Polish criminal record certificate with apostille and translation

A Polish criminal record certificate costs PLN 30 on paper and PLN 20 electronically; an apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds PLN 60 per document. The paper version is issued at a KRK counter in a court on the day of filing; the electronic one takes up to 20 calendar days. An apostille goes on the paper original only. Figures as at September 2026.

The difference between the two forms looks like ten złoty and decides the fate of the document. The electronic certificate arrives as an XML file, and its printout is not a document: it can be filed only with a Polish institution able to receive electronic documents. To a consulate, a foreign university or an employer abroad it goes nowhere.

Below: 2026 fees and timings, both forms compared, the answer to the question that actually matters — whether you need an apostille at all — and two sections written for an English-speaking reader: what to do if your record is British, and what the law requires from someone who has lived in several countries.

What a Polish criminal record certificate costs in 2026

The state charges PLN 30 for a paper certificate and PLN 20 for an electronic one, and PLN 60 of stamp duty for each apostille. A separate item is the wielojęzyczny standardowy formularz, the multilingual standard form for EU countries, at PLN 17. The rates are set by the rozporządzenie of the Minister of Justice of 18 June 2014 on the fees for information from the Krajowy Rejestr Karny.

The certificate fee is paid to the Ministry of Justice account, by electronic court fee stamps through oplaty.ms.gov.pl, or in cash at a court cash desk. Inside e-KRK payment is by card through the built-in service only. Doing it yourself, a certificate with an apostille costs the state PLN 90 — 30 for the document and 60 for the apostille. Everything above that is travel, queuing and time.

Electronic or paper: which one to order

Paper — if the document will go anywhere beyond a Polish government body. This is the decisive fork on this page, and the one people get wrong more often than everything else combined. The electronic certificate is ten złoty cheaper and looks more modern, but outside Polish state systems it does not work.

The conclusion in one line: saving PLN 10 makes sense in exactly one case — when the document stays inside Poland and is filed electronically. In every other case the paper original is cheaper, because a second trip for the document costs more than the difference in the fee.

Ordering online: when it works

Ordering online works if you hold a profil zaufany (the Polish trusted profile) or a qualified electronic signature, and the document is for a Polish institution. The application is filed in the e-KRK system, signed by one of those two means, and the PLN 20 fee is paid by card inside the service.

Then come the limits that most sources leave out. A profil zaufany requires a PESEL number, and since 1 January 2026 a third-country national obtains a PESEL only by appearing in person at a gmina office — art. 18 ust. 1a of the ustawa o ewidencji ludności. So for many foreign nationals the online route is closed not by the certificate but by the missing key to the door. See our page on the PESEL number for foreigners.

The conclusion in one line: online is the route for someone who lives in Poland, holds a PESEL and is filing with Polish authorities. For everyone else the answer is paper, and doing it remotely is simpler through a representative than setting up a profil zaufany for the sake of one certificate.

The Polish certificate with an apostille: when you need one

An apostille is needed when the document is filed in a country that is party to the Hague Convention of 1961 and is not an EU member state. It is issued by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at PLN 60 of stamp duty per document. For a KRK certificate no prior certification by a court is required — the MFA accepts it directly.

In practice it works like this. The original is filed in person at ul. Krucza 38/42 in Warsaw by appointment, and the matter is dealt with during the visit. Documents sent by post go to al. Szucha 23, 00-580 Warszawa, and the MFA handles such requests within 30 days of receipt. The difference between the two routes is a month, which is why the apostille is usually arranged through a representative in Warsaw.

The conclusion in one line: establish the destination country first, and only then order an apostille. Half the enquiries we receive about an apostille on this certificate end with us not issuing one: the document is going to the EU and is accepted there without it.

For an EU country no apostille is needed at all

Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council abolished the apostille and legalisation requirement for a range of documents between EU member states, and “the absence of a criminal record” is named in it expressly. A Polish certificate is filed with an institution in any Union country as it is — that institution has no right to demand an apostille.

The second half of the Regulation deals with translation. A wielojęzyczny standardowy formularz — a multilingual standard form issued by the same authority that issued the document, costing PLN 17 — can be attached. It serves as the official translation and removes the need for a sworn translator. One caveat: the form has no legal value on its own, separated from the document it was issued for, so there is no point filing it alone.

The conclusion in one line: the pack for Germany costs PLN 47 in state charges, the same pack for Canada at least PLN 90 plus translation. The difference of nearly double comes not from the document’s complexity but from one line in a European regulation.

Certificate with apostille and translation

Where a certificate with an apostille and a translation is required, both documents have to be translated — the certificate and the text of the apostille. This is the most common reason a finished pack comes back: the translation covers the certificate only, the apostille is still in Polish, and the receiving institution treats the pack as incomplete.

Hence the rule on sequence: apostille first, translation second. Translate earlier and the apostille lands on the original after the translation was made and never appears in it, so a second translation is needed. The reverse order is right only where the institution wants an apostille on the translation itself: then the chain runs to four steps and two visits to the MFA.

The translation must be made by a sworn translator on the register kept by the Polish Ministry of Justice. A translation made abroad and notarised there is not covered by the Polish apostille, and foreign institutions normally expect a Polish sworn translator, who stamps the document with a register number. The cost depends on the language, which is why we quote this pack only once we know the country and the language.

If your record is British: the ACRO certificate

A Polish KRK certificate says nothing about a British record, and a British ACRO Police Certificate says nothing about a Polish one. Anyone who has lived in both countries and is asked to prove a clean record for the whole period needs both, and they are issued by completely separate systems on different terms.

Two things are worth reading twice. First, ACRO issues certificates solely as physical documents — there is no digital certificate and no e-apostille option. The same principle as in Poland, only stricter: in the UK the paperless route does not exist at all.

Second, since Brexit a British certificate presented in Poland is a third-country document: Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 does not cover it, so an FCDO apostille is required, along with a sworn translation into Polish made by a translator on the Polish register. Budget £55 plus £45 plus the translation, and roughly three weeks on the standard service.

If you have lived in several countries

Each certificate covers one country’s register and nothing else. There is no European or international criminal record certificate: a Polish document reports what the Polish register holds, and says nothing about the years you spent elsewhere. Where an institution needs the whole period covered, you collect one certificate per country of residence.

The good news is that the paperwork burden is very uneven, and it depends on whether the issuing country is in the EU.

The conclusion in one line: a certificate from an EU country or from Ukraine needs no apostille for Poland, everything else does. That single distinction is worth several hundred złoty and two or three weeks per document, so it is the first thing to establish — before paying any foreign authority.

The translation rule has no exceptions worth relying on: the translation must be made by a sworn translator on the Polish Ministry of Justice register. A certified translation obtained in the country of origin will be refused, however well it is stamped there.

How to obtain the certificate: three routes

The certificate is issued three ways: in person at a KRK counter in a court, by post, and electronically through the e-KRK system. A fourth option — through a representative under a power of attorney — formally belongs to the first two, but it is the one that solves the case where you are not in Poland.

KRK information points operate at district and regional courts. The application is called zapytanie o udzielenie informacji o osobie for an individual and zapytanie o udzielenie informacji o podmiocie zbiorowym for a company. The form is completed in Polish and proof of payment is attached.

The PLN 17 stamp duty on the power of attorney is not charged to close relatives: a spouse, parents, children and siblings. If a relative collects the certificate for you, those 17 złoty drop out of the calculation.

Timings, and why online is the slowest route

The paper certificate is issued on the day of filing, by post within 7 days, and through e-KRK within up to 20 calendar days. This is the only Polish government service we know of where the online channel is slower than the counter, and people are caught by it constantly: they order the “quick” electronic version two weeks before a deadline and miss it.

The conclusion in one line: the difference between the fast and the slow case is not money but the way you file. Both cost the state the same; the postal route simply adds a month at the MFA’s end.

A certificate for a company: when it is needed

A company certificate is a separate document — zapytanie o udzielenie informacji o podmiocie zbiorowym — and it does not replace certificates on board members. It costs the same: PLN 30 on paper, PLN 20 electronically. What it confirms is different: the absence of an entry on the liability of the spółka as a collective entity, not the record of any individual.

Tenders and licensing procedures almost always ask for both sets at once: the company certificate plus one for each member of the zarząd, sometimes for a prokurent as well. For a company with three board members that is four documents and PLN 120 in fees — and, for a foreign tender, four apostilles at PLN 60 each.

If the certificates are for opening a corporate account, look also at what a bank asks a foreign management board — the document list there is wider than it first appears.

Foreign nationals: what to do without a PESEL

Anyone can obtain a KRK certificate regardless of nationality or whether they hold a PESEL — in paper form. The form takes passport details; the PESEL field is filled in if you have one, and leaving it empty does not block the application. Only the electronic channel is closed, because it needs a profil zaufany, which needs a PESEL.

The second practical point is the spelling of your name. The transliteration on the application must match your passport letter for letter. If the passport says Yevhenii and the application says Evgeniy, the certificate is issued for a different person and has to be redone with a new fee. The same goes for a maiden name: it is entered on a separate line, and without it the register may not find entries under earlier documents.

Third, on certificates from your country of origin. The Polish certificate confirms the absence of a record in the Polish register only and says nothing about the years before you arrived. Employers and authorities that need the whole period covered ask for a second certificate from the country you lived in before — and for work with children that is written into the statute, as set out below.

Working with children: what the Kamilek Act requires

Since 15 February 2024 an employer must verify the record of everyone admitted to work with minors — art. 21 of the ustawa of 13 May 2016 on counteracting the threats of sexual offences and on the protection of minors, known as the Kamilek Act. The check has two parts: a search of the Rejestr Sprawców Przestępstw na Tle Seksualnym and a KRK certificate covering the offences the statute names.

The Act reaches well beyond schools. It covers upbringing, education, recreation, treatment, psychological help, spiritual development, sport and hobby activities — so summer camps, sports clubs, language schools, swimming pools, nannies and tutors engaged through an agency. The employer must place the documents in the employee’s personal file.

A foreign certificate almost always needs a sworn translation, and if it comes from outside the EU an apostille from that country as well. It is the mirror image of what we do with the Polish document for use abroad, run in the other direction.

How long the certificate stays valid

No statute sets a validity period at all. The Ministry of Justice confirms it directly: the rules governing the Krajowy Rejestr Karny do not define how long the document remains valid. Neither the Labour Code nor sector statutes introduce such a period either.

In practice the receiving body sets it, and public procurement provides the benchmark: there the certificate must have been issued no earlier than six months before the deadline for submitting tenders. That is where both the three-month and the six-month figures circulating in the market come from — each is one institution’s requirement, not a rule of law.

The conclusion in one line: ask the receiving body about the period before ordering, not after. A certificate obtained “just in case” a year before filing is worth nothing, and redoing a pack with an apostille and a translation costs the full amount again.

Common mistakes

The third row deserves a paragraph of its own. In our practice it is the most pointlessly expensive mistake: someone pays PLN 60 of stamp duty, spends a day travelling to the MFA and carries the document to Spain or the Netherlands, where nobody needs the apostille on it. The check takes a minute — you only have to name the country.

How we work and what it costs

1. We start with the destination country. It settles everything else: whether an apostille is needed, whether the PLN 17 form replaces a translation, and in which language the document is expected.
2. We check your details before filing. Transliteration against the passport, maiden name, dates, earlier documents — this is where most time is lost when people apply on their own.
3. We file the application and pay the fee under a power of attorney, without your involvement; close relatives are exempt from the PLN 17 stamp duty.
4. We collect the paper original at a KRK counter in a court.
5. We obtain the apostille from the MFA — if one is genuinely needed. We book and file in person so as not to wait the postal 30 days.
6. We arrange the sworn translation with a translator on the Polish Ministry of Justice register — of both the certificate and the apostille.
7. We deliver the pack by courier within Poland or dispatch it abroad.

The price is fixed before the work starts and does not change during it, and we take no advance payment. If your answers show that no apostille is needed, we say so before you pay and issue the certificate for PLN 200 instead of the PLN 450 pack.

Further reading

• The PESEL number for foreigners — without it the e-KRK channel is closed
• A bank account for a Polish company — what banks ask a foreign management board
• Changes in the KRS — board changes and who ends up on the company certificates
• The EORI number — the customs identifier for a Polish company
• The MIP payment licence — a procedure requiring certificates on every board member
• Price list — every service and what it costs

Frequently asked questions