SL Employees & UAE Employers – Frequently Asked Questions

The Good Conduct Certificate is primarily a Police Clearance Certificate issued by the Police providing criminal clearance to a person’s behaviour for a period of time the person concerned spent under the jurisdiction of a specific Police of a specific country.

As per the UAE Cabinet decree 1/8 of 2017, a good conduct certificate has become a mandatory requirement for all the applicants of Employment with effect from 4th February 2018. In this context, the UAE authorities are requesting a good conduct certificate issued to the concerned person by his/her country of origin, or the country or countries that he/she has been residing for the past five years.

The basic purpose of producing a Good Conduct Certificate to the UAE authorities is to ensure them that the visa applicant has a clear record in his/her country of origin or the country of residence within five (05) previous years. Hence, the UAE authorities become able to issue visa for such persons with confidence, whilst also ensuring the safety and security of the UAE.

There are 2 ways to apply for a Good Conduct Certificate, depending on his country of residence

1. If the person is a new visa applicant applying from Sri Lanka, he can contact his relevant local police station and obtain the Good Conduct Certificate. The certificate so obtained should be translated to either Arabic or English by a competent legal translator and it should be attested by the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka and by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
2. If the person is applying for a Good Conduct Certificate from the UAE, he/she has the two (02) following options for application of the same;
   1. He / She can either visit the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Dubai or the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in order to obtain the Good Conduct Certificate. For this purpose, the applicant has to bring;
      1. A copy of the National Identity Card issued by the Department of Persons Registration of Sri Lanka.
      2. A copy of the Passport issued by the Controller General Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka.
      3. If there are any discrepancy/ies between the names mentioned in the NIC and the Passport, an affidavit declaring that both documents are indicating the same person. (For this purpose a fee of AED 40 (approximately Rs 1600) is charged.
      4. The application form can be downloaded through https://www.police.lk/images/clearence/clearance_application.pdf  for submission)
   2. The certificate can be applied via online, i.e. https://www.police.lk/index.php/crime-division/91-application-for-clearance-certificate , through the website of Sri Lanka Police, following the guidelines stipulated therein. (Rs 1500 is charged and it should be settled through appropriate online payment mode – Visa/Master/American Express/ Ecash)

If the Good Conduct Certificate is applied through the Consulate General, the time involved between the submission of application and receipt of the same may approximately will vary between three (03) to six (06) months. However, since this procedure is done by the Sri Lanka police, depending on a number of supporting reports to be submitted by a number of institutions, the afore-mentioned time period may depend at the discretion of Sri Lanka Police.

Nevertheless, if the applicant is going by person to Sri Lanka Police or applies it through the online system. He/ She will be able to collect it within two (02) to six (06) weeks.

1. Visiting the relevant police station in Sri Lanka by person is the easiest and the earliest way of obtaining the Good Conduct Certificate.
2. If it is applied through the online link of the Sri Lanka police, i.e. https://www.police.lk/index.php/crime-division/91-application-for-clearance-certificate , it may take a time period between 4 to 6 weeks and this period may also depend and vary at the sole discretion of the Sri Lanka Police, depending on a number of supporting reports to be received in this regard by a number of concerned institutions.

Therefore, the applicants are strongly advised to use the two above means to expeditiously receive the Good Conduct Certificate.
In addition to the above options, if any applicant wishes to obtain the Good Conduct Certificate through the Consulate General, it is still possible to obtain following the procedure mentioned at 3 (a) above. However, please be noted that it might take relatively a longer period of time in obtaining the certificate through this method (i.e. between 3 to 6 months), since it is required to collect the relevant documents from this end and to forward them to its higher destination in Sri Lanka through diplomatic mail and also to follow the same in returning the documents back to this Consulate General from Sri Lanka for which this Consulate General has very limited control in expediting.

Yes. The Good Conduct Certificate should be attested by both the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the UAE in Colombo prior to submission to the employer.
As indicated earlier, please also ensure that the Good Conduct Certificate must be translated to Arabic or English by a competent legal translator prior to attestation.

No. After receipt of the Good Conduct Certificate from Sri Lanka Police, the Good Conduct Certificate could be attested in absentia of the person from the Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For this task, the person who is residing abroad or elsewhere should send an authorization letter addressed to Secretary/Foreign Affairs with attention to Senior Director General of Consular Affairs delegating authority to the person who will be bringing the document for attestation, explicitly mentioning the details of sender’s Passport/NIC details along with a copy of the same and indicating the authorized person’s Passport/NIC details in the same letter. The person who has been authorized to obtain attestation on behalf of another person must always produce his/her original Passport/NIC (as indicated in the letter) for verification of his identity by the Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once this document is attested by the Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it can be produced to the Embassy of UAE in Sri Lanka for re-attestation.

Sample of the delegation letter;

Even though it has not been specified whether the new visa renewals require Good Conduct Certificates to be produced all times, the applicant of visa has to submit the same at the request of the employer. Therefore, prior to the renewal of visa, the visa applicants are advised to contact their employers and to ascertain whether the employer requires a Good Conduct Certificate.

Those who were born and raised in the UAE will not need a Good Conduct Certificate. However, those who spend sometime in the home country, or any other country before applying for a job, must produce a Good Conduct Certificate related to their previous domicile.

1. Recruit through an employment recruitment Agency
2. Recruit on your own (Private Recruit) (Domestic workers Private Recruitment)

Note: But not possible for Domestic helpers (Housemaid, babysitter/nanny, house cook, House Driver, Houseboy etc.) to obtain their first Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) registration in the UAE

• If Sri Lankan Sponsor wants to skip the training,
• Sri Lankan sponsor should Undertake full responsibility in writing, of the work of the employee. (a letter in this regard should be submitted to the Consulate General and be attested by the Consulate General and hand over to the sponsor enabling him to submit the same to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE)