US and Canadian police certificates for use in Ukraine

Two neighbours on the map — the United States and Canada — produce two entirely different procedures. The US has no single national police certificate: there is the federal FBI record and there are state police records, and different bodies apostille them. Canada has one certificate, but since 11 January 2024 the whole way of certifying it has changed. The Ukrainian authority, meanwhile, wants the same thing in both cases: the document with an apostille, plus a notarised Ukrainian translation.

This article covers the direction that rarely gets written up: not a Ukrainian certificate going abroad, but an American or Canadian one being filed in Ukraine.

Who in Ukraine asks for a foreign police certificate

Three situations account for most of it:

• An immigration permit and permanent-residence permit. The State Migration Service requires a certificate of no criminal record issued by the competent authority of the country of previous residence (or by that state’s diplomatic mission or consulate in Ukraine). For someone who spent years in the US or Canada, that means the American or Canadian document — a Ukrainian police certificate is not a substitute.
• Adoption, guardianship and custody. In these procedures a certificate of no criminal record is a mandatory part of the file; where the applicant lives abroad, it is obtained in the country of residence.
• Certain employers, licensing and permit procedures. Requirements vary here and there is no single rule — the list comes from the authority itself.

We deliberately avoid quoting the exact wording of each procedure, because it changes. The rule that always holds is to get the list in writing from the receiving authority and only then order documents abroad. It is the one reliable way not to pay for an apostille twice.

The US: first decide whose record it is

Two types of document exist side by side in the United States.

The federal FBI record — an Identity History Summary. It is compiled from fingerprints against the federal database, covers the whole country and is not tied to a state. You can order it electronically through the FBI or through an approved channeler; check the form and current timings on the FBI’s own page.

A state police record — the criminal history record of the state where you lived. It covers that state only.

The distinction becomes critical at the apostille stage: a federal document is apostilled only by the US Department of State (Office of Authentications), while a state document goes to that state’s Secretary of State. If you lived in three states over ten years, the federal certificate means one document and one apostille instead of three.

Two practical points that apostille services repeat: do not have the FBI record notarised “just in case” — a federal document is apostilled as issued; and order the form of the record that the Department of State accepts rather than an uncertified printout. Check the fee and the filing address on the Department of State page: both change, and commercial sites copy outdated figures for years.

Canada: 11 January 2024 as the dividing line

Before 2024 a Canadian document bound for Ukraine passed through two stages: authentication by Global Affairs Canada, then legalisation at a consulate. Since 11 January 2024 Canada has been a party to the Apostille Convention, and an apostille is enough for Ukraine.

What to order: an RCMP Certified Criminal Record Check — the fingerprint-based record from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. According to Canadian service providers, it can be apostilled without being notarised first. A local, name-based police check is a different kind of document, and how it is certified depends on who issued it; if that is what you already hold, ask about it separately.

Where to file for the apostille depends on the jurisdiction:

Document / jurisdiction	Apostille authority
Federal documents (including the RCMP record)	Global Affairs Canada
Documents notarised in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan	that province’s competent authority
Quebec	check the status of the competent authority separately — it has changed
Other provinces and territories	Global Affairs Canada

The rule that holds across Canada: the authority follows the jurisdiction where the document was issued or notarised, not where you live now. Check Global Affairs Canada’s processing times on its own page in the week you ship — they are published and they move, and expedited handling is generally not available.

One case deserves its own note: a set certified under the old procedure before 11 January 2024. In some countries such documents still require full legalisation, so ask the Ukrainian receiving authority whether the older certification will do. It is cheaper than shipping the document twice.

What happens to the document in Ukraine

Once the apostilled certificate arrives, one step remains: the notarised Ukrainian translation. A Ukrainian authority accepts a foreign document with a translation whose accuracy, or whose translator’s signature, has been certified in the established manner; for the migration service, a court or a child-welfare authority that means notarisation, not an agency stamp.

Three things decide the outcome here:

• The whole document is translated. Apostille text, reference numbers, service marks and reverse sides included. The apostille is part of the document, not its cover.
• Name spelling is aligned with your Ukrainian documents. On an American or Canadian certificate your name appears in Latin script, often in a form that differs from your Ukrainian passport (Olena / Elena, Dmytro / Dmitriy). The translation renders it as your Ukrainian documents do, or the authority will not tie the document to the person.
• Paper, not PDF. A notary binds the translation to a paper document. If the certificate or the apostille exists only electronically, ask the notary in advance whether a printout with code verification will be accepted — and allow time for that conversation.

The order of steps, and the margin to allow

The sequence is rigid, because each step physically attaches to the one before:

1. The list from the receiving authority — which certificate, with which certification, issued within what period.
2. Ordering the certificate — FBI or state police in the US, RCMP in Canada. This takes the most time: fingerprint submission, processing, delivery.
3. The apostille — Department of State or a Secretary of State; Global Affairs Canada or a provincial authority. Both countries publish their timings and both revise them; check in the week you ship.
4. Delivery to Ukraine — by post or by hand. The document has to arrive on paper.
5. The notarised Ukrainian translation — 1–2 working days.
6. Filing — with the original, the apostille and the bound translation.

Step five is the only one you fully control. The rest depend on queues in other people’s institutions, so count the certificate’s currency backwards from the filing date: if the authority wants a document issued no more than three months ago, and apostille plus shipping eat a month to six weeks, ordering the certificate early “so that it is ready” is the worst available strategy.

If you are still in the US or Canada and only planning the move, the cheapest option is to obtain the certificate and its apostille before you fly. Arranging it through a representative from Ukraine costs more and takes longer in every scenario described here.

Common mistakes

• Ordering the certificate before getting the list from the authority. Half of the wasted spending on this route is an apostille placed on the wrong document.
• Taking a state record when the federal one is needed (or the reverse). Different apostille authority, different timing, different coverage.
• Waiting for an apostille in Ukraine. Nobody there can issue one: only the issuing state can.
• Shipping a Canadian set with a 2023 “authentication”. A different scheme applied before 11 January 2024; confirm that the recipient accepts it.
• Counting the validity window from the translation date. The authority counts from the date the certificate was issued, not from the day you had it translated.

If your documents travel the other way

If what you actually need is a Ukrainian police certificate for the US or Canada, we have separate articles on that: the police certificate for the USA, for Canada, and the apostille on a Ukrainian police certificate — including which Ukrainian ministry issues it and how long it takes.

And if other foreign documents are travelling with the certificate, the general rule for this direction is collected in who issues the apostille in each country — the US and Canada are missing from that table precisely because this article covers them.

How we handle it

We start with the question that saves the most: what exactly the authority requires — a federal record or a state one, with or without an apostille, and issued within what window. Then we translate the document in full, apostille included, align name spellings with your Ukrainian documents, and have the translation notarised.

Translation of a police certificate from English starts at UAH 300 per standard page (1,800 characters with spaces), with notarisation at UAH 400 per document; the full price list has the rest. If the documents form part of a migration-service file, see also immigration documents.

Send a scan of the apostilled certificate and the name of the authority requiring it — you will have a quote within 15 minutes.