Local Letter of Clearance Background Check Apostille and Legalization

Need a San Francisco police clearance record / letter of clearance / background check apostille? Or maybe one from a different city or municipality? SF Notary + Apostille explains how the process works.

What is a local letter of clearance?

According to the San Francisco Police Department, a letter of clearance (sometimes called a letter of good conduct) “establishes that you have a clean criminal record in a given city or county. You may be asked for one when applying for a visa or green card, adopting a child or finding a job. A clearance letter may also be helpful if you have been the victim of mistaken identity or identity theft.”

A letter of clearance is also called a clearance letter, a local background check, a letter of good behavior, or a police background check.

What is a local letter of clearance apostille?

A letter of clearance apostille is a certification process that validates your criminal record from your local police department for use abroad. Overseas parties may require an apostilled copy of your background check in connection with your application to live, work, or study abroad.

The letter of clearance is issued by the SFPD and signed by a clerk at the Records Office. Then we submit the notarized document to the California Secretary of State (CA SOS) in Sacramento for apostille. A CA SOS staff member first reviews the document to confirm that it is eligible for an apostille and verifies the signature of the notary public who signed the certificate. If the document meets all requirements, the Secretary of State issues a numbered apostille certificate, which is attached to the letter of clearance. The apostille is then permanently bound to the document with the official red circular seal, stamped so that it appears partially on both the apostille certificate and the letter of clearance. Our expedited apostille service completes this process in as little as one to two business days.

Countries that are not members of the Hague Apostille Convention (such as Thailand, the UAE, or Vietnam) require additional embassy or consulate authentication and often U.S. State Department authentication. We will detail the additional authentication services required and the timeline for obtaining them in our price quote. (See Step 1 below).

How do I get my local letter of clearance apostilled or legalized?

Step 1: Email us for a price quote

Pricing varies depending on what country it’s going to, your location, the turnaround time needed, and the shipping destination. For a quick price quote, send an email to info@sfnotary.com with the following information:

  • Your name, address, and phone number

  • The name, address, phone number, and email address of the recipient (if you’d like us to ship it to a third party)

  • The destination country

We will respond without delay with a price quote, estimated timeline, and payment instructions. Then we will start the apostille/authentication process.

Step 2: Meet us at the police department

For San Francisco police clearance records, please contact us to arrange having one of our mobile notary public apostille specialists meet you at the Records Office located at 850 Bryant, Room 475. When you are there, you will request your letter of good conduct from the clerk, show the clerk your ID and submit a fingerprint, and we will notarize the clerk’s signature on the letter the clerks produces. We will then take the notarized letter with us and obtain the apostille from the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento and ship the apostilled letter using FedEx International Priority or FedEx Priority Overnight service the next business day after the notary appointment at 850 Bryant Street. We will collect payment from you at the notary appointment.

If you are unable to meet us in person, or if you need a letter of clearance from another police department, please call us at +1 (415) 655-9455 to make arrangements.

Step 3: We handle the rest

Once we receive the certificate of no record, we will obtain an apostille from the California Secretary of State in Sacramento and ship it within one to two business days. If you need the certificate legalized for a non-Hague apostille country, we will obtain the consulate, embassy and/or US State Department authentications for you for an additional fee, then ship it as soon as it is fully apostilled and legalized. We use FedEx Priority Overnight Service for USA destinations and FedEx International Priority Service for overseas destinations. For any document shipped overseas, we will also send you a scan of the apostilled document for your records.

Contact us about a local background check

For more information or to place your order, please email info@sfnotary.com or call +1 (415) 655-9455.

Disclaimer: Information on this website is for informational purposes only. These instructions are based on our knowledge and experience and are meant to be helpful; however, they might contain errors. Please let us know if you encounter mistakes so that we can promptly correct them. SF Notary + Apostille is not a law firm, and its agents are not attorneys. Please contact a licensed attorney or your local bar association for counsel on legal matters.