Field notes · Edition 06
One criminal record certificate, or two.
Since 31 August 2026, every DTV application carries a criminal record clearance certificate. The part most applicants miss: if you live somewhere other than your country of citizenship, the consulate expects two - one from the country on your passport, one from the country you live in. Each can take around thirty days to arrive.
One certificate or two
The number depends on one question only: do you live in the country that issued your passport?
- You live in your country of citizenshipOne certificate, from that country. A German citizen living in Berlin orders one, from Germany.
- You live in another countryTwo certificates: one from your country of citizenship, one from your country of legal residence. Both, not either. A French citizen living in Lisbon on a Portuguese residence permit orders one from France and one from Portugal.
The second certificate follows from the rule itself. Since 31 August 2026you file with the post covering your citizenship or your legal residence, and a post that accepts you as a resident wants to know what its own country’s records say about you - not only what your passport country says.
Why the second one gets forgotten
The checklist says “criminal record certificate” in the singular, and most people order the one they know: the one from home, often online, in their own language. The certificate from the country they live in is the one nobody thinks of. It means a second administration, a second portal, sometimes an appointment in person, in a language that is not theirs.
In the files we have read since the rule came in, it is one of the documents most often missing. It is also the most expensive one to forget: you find out when the rest of the dossier is ready, and the clock starts again from zero.
Plan for about thirty days
Each authority sets its own pace. Some issue a certificate online in a few days. Many take around thirty, and longer when an apostille, a legalisation or a certified translation has to be added on top. With two certificates from two countries, the slower one sets your date - and the two only run in parallel if you order them on the same day.
Work backwards from the day you want to file. To submit at the start of December, order both certificates before the end of October. Then add the consulate’s own two to four weeks to reach a decision.
Nothing on our side shortens this. The certificates are issued by your authorities, not by us and not by the consulate, and our 24-hour turnaround does not reach them. If a certificate is what you are waiting on, express will not help you - and we will say so before you pay for it.
Four things to check before you order
- The document’s exact name in each country. In France it is the extrait de casier judiciaire (bulletin n°3), in the United Kingdom an ACRO police certificate, in the United States an FBI Identity History Summary. Ordering the wrong one costs the same thirty days.
- Whether the post wants an apostille or a legalisation. It is a separate step, with its own office and its own delay.
- Whether a translation is needed. A certificate in a language the post does not read may have to be translated, and translations are not part of what we do.
- How recent it has to be on the day you file. Ordering too early can be as costly as ordering too late.
The short version
One certificate if you live where your passport is from. Two if you do not. Order both the day you decide to apply, plan for about thirty days, and nothing else in the dossier will hold you up.