Civil documents
Police clearance and good conduct certificates
Certificates of good conduct are part of our standard document list, and they follow the same legalisation chain as any other government-issued document.
What applies
A police clearance is a government-issued document, so an original presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs no secondary endorsement. A photocopy must be certified by a Notary Public first. The destination embassy adds the final stamp.
Certificates of this kind often carry a validity window set by the receiving authority, so the sequence is worth starting early rather than late.
- 01
Issuing authority or notary public
The document is verified at source, or certified as a true copy by a notary public.
- 02
The relevant ministry
Education certificates go through the education authorities. Other documents go through the ministry that governs them.
- 03
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The consular division at Wisma Putra in Putrajaya legalises the document for use abroad.
- 04
The destination embassy
The embassy or consulate of the destination country adds the final stamp. Most sit in Kuala Lumpur, a few in Putrajaya.
Where a letter of good conduct comes from
A certificate of good conduct, also called a police clearance, is issued by the Royal Malaysia Police. It is a government issued document, so an original presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs no secondary endorsement before attestation.
What catches people out is not the chain but the clock. Receiving authorities usually set a validity window measured from the date of issue, not the date of legalisation, so the time the document spends moving between counters is spent out of that window.
Commonly needed for
- Work and residence applications across the Gulf states
- Residence and family sponsorship applications
- Professional registration in regulated trades
- Long stay and migration applications
Worth knowing
If your employer abroad has given you a deadline, tell us the deadline rather than the document. We will work backwards from it and tell you whether the certificate you already hold will still be valid when it arrives.
Questions
How long is a police clearance valid for?
The receiving authority sets that, not us, and it varies by country. We confirm the window that applies to your destination before you start.
Can you obtain the certificate itself?
Our service covers the attestation and legalisation chain, plus visa processing. Tell us what you have and we will tell you what is missing.
Related
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Tell us the document and the destination
Send the scans and the country. We come back with the steps your document needs, the cost and the timeline.