What Is the Police Clearance Certificate?
A Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) is an official document issued by Bangladesh Police confirming that the applicant has no criminal record registered in Bangladesh. Ukraine requires this certificate for Temporary Residence Permit (TRP) applications under all grounds — employment, study, business, and family. Some consular posts also require it for Type D long-stay visa applications.
The PCC must be recent. Ukrainian authorities — primarily the DMSU (State Migration Service of Ukraine) — require the PCC to have been issued within 6 months of the TRP application submission date. Timing your application correctly is therefore critical to avoid having to obtain a new PCC mid-process.
| Issuing body | Bangladesh Police — Criminal Investigation Department (CID) |
|---|---|
| Online portal | pcc.police.gov.bd — primary application method as of 2026 |
| In-person office | CID headquarters, Malibagh, Dhaka (for fingerprinting appointment and collection) |
| Processing time | 10–21 working days from fingerprinting appointment |
| Fee | BDT 500–1,000 (verify current rate at pcc.police.gov.bd before applying) |
| Validity for Ukraine | 6 months from the issue date printed on the certificate |
| Language of issue | English (standard for international use requests) |
| Legalisation required | Yes — MFA Bangladesh attestation → Ukrainian Embassy legalisation → Ukrainian translation |
Who Needs a Police Clearance Certificate
A PCC is mandatory for every Bangladeshi national applying for a Ukrainian TRP regardless of the immigration category. Specific groups who must pay close attention:
- Work permit applicants: PCC required at TRP stage. The DMSU will not issue a TRP without a valid PCC for employment-route applicants.
- Student visa applicants: PCC required when converting from student visa to TRP after arrival and university enrollment registration.
- Family reunion applicants: PCC for all adults (18+) in the family group applying for family-based TRP.
- Business and investment route applicants: PCC required at TRP stage.
- Long-term D-visa applicants for some posts: some Ukrainian consular posts require PCC at the D-visa application stage — confirm with the Ukrainian Embassy in Dhaka whether this applies to your specific visa category before attending your appointment.
How to Apply Online at pcc.police.gov.bd
Bangladesh Police introduced the online PCC portal to reduce queue times and allow partial pre-processing before the in-person appointment. The online process as of 2026:
- Visit pcc.police.gov.bd and create an account using your National Identity Card (NID) number and mobile phone number.
- Complete the online application form with your full name (exactly as on your passport), date of birth, father's name, mother's name, present address, permanent address, and purpose of PCC (select "overseas employment" or "immigration" as appropriate).
- Upload a scanned copy of your NID and the biographical page of your passport. Upload a recent passport-sized photograph.
- Pay the application fee online via mobile banking, debit card, or bank transfer — the portal specifies accepted payment methods.
- Select a fingerprinting appointment slot at the CID Malibagh office. The appointment is mandatory — fingerprinting cannot be completed online.
- Attend the CID Malibagh office on your scheduled date. Bring your NID original, passport original, and the printed online application confirmation page. Fingerprinting is done on-site.
- Track your application status on the portal. Collect the completed PCC at the CID Malibagh office or receive it by registered post depending on the option selected at application.
Do not rely solely on online tracking — call the CID counter (number on pcc.police.gov.bd) if your status has not updated after 15 working days.
Legalisation Chain — The Full Sequence
Your Bangladesh PCC cannot be submitted to Ukrainian authorities in raw form. Bangladesh is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, so the PCC must pass through the full consular legalisation chain before Ukrainian authorities will accept it.
The correct sequence:
- Original PCC issued by CID Bangladesh — must be the original signed and stamped certificate, not a photocopy. The MFA will not attest photocopies.
- Bangladesh MFA attestation — submit the original PCC to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) attestation desk at Segunbagicha, Dhaka. The MFA stamps the document confirming its authenticity. Timeline: 3–5 working days. Fee: BDT 500–1,000.
- Ukrainian Embassy in Dhaka legalisation — after MFA attestation, take the document to the Ukrainian Embassy consular section. The Embassy verifies and countersigns the MFA stamp, making the document internationally recognised. Timeline: 5–10 working days. Fee: USD 30–100 (verify current rate).
- Certified Ukrainian translation in Ukraine — after the legalised PCC arrives in Ukraine, a licensed Ukrainian sworn translator prepares a certified Ukrainian translation. A Ukrainian notary certifies the translator's signature. This cannot be done in Bangladesh. Cost: UAH 1,000–2,500. Timeline: 2–5 working days.
The fully processed set — legalised original PCC plus certified Ukrainian translation bound together — is what DMSU accepts at TRP application.
Total time for full PCC chain: 5–8 weeks from PCC application submission to a ready-to-submit document set.
The 6-Month Validity Window — Timing Your Application
The PCC is valid for 6 months from its issue date for Ukrainian TRP purposes. The end-to-end Ukraine work permit process from employer engagement to TRP card in hand typically takes 14–22 weeks (roughly 3.5–5.5 months). This may appear to fit within 6 months — but it does not account for common delays.
Work permit processing at DSZ involves a mandatory 30-day labour market test period plus 7–15 additional working days for the permit decision. Embassy visa processing adds 2–4 weeks. If any step is delayed — document rejection, embassy appointment backlog, employer document errors, courier delay — you risk arriving at the DMSU TRP appointment with a PCC that has only weeks of validity remaining, or that has already expired.
Practical timing rule: do not apply for the PCC at the very beginning of your visa process. Apply once you have confirmed employer commitment and the work permit application has been filed with DSZ. The target is to have the fully legalised and translated PCC ready approximately 8–10 weeks before your expected DMSU TRP appointment date — not months earlier.
If You Have Lived Abroad
If you have lived outside Bangladesh for a cumulative period exceeding 12 months in the last 5 years, a Bangladesh PCC alone may not satisfy Ukrainian DMSU requirements. You may additionally be required to obtain police clearance from each country you resided in during that period.
For Bangladeshi nationals who previously worked in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain), each relevant country's police clearance must be obtained and legalised through that country's authentication system. Many GCC countries are Hague Apostille signatories, which simplifies legalisation for those documents compared to the Bangladesh chain.
For nationals who previously lived in the UK, EU, or other Hague-signatory countries, obtain the PCC from that country's national police authority and apostille it through that country's system. The apostille-stamped foreign PCC does not require further Bangladesh or Ukrainian Embassy legalisation — it can go directly for Ukrainian translation in Ukraine.
Discuss your full residential history with your legal adviser before beginning the application. Undisclosed periods of foreign residence that later appear in your record can trigger fraud concerns at DMSU.
If You Have a Criminal Record
Disclose any criminal record or pending legal proceedings to your legal adviser before beginning the Ukraine immigration process. Certain offences are disqualifying for Ukrainian TRP and work permit applications. However, attempting to conceal a record while submitting a PCC that reveals it creates a far more serious problem: fraud in the application, which results in permanent refusal and often a ban from future applications.
Your adviser needs to know your full legal history to give you accurate guidance. The conversation is confidential. It is always better to identify a disqualifying issue early — before investing months and significant money — than to discover it at the DMSU appointment.
Applicants often get the PCC attested at MFA, then wait for the work permit before continuing to the Embassy legalisation step. By the time they resume, the window between legalisation completion and TRP appointment is dangerously tight, or the PCC has expired. Run all steps in the correct sequence without pausing between them.