Applying to the wrong police service does not just delay your file — in Ontario it ends it. The Ontario Provincial Police state plainly that if you apply while living in a community policed by another service, your application will not be processed and you will not be eligible for a refund. The money is gone and you start again elsewhere.
Two decisions therefore come before anything else: which search of your criminal records you actually need, and which police service has jurisdiction over the place you live. Get either wrong and the rest of the process is wasted effort.
This guide covers the record checks available in Canada, how to choose between them, where to apply in each province and territory, and how to obtain a Canadian criminal record check while living outside of Canada — including from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Need help with document apostille/legalization/authentication/attestation — and/or criminal record check in Canada? Contact us via our form, call us at +1-613-501-0555 (WhatsApp available) or +1-800-857-1215 (toll-free), fax us via 1-844-786-2001, or text us at info@lsccanada.ca.
The Types of Criminal Record Checks Available
Four products exist. The first three record checks are searched by name and date of birth at a police service; the fourth is federal and searched by fingerprint.
- Criminal record check. The basic level: criminal convictions that have not been sealed by a record suspension, plus findings of guilt under the Youth Criminal Justice Act where release is permitted. Summary convictions drop out of view after five years.
- Criminal record and judicial matters check. Everything above plus outstanding charges and warrants, judicial orders, absolute and conditional discharges still within the applicable disclosure period, and probation and prohibition orders. Outside Ontario this is generally called a police information check.
- Vulnerable sector check. The broadest view of your criminal records, restricted to positions of authority or trust over children or vulnerable people.
- Certified criminal record check. Issued federally from the National Repository of Criminal Records using fingerprints rather than biographical details.
Of the four, only the last two reach criminal records held beyond the national index. Our companion guide to choosing the right RCMP form breaks each of these down in detail, and a separate article explains what a criminal record check actually shows once the results arrive.
How to Choose the Right One
The choice among these record checks is not really yours — it belongs to whoever asked. Three questions settle it.
Who is requesting it, and in writing? Ask for the requirement on paper. Employers routinely say “a police check” when they mean one of the record checks specifically, and the wording matters at the counter.
Does the role involve authority or trust over vulnerable people? If yes, a vulnerable sector check is required, and only your local police service can perform it. Accredited private agencies are barred from these. If the role merely involves incidental contact, the broader check is not available to you.
Is the result going to a government, a foreign authority or an immigration file? Then it almost certainly has to be fingerprint-based. Name-based record checks are refused by most immigration authorities, and the sequencing for a residency application has its own logic, set out in our guide to the criminal record check for immigration.
One more thing worth knowing before you apply: where a name-based search of criminal records returns a possible match on name, gender and date of birth, you will be asked for fingerprints regardless. That is identity verification, not suspicion, and it is routine for common names.
Where to Apply: Province by Province
Record checks are processed by the police service with jurisdiction over the place you live — not where you work, where the employer sits, or where you were born. All the record checks below search the national index of criminal records, and the broader ones add local police records on top.
One exception cuts across the whole map. The certified, fingerprint-based check is federal, so geography does not restrict it: wherever in Canada you live, prints can be taken locally and mailed to an accredited agency, or captured digitally in person. That is why a resident of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal or any other city in Canada can obtain one through our online criminal record check service without approaching a police counter at all, while anyone near the capital can simply book at our Ottawa office.
Ontario
The most fragmented arrangement in the country. Regional and city services — Toronto, Ottawa, Peel, York, Durham, Halton, Hamilton and others — handle record checks for their own residents through their own portals. Everywhere else falls to the OPP, which accepts criminal records applications only through its online system and only from residents of OPP-policed communities. Detail on that route sits in our OPP criminal record check guide, and the provincial picture in our page on the criminal record check in Ontario and on checks in Toronto and Ottawa.
British Columbia
All police agencies in the province, including RCMP detachments, issue a single product called a police information check. Bring two pieces of government-issued identification, one with a photo. Note one hard limit: the vulnerable sector variant cannot be applied for from outside of Canada at all, whatever your criminal records show. See our pages on checks in British Columbia and in Vancouver.
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Cities with their own forces — Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon — process record checks for residents directly, often online. Everyone else applies at the local RCMP detachment. Our pages cover Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton specifically.
Quebec
City forces handle record checks for residents of larger municipal areas, with the provincial force covering the rest. Bilingual paperwork is normal and a French-language result is common, which matters if the certificate is going abroad. See Quebec and Montreal.
Atlantic Canada and the Territories
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island run record checks through city forces in urban areas and RCMP detachments elsewhere. Newfoundland and Labrador is split between the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in St. John’s, Corner Brook and Labrador City, and the RCMP everywhere else — details on our Newfoundland and Labrador page. Across Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the local detachment is the only option.
Need help with document apostille/legalization/authentication/attestation — and/or criminal record check in Canada? Contact us via our form, call us at +1-613-501-0555 (WhatsApp available) or +1-800-857-1215 (toll-free), fax us via 1-844-786-2001, or text us at info@lsccanada.ca.
Applying From Outside Canada
Here the province-by-province map stops being useful. Local record checks are for residents; a local force will not deal with someone living abroad, and Toronto Police, for instance, direct overseas applicants straight to the federal route.
Only one of the record checks is available internationally: the certified, fingerprint-based search of the national criminal records repository. The mechanics are fixed. Electronic submission does not work from abroad, so prints are taken locally on paper and mailed to an accredited Canadian agency, which digitizes them and submits them on your behalf. That is precisely what our online RCMP criminal record check service does. Scanned, emailed or photocopied prints are never accepted — only original cards sent by mail or courier.
United States
The easiest of the four. Local police departments, sheriff’s offices and private fingerprinting agencies all take ink prints, and many are already familiar with Canadian requirements. The official C-216C form is the standard, and FBI FD-258 cards are also accepted from applicants abroad — both use the same ten-print layout. Full instructions sit on our page for a Canadian police check from the USA.
One point specific to this country: anyone applying for United States immigration must request the certificate under the Privacy Act stream rather than the immigration and travel stream, and the certificate is then mailed directly to the applicant.
United Kingdom
Police forces there generally do not fingerprint members of the public for foreign applications, so private fingerprinting bureaus in London and other cities are the practical route. Book with one that has handled Canadian forms before; an operator improvising with a form they have never seen is the usual reason a card comes back rejected. Our page on the Canadian police check from the UK sets out the paperwork in order.
Australia and New Zealand
Both offer more options: police stations, notary offices and private agencies. One local quirk matters — some Australian police stations will not release the completed card to the applicant and will only mail it directly to the processing agency. Ask about that before booking, because it changes who needs the address. See our pages for a Canadian police check from Australia and from New Zealand.
What Every Country Needs
- Ink-and-roll impressions on an accepted card, taken in person
- Two pieces of valid government-issued identification, at least one with a photo
- The signed consent form, and a third-party consent if results go to an employer or representative
- The name, signature and stamp of the official who took the prints
Using the Result Abroad
A Canadian certificate rarely satisfies a foreign authority on its own. Where the destination belongs to the Hague Convention, an apostille on your criminal records certificate finishes the job — our explainer on what “document apostilled” means and the practical steps in how to get an apostille in Canada cover that path, and because this is a federal document it runs through the Global Affairs Canada authentication process.
Where the destination is outside the Convention, full legalization applies instead. The Emirates accounts for most of this work, and fingerprint records are named explicitly among the documents attested through the UAE Embassy attestation process in Ottawa. The same structure applies at the Qatar and Kuwait missions with different details at the embassy stage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply to any police service I like?
No. Record checks are processed by the service with jurisdiction where you live, and applying elsewhere generally means a lost fee.
Do record checks expire?
Not formally, though most organizations treat record checks older than three to six months as stale.
Can I get a vulnerable sector check from abroad?
No. That product requires a local police service and cannot be obtained from outside the country.
Do parking or minor traffic tickets appear?
No. Record checks cover criminal records and certain court-ordered conditions, not everyday fines. A conviction has to be a criminal conviction to appear at all.
Can someone under 18 apply?
Rules vary. Some services process youth applications only where the employment or volunteering is with a government body.
Need Help With a Canadian Criminal Record Check?
Legalization Service Centre was among the first private companies accredited to submit fingerprints electronically to the federal police. We search the full national repository of criminal records, including the Privacy Act Report database, and deliver the finished certificate anywhere in the world by tracked courier.
The process is built to catch errors before they cost you weeks. You email us scans of every completed form plus both pieces of identification; we check them against RCMP requirements and only then do you ship the originals. Prints must be ink-and-roll on the C-216C form — live-scan printouts are refused — and we need two complete sets carrying the name, signature and stamp of the official who took them. Processing typically runs five to twenty business days, longer where a record is found.
Where the certificate then needs an apostille or legalization, both stages run as one file rather than two.
Get Your Documents Ready for International Use
Confirm which of the record checks is required in writing, identify the police service that covers where you live, and establish early whether the result must be fingerprint-based and whether it will be used abroad. Those three answers decide everything else.
Whether you need fingerprinting, an apostille, a certified translation, or notarization of supporting documents, Legalization Service Centre can guide you through every stage.
Need help with document apostille/legalization/authentication/attestation — and/or criminal record check in Canada? Contact us via our form, call us at +1-613-501-0555 (WhatsApp available) or +1-800-857-1215 (toll-free), fax us via 1-844-786-2001, or text us at info@lsccanada.ca.