Criminal Record Certificate: What It Contains, How to Get It and What the Employer Sees

A criminal record certificate is most often requested when applying for a job. Below: what this document is under the current procedure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), how a short extract differs from a full one, how to obtain it, whether an expunged criminal record is visible in it and what the employer learns from it.

What a criminal record certificate is officially

What is commonly called a criminal record certificate is officially an extract from the MIA information and analytical system “Records of Information on Bringing a Person to Criminal Liability and Presence of a Criminal Record”. It is in the form of such extracts that certificates of bringing to criminal liability, absence (presence) of a criminal record or of restrictions provided for by criminal procedure legislation are issued (clause 2 of MIA Order No. 207 of 30.03.2022). How to obtain an extract is determined by the Procedure for Access to Information in This System, approved by the same order.

An extract can be on paper or electronic. It contains information current as of the date and time of its generation and has a unique QR code (clause 2 of Section I of the Procedure). The Procedure does not set a separate validity period for an extract: the document shows the position at the moment of generation.

Short and full extracts

The system generates two types of extracts (clause 2 of Section I of the Procedure):

• short — on the absence (presence) of a criminal record;
• full — on bringing to criminal liability, absence (presence) of a criminal record or of restrictions provided for by criminal procedure legislation.

The type of extract and the purpose of obtaining it must be indicated in the request, otherwise the provision of information will be refused (clause 12 of Section IV of the Procedure). So before ordering, it is worth finding out exactly which extract the employer or authority needs.

What information is in the system itself? Among other things — on notices of suspicion, preventive measures, court decisions (the court, articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CC), type and term of punishment, date of entry into legal force), as well as on the removal or expungement of a criminal record (clause 8 of Section I of the Regulation on the System). Records are kept until the person reaches the age of 80, and for certain categories of persons defined by the Regulation — permanently (clauses 1 and 2 of Section III of the Regulation). If a court has passed a verdict of acquittal or criminal proceedings have been closed on certain grounds of Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (CPC) listed in the Regulation, the records are subject to deletion from the system (the third paragraph of clause 2 of Section III of the Regulation).

Who can obtain an extract and how

Anyone who has turned 14 can obtain an extract about themselves; a request can also be submitted through an authorised representative (clause 1 of Section IV of the Procedure). Ways to submit:

• online — through the Diia portal or app or through an electronic account (clause 4 of Section IV of the Procedure);
• through an administrative services centre (CNAP) — in person or through a representative (same clause);
• on paper — at the EIS MIA service (the Unified Information System of the MIA), that is, at the MIA Informatisation Department, or at a separate registration point of the MIA accredited key certification centre designated for this purpose (not every such point accepts requests), regardless of the place of residence (clause 3 of Section IV of the Procedure).

The reply — an extract or a decision to refuse — is provided within a period of up to 30 calendar days (clause 13 of Section IV of the Procedure). An electronic extract is not subject to apostille, and a paper extract with an apostille is issued only by the EIS MIA service (clauses 5 and 8 of Section IV of the Procedure). This is worth taking into account if the document is needed abroad.

Is an expunged criminal record visible in the extract

From the standpoint of the law, an expunged or removed criminal record means that the person no longer has a criminal record. A criminal record exists from the day a guilty verdict enters into legal force until its expungement or removal (Article 88(1) of the CC), and in the cases and within the periods defined by Article 89 of the CC a person is deemed to have no criminal record. What these periods are and when a court can remove a criminal record earlier, we explained in the article on expungement and removal of a criminal record.

At the same time, the MIA system does not erase history: information about the court decision and about the expungement or removal of a criminal record is kept in it. So it is worth knowing what each type of extract covers (clause 2 of Section I of the Procedure):

• the short one — on the absence (presence) of a criminal record, that is, on whether the person has a criminal record on the date the extract was generated;
• the full one also concerns bringing to criminal liability. Whether it shows bringing to liability in respect of which the criminal record has been expunged, the text of the Procedure does not determine.

How an expunged criminal record looks in each type of extract can be seen only from its form — Annex 4 to the Procedure. If an extract contains an error, for example an expunged criminal record is shown as current, you can submit to the EIS MIA service supporting documents — a copy of the decision certified by the court with the date it entered into force, a certificate from the body or institution for the execution of punishments, etc. — to have changes made (clause 9 of Section IV of the Procedure).

Whether an expunged criminal record matters depends on the position: a person with an unexpunged and unremoved criminal record for an intentional criminal offence cannot enter the civil service (Article 19(2)(3) of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service”), and a person convicted of the intentional commission of a serious and particularly serious crime cannot be a police officer, even if the criminal record has been expunged or removed (Article 61(2)(2) of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”). We have collected other cases separately: professions and positions for which a criminal record is a legal obstacle.

What the employer sees

From the extract itself the employer learns only what is stated in it. The authenticity of an extract is checked through an electronic account service: it shows the number and date of generation of the extract, the surname, name and patronymic of the applicant, the type of extract and information on bringing to criminal liability, a criminal record or restrictions (clause 11 of Section IV of the Procedure).

An individual can obtain an extract only about themselves — personally or through a representative (clause 1 of Section IV of the Procedure). Institutions and organisations, including employers, may request information about a person only when it is connected with their powers defined by legislation (clause 4 of Section I of the Procedure). Such an inquiry is made by letter, the content of which must comply with Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection” (clause 1 of Section III of the Procedure).

Courts enter their decisions in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions (Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Court Decisions”), but in texts open to the general public, information that makes it possible to identify an individual is replaced with letter or digit designations (Article 7(1) of this Law). The exception is corruption offences: information on bringing to liability for them, including full name, the elements of the offence and the type of punishment, is made public by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) in the open Unified State Register of Persons Who Have Committed Corruption or Corruption-Related Offences. As regards criminal liability, this information is kept in the register until the criminal record is expunged or removed, after which it is subject to exclusion (Article 59(3) and (4)(3) of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”).

An employer cannot always demand an extract: when concluding an employment contract it is prohibited to demand documents the submission of which is not provided for by legislation (Article 25 of the Labour Code of Ukraine). For more detail, see the article on when refusal of employment because of a criminal record is lawful and when it is discrimination.

If you need to find out which extract to submit, how to correct an error in it, or whether the employer’s demand is lawful, the service page describes what an attorney in criminal cases helps with; you can contact us through the page “Contacts”.

The provisions are cited as currently in force as of 13 October 2026.