The CRB cannot currently access
overseas criminal records or other relevant information as part of
its Disclosure service. If you are recruiting people from
overseas and wish to check their overseas criminal record, a CRB
Check may not provide a complete picture of their criminal record
that may or may not exist.
To help you get a fuller picture of their background, the CRB
provides guidance on how you can get further information from the
countries listed right.
If the country that you are looking
for is not listed you may wish to contact the country’s
representative in the United Kingdom. Contact details for
those countries that have a representative in the United Kingdom
can be found on the Foreign and Commonwealth website www.fco.gov.uk/lds (new
window), telephone 020 7008 1500, or on a document found on
the Australian Government's website here.
The CRB is not involved in the processing of applications made
by individuals to overseas authorities and therefore will not be
responsible for the contents or the length of time taken for
information to be returned.
For up-to-date information on the cost of an enquiry to a
particular country's representative, please see the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office website using the link provided above.
The information provided by overseas authorities may be in the
language of the country to which the application was made. It
may therefore be necessary for customers to have this information
translated. The CRB does not provide information about
translation issues.
It is a criminal offence under section 8 of the Asylum and
Immigration Act 1996 to employ someone subject to immigration
control aged over 16 who does not have leave to be in the UK or
undertake the work in question.
You can establish a statutory defence from conviction
under section 8 by seeing, copying and retaining the copy of
certain specific documents at the point of recruitment which
demonstrate that the work is permitted and by satisfying yourself
that the documents relate to your potential employee. The defence
is not available if you know that the work is not permitted or if
you undertake the checks after employing an indivdual.
A CRB check will not provide a section 8 statutory defence and
you should accordingly undertake the document checks to acquire the
section 8 statutory defence prior to the employment commencing as
well as undertaking the CRB check.
The Border and Immigration Agency operate an Employers'
Helpline and and Employer Checking Service to assist employers with
undertaking the appropriate document checks. Further details of
these services and comprehensive guidance on the law on preventing
illegal working can be found at
www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/employingmigrants
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