Overseas Criminal Record Certificate Requirement

PUBLISHED: 18 July 2015

In April 2015, the Government introduced the requirement for migrants applying for leave to enter the UK to provide an overseas criminal record certificate.

The Immigration Minister James Brokenshire announced that from 1 September 2015 applications for initial leave as Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrants, and their PBS dependents over 18 will need to provide a criminal record certificate from any country in which they have lived for 12 months or more in the previous 10 years.

This requirement does not apply to those who are switching into or extending in the Tier 1 (Investor) or Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) categories from within the UK.

The Government will introduce the requirement in phases, so as to learn lessons from its initial implementation before rolling it out in other categories. It is anticipated that it will be rolled out to other categories in early 2016.