Criminal Record Certificate from Home Country
This page is machine translated from Ieumi's guide written in Korean. If the meaning is confusing, please look at the Korean original text. View original text (Korean)
Issued by your home country's police authority; apostille or consular authentication required (within 6 months of issue date).
Deadline
There is a validity period from the date of issue. If you get it too early, you must get it again.
📌 Key points
Article 6-2 of the Enforcement Rules of the Nationality Act states that 'the Minister of Justice may, where necessary, have an applicant for permission for naturalization or for reinstatement of nationality submit a criminal record certificate from their home government or a similar document', and Article 10 of the Nationality Affairs Guidelines sets the persons who must submit it as 'applicants for permission for naturalization aged 14 or older (including applicants for accompanying acquisition)'. So if you are 14 or older, you submit it unless you are exempt (Guidelines Annex 2). If you have lived in another country for a total of 1 year or more within the last 3 years, you also submit that country's certificate.
📍 Where to go and get it in person
Home country embassy (consulate) in Korea or home country investigative agency
⚠️ Things to watch out for
This must be issued by your home country's police authority and be within 6 months of its issue date. It requires apostille or consular authentication, and must be submitted together with a notarization and Korean translation. You can check whether your country is a party to the Apostille Convention through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Overseas Safe Travel site (www.0404.go.kr) or your home country's authorities. If it is a party country, get the apostille from your home government; if not, get consular authentication from a Korean diplomatic mission (embassy or consulate general) located in your home country. Please remember that this means a Korean diplomatic mission in your home country, not your home country's embassy in Korea. Also, Korean overseas missions and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot apply an apostille to a document issued abroad. So rather than putting it off to deal with after arriving in Korea, it is safer to finish this while you are still in your home country. If you're unsure how to obtain the document, you can ask your home country's embassy in Korea. When calling, ask about ① the documents needed ② how many days processing takes ③ whether an appointment is needed ④ the fee amount. Your own country's embassy is one of the few places where you can get help in your native language.
Basis
- 국적법 시행규칙 (법제처 국가법령정보센터 — 현행 시행 2026-10-02 판으로 2026-10-05 대조 · 이 조문은 그 개정에 안 걸림(2026-10-02 개정은 별지 서식 문구뿐))
- 헤이그국제사법회의(HCCH) 협약 제12호 현황표 — https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41 (2026-09-01 수집)
- 현직 귀화 면접관 직접 확인 (카카오톡 문답, 2026-09-07)
This content was checked on 2026-10-03.