International Police Checks

Also known as an International Criminal History Check (ICHC), it details recorded criminal history in over 200 countries and overseas territories. This includes identifying felony and/or misdemeanour level conviction records and arrests pending adjudication.

Your check is usually ready within 5 to 15 working days. In some cases, it will take longer, depending on the processing times of government agencies coordinating checks in each country.

You may be new to Australia and want to verify your background to include in your CV or job application. Many businesses include an international police check as part of their pre-screening process if candidates have spent more than six months overseas. ICHC checks are usually required for international students, teachers and health practitioners, including:

• AHPRA registration
• Nursing Council of NZ registration
• Monash University International
• Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia.

fit2work is an AHPRA approved vendor and a leading provider of international criminal history checks (ICHC). It is mandatory for health practitioners in Australia to apply for an international police check if they fall under specific categories. These include declaring a criminal history outside Australia and/or have lived in one or more countries other than Australia for six consecutive months or longer when aged 18 years or more.

When you submit your international police application with fit2work, our support team will review it to ensure all the required information and supporting documents are correct. You will receive a confirmation email with a reference page and reference number. You must provide these details with your Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration application.

There is no need to provide the international police check report to AHPRA. Your ICHC results will be sent directly to AHPRA, and you will receive an emailed copy.

Log in to fit2work by clicking the login button on the top right-hand corner of our website. If you’re not fit2work registered, you will be asked to provide some details so we can send you an invitation email. You then log in to the fit2work portal to complete the data entry and consent. Upload your IDs and take a selfie for proving your identity. Submit your order for processing.

When you log into your fit2work account, you will be able to view the status of your application in the current checks tab.

When you have submitted your international police check application, fit2work will send you an ICHC reference page, including check reference number. This usually takes between 1 to 3 business days.

Some countries will make a police check certificate available, while others will not. Use the fit2work online portal to access any results or certificates.

AHPRA requires a check for every country you have lived in for more than six months since you turned 18.

For individuals based in Australia, an Australian check is not international. To conduct an Australian check, you would need a national police check.

We began processing police checks in 2008 and today we are one of Australia’s foremost online screening service providers. As an AHPRA approved vendor, fit2work meets rigorous requirements to provide international criminal history checks for health practitioners Australia wide.

Refer to https://www.ahpra.gov.au/registration/registration-process/proof-of-identity.aspx for proof of identity requirements.

Our international police checks are 100% online and can be ordered from anywhere in Australia. fit2work has conducted criminal background checks for customers from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania.

There are no expiry dates on international police checks. But they are a point-in-time check. Policies vary between employers as to how recently they require the screening to have been done. 

The fit2work online portal allows you to track and manage the status of all your police checks. You can search and schedule future refresher checks through our electronic database.

When an international check has been 'referred for manual processing', it means that our international providers are administering the check. As these records are managed by the government or police of these overseas countries, fit2work cannot expedite any international checks.

You can verify a check by going to https://www.fit2work.com.au/Public/ResultVerification and following the prompts.

You can download a copy of your result by logging into your fit2work account and going to the 'current checks’ tab. Click on the magnifying glass in the action column called 'view result'. From there a window will appear that will allow you to download the report.