Dominican police clearance certificate
The Dominican police clearance certificate is not issued by the consulate. It comes from the Attorney General's Office, and it is resolved on the island or online.
Who issues it
The Attorney General's Office (ProcuradurÃa General de la República). The consulate has no access to the Dominican criminal record registry and cannot certify anything about it.
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Why people request it from the United States
Mostly for immigration cases, for jobs and public examinations that require it, and for residence applications in third countries. It is nearly always a foreign authority asking, and nearly always they want it apostilled.
The step people forget: the apostille
A Dominican certificate heading abroad needs an apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santo Domingo. And the order matters: certificate first, then apostille, then translation if they ask for one.
Bear in mind too that the Dominican apostille is not recognized by Austria, Belgium or Germany, which objected to the country's accession to the convention.
What the consulate can do
It can legalize signatures on related private documents and translate official ones, and it can issue a power of attorney so somebody handles the process for you in the Dominican Republic. That last one is the practical route if you cannot travel.
The American certificate
If what you need is the American criminal record to use in the Dominican Republic, the route runs the other way: the state authority or the FBI issues it, the relevant Secretary of State apostilles it, and then it is translated.
Watch out for middlemen
This is one of the procedures with the most agencies advertising. None of them has any connection to the consulate, and the consulate recognizes no intermediaries.
How long it stays valid
Certificates of this kind usually carry a short validity. Many authorities will not take one issued more than three or six months ago, so it is worth requesting when the rest of the file is nearly ready rather than at the start.
Asking too early is an expensive mistake: it expires before you file it and the whole chain has to be repeated, apostille included.
What details are needed
Those on the Dominican identity document and, in most cases, fingerprints. That is why the procedure cannot be handled entirely at a distance and why a consular power of attorney is the practical route.
If you have never lived in the Dominican Republic
This comes up with children of Dominicans born here: the foreign authority asks for records from every country of nationality. If you have never lived on the island, the certificate is still issued and comes back clear.
Timings
They vary with the route and the workload. Assume the full chain, certificate, apostille and translation, takes weeks rather than days, and plan the file with that margin.
A consular power of attorney lets someone handle it for you on the island.Details verified on 8 September 2026.
This directory is run privately. consuladosdominicana.us does not belong to the Dominican Government or to any of its consular offices.
We publish what the official sources say and point out where they disagree. Before traveling, check the detail with the office.