Certified translation › Police clearance certificate
Police clearance certificate translation for Switzerland is a notarised certified translation of a Strafregisterauszug — or of a foreign certificate for a Swiss authority — by a qualified translator, for an employer, immigration authority or licensing body. We set out the difference between the Privatauszug and the Sonderprivatauszug; the apostille comes from the Federal Chancellery, not from us. Binding fixed price from CHF 89, certification and shipping included.
VOSTRA-ready · notarised certified translation · apostille via the Federal Chancellery · DIN EN ISO 17100
A Swiss police clearance certificate may need a certified translation when a foreign authority or employer has to rely on it — a work permit office, an immigration authority, a professional licensing board, or a foreign embassy processing a visa application. Equally, a Swiss authority — a naturalisation office, the cantonal Migrationsamt, or a court — may require a certified translation of a foreign police clearance certificate submitted from abroad. The exact formal requirement depends on the canton, receiving body and intended use. Where notarisation of a translator's signature is required, the notarisation confirms the authenticity of the signature; FÜD checks the required form before the assignment.
The Swiss criminal-record extract — the Strafregisterauszug, commonly called the Privatauszug — is issued centrally by the Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz, BJ) in Bern from the federal VOSTRA criminal register, and can be ordered online or at a Swiss post office. Anyone whose activity involves regular contact with minors or particularly vulnerable people may instead need the stricter Sonderprivatauszug. This guide explains which extract applies to you, whether an apostille is needed, and how much a notarised certified translation costs.
Which extract
What you request from the Bundesamt für Justiz — and whether it needs a translation at all — depends on who is asking and why. Three cases cover almost every situation.
Standard use
Work with minors
Coming to Switzerland
Whichever direction the extract travels, the receiving office decides what it accepts. In Switzerland, the required form can depend on the canton, receiving authority and intended use; where certification or notarisation is required, FÜD clarifies the applicable form before the assignment.
Step by step
Whichever direction it travels, these four steps turn a police clearance certificate into a document the receiving office can file — and show how to order a notarised certified translation.
Request the Privatauszug or Sonderprivatauszug online via the Bundesamt für Justiz or at a post office; for a foreign authority, confirm first which one it wants.
For use abroad, the receiving authority may require an apostille. Because the extract is issued by a federal authority, that apostille comes from the Federal Chancellery — never from a cantonal Staatskanzlei, and never from the FÜD.
A professional translator renders the extract, transliterates names to match your passport, and signs a certification statement; a Swiss notary then certifies that signature.
You hand in the original (with apostille if required) and the notarised certified translation. You receive an advance PDF and the certified hard copy by post.
If an apostille is required, get it first: the Federal Chancellery stamps the original Strafregisterauszug, and only then is the extract — apostille included — translated as one consistent document. Submitting a translation before the apostille means the apostille itself arrives untranslated, and the receiving office will send you back for a second round.
A police clearance certificate rarely moves alone. Depending on the purpose, the receiving office asks for supporting documents too — each foreign-language item needing a notarised certified translation.
| Document | Needed for | Handled by |
|---|---|---|
| Strafregisterauszug (Privatauszug) | Employment abroad, visa applications, professional registration | Notarised certified translation |
| Sonderprivatauszug | Roles with regular contact to minors or vulnerable people | Notarised certified translation |
| Foreign police clearance certificate | Swiss residence, naturalisation, professional licensing | Notarised certified translation |
| Apostille on the extract | Authentication for use abroad, or of a foreign extract in Switzerland | Notarised certified translation of the apostille |
| Court judgment or extract (if any entry exists) | Context for an entry on the record | Notarised certified translation |
| Passport / national ID | Reference spelling of names | Notarised certified translation |
Switzerland has no system of state-sworn or court-authorised translators, unlike Germany or Austria. Certification works differently here: a professional translator signs the translation to attest its accuracy and completeness, and a Swiss notary (Notariat) certifies that signature — confirming the translator's identity and that the signature is genuine, not the linguistic content itself. Together this produces a notarised certified translation, the form Swiss and, in most cases, foreign authorities recognise.
For use abroad, the Strafregisterauszug itself often needs an apostille too. Because the Bundesamt für Justiz is a federal authority, that apostille is issued by the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzlei) in Bern — not by a cantonal Staatskanzlei, which handles apostilles for cantonal and communal documents such as birth or marriage certificates. Switzerland is a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention but is not an EU member state, so EU Regulation 2016/1191 — which abolishes the apostille between member states — does not apply to Swiss documents. The FÜD does not issue apostilles of any kind; we advise on the correct authority and translate the extract and its apostille together once you have it.
Police clearance certificates are among the most-translated documents for employment abroad and Swiss immigration files, and they arrive from every continent. FÜD assigns a native-speaker translator with correct name transliteration for each — and 70+ languages besides.
Common pitfalls
A police clearance certificate looks simple, which is exactly why the mistakes are avoidable. These are the recurring reasons a translation is queried — and how a notarised certified translation avoids them.
| Pitfall | Why it goes wrong | How the FÜD solves it |
|---|---|---|
| "No entries" translated loosely | The key line stating there are no entries must read as unambiguously clean; a vague rendering can look evasive to a foreign case officer. | We translate the official "no entries" formula exactly and consistently, without softening or embellishing it. |
| Offence categories "translated" instead of explained | Swiss StGB articles have no exact equivalent abroad — a mistranslated term can change the apparent charge. | We render the offence sense-for-sense, keep the article reference in the original, and add a brief explanatory note. |
| Issuing authority renamed or guessed | Guessing an English name for the "Bundesamt für Justiz" or "Strafregister" makes the source unfindable for the receiving office. | The issuing authority's name stays in the original, with an explanatory equivalent in brackets. |
| Name transliteration doesn't match the passport | A name in a non-Latin script guessed phonetically differs from the passport, and the receiving office queries it. | Names are transliterated by the applicable rules (ISO / passport scheme) and matched exactly to your ID. |
| Extract too old | Many offices require an extract issued within the last three to six months; translating a stale one wastes it. | We flag recency requirements up front and turn the translation around quickly, express if needed. |
| Apostille from the wrong authority, or missing | The Strafregisterauszug is a federal document; an apostille from a cantonal Staatskanzlei is not valid for it. | We confirm the Federal Chancellery is the correct authority before you apply, and translate extract and apostille together. |
First: does the receiving authority want the Privatauszug or the stricter Sonderprivatauszug? Second: does it require an apostille from the Federal Chancellery? Answering both before you order the extract avoids a second application and a second translation.
A clean Strafregisterauszug must read as unambiguously clean.
So: the right extract, a passport-matched name, and the Federal Chancellery apostille in the right order — settled first.
So it works
You upload a clear, legible scan of the Privatauszug, Sonderprivatauszug or foreign extract and tell us the passport spelling of the name(s) and who the translation is for. We review scope and language direction and name a binding fixed price. Once you confirm, a professional translator renders the extract faithfully — layout, stamps and the "no entries" wording included — and signs the certification statement; a Swiss notary then certifies that signature.
You receive the finished document as a PDF in advance, then the notarised original by post. Standard extracts are usually ready within a few working days once the price is confirmed. On request we check in advance whether your employer, licensing body or destination country abroad needs an apostille from the Federal Chancellery — so the submission is right the first time.
We review the extract, the language and who it is for, then name a binding fixed price. A standard Privatauszug is usually a flat fee per document; longer or unusual extracts are priced per standard line — notarisation, an advance PDF and postal delivery included.
| Professional translation by a qualified translator | ✓included |
| Notarised certification (signature certified by a Swiss notary) | ✓included |
| "No entries" wording translated exactly | ✓included |
| Passport-matched spelling of names | ✓included |
| Advance PDF & postal delivery of the notarised original | ✓included |
A standard line is 55 characters incl. spaces; a standard Privatauszug is usually a flat fee per document. Foreign or extensive extracts are priced per standard line, from CHF 1.09. The exact fixed price depends on volume, language combination and file condition — plus VAT in Switzerland. A required apostille is issued by the Federal Chancellery and is not part of our service. How the price is made up →
Sources & legal basis
Every legal and procedural claim on this page is tied to a primary, verifiable source — Swiss federal law, the responsible federal authorities and the relevant Hague/EU instruments. Acceptance of any individual document is always decided by the receiving office.
FAQ
My Privatauszug was accepted by the Canadian employer without a single follow-up question — the "no entries" line read exactly as it should, and my name matched my passport to the letter.
L. Meier · relocation, Basel
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