This is a costly but more straightforward way to get the PCC in KSA.

Second Method

You can authorize someone to get the police clearance certificate on your behalf. Your authorized representative must submit the following documents to your country’s embassy/consulate.

1. A request letter by the applicant to the consulate/embassy stating the purpose of getting the certificate.
2. Original Local Police Clearance Certificate with fingerprints issued from the place of the current residence duly attested by the Saudi Embassy of the issuing country + Arabic translation.
3. Original Power of Attorney authorizing your representative to process your PCC from Saudi Arabia.
4. Copy of previous passport/s showing date of entry and exit.
5. Copy of Saudi Iqama.
6. Two recent photographs with a white background.
7. Copy of Employment Certificate during the period of stay.

MOFA Approval: Upon submission, your country’s embassy/consulate will obtain approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Note Verbale.

Submission to the Police Station: After this, your authorized representative will make an appointment with the police and submit all the above-mentioned documents along with the MOFA approval.

Collection: The authorized representative can visit the same police station and collect the police clearance certificate on the prescribed date.

Validity of the PCC

As per the US Embassy website, the validity of the Saudi Police Clearance Certificate is one year. However, in my opinion, it is valid for a lifetime.

Actually, it tells the authorities that you do not have any criminal record before the date of issue. Therefore, taking the PCC in the last 2 months of your stay in Saudi Arabia is better.

In this way, the authorities where you are going to submit this letter can reconcile the dates when you left the country with the certificate, and there will be no issue.