Police Check in NSW: How to Apply, Fees and What Shows Up

In New South Wales, a standard National Police Check costs $58.60, is applied for entirely online through NSW Police Force's own portal, and most digital results are ready within an hour.

New South Wales sits alongside seven other states and territories in our Australia background checks hub and on National Police Checks in Australia, which explains the two national routes, the AFP's own National Police Certificate for Commonwealth purposes and the ACIC accredited Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check that state police forces like NSW Police Force run for everything else. This page covers how that check actually works for someone applying through NSW Police Force.

Getting a National Police Check in NSW

NSW Police Force's own Criminal Records unit issues the product it calls the National Police Check (NPC), not to be confused with the AFP's "National Police Certificate," which is the federal product covered on the national anchor page above. Applications run entirely online, through portal.police.nsw.gov.au. There is no over the counter, postal, fax or email lodgement, and no in person payment at a police station. An applicant must be a NSW resident aged 14 or older, applying for themselves, never on behalf of someone else, for employment, visa, adoption, student placement or legal admission purposes. A non NSW resident applies through their own state or territory's police jurisdiction instead.

Applying and Identity Verification

NSW Police Force uses the Australian Government's Document Verification Service (DVS) rather than a fixed points based check. Documents are grouped into three tiers. List 1, the primary tier, covers an Australian birth certificate, visa, citizenship certificate, immigration card, driver licence or passport. List 2, the secondary tier, covers Medicare, a government issued Health Care Card, Australian Citizenship by Descent, a Change of Name Certificate, a Pensioner Concession Card or a Senior Health Card. List 3 covers a foreign passport, an ATO Tax File Number document, AEC enrolment, an Australian marriage certificate, proof of age or student ID cards, various licence photocards, DFAT issued travel documents, foreign government documents, a university transcript, a Commonwealth or state government ID photocard, or DVA or Centrelink benefit evidence.

Digital verification through DVS needs two List 1 documents, or one List 1 document plus one List 2 document. If DVS cannot match the supplied ID automatically, the application moves to manual verification instead, which needs one List 1 document plus two documents from Lists 2 or 3 combined, and this is the path that can take up to 10 business days. The name entered must match the supporting ID document exactly; a mismatch has to be resolved with the issuing agency first, for example through Service NSW if the mismatch is on a driver licence.

Fees for a NSW Police Check

As at 2026-08-18, NSW Police Force's own transactional product page lists the standard Name and Date of Birth check at $58.60 (GST free), a Fingerprint check at $221.70 (GST free), and an additional $5.60 if a printed certificate is mailed out. Payment is by credit or debit card only. The Fingerprint tier is not something an applicant can choose for themselves, it is restricted to overseas visa applications, adoption, and certain employment types the requesting employer or agency specifies, and once submitted the fee cannot be refunded or the application type changed.

A discounted volunteer rate of around $15 (GST free) also exists, but only through a unique link issued by a NSW Police Force registered volunteer sector organisation, not through the general applicant portal. That figure could not be independently confirmed against the current fee schedule at the time of writing, so an applicant relying on it should confirm the amount with the registered organisation or NSW Police Force directly. NSW Police Force's product page carries an explicit banner that NPC fees increase every 1 July under a CPI based regulated schedule, so the standard and fingerprint figures above should be reconfirmed on the portal if reading this well after that date.

Turnaround and How Long a Certificate Stays Current

Most digital certificates are ready within an hour, since ID verified instantly through DVS lets NSW Police Force complete the automated match immediately. Turnaround extends when a name has many potential matches, when ID needs manual verification because DVS could not match it, when a charge or conviction needs manual disclosability review, or during a system outage. Manual verification specifically can take up to 10 business days, a materially different figure from the headline "within an hour" turnaround and worth planning around if an employer's start date is tight.

NSW Police Force describes the result as a point in time check only. Its own wording is that "your NSW Police issued NPC certificate can be verified online at any time, by anyone who has a copy of it," but that "your certificate is reflective of a point in time check only." NSW Police Force does not attach an expiry date to the certificate itself, so whether an employer or agency will still accept an older result is entirely their own call. If a certificate is lost, NSW Police Force allows an electronic reprint of the same certificate within 6 months of the original issue date; a reprint cannot be back dated or stand in for a newer check.

What Shows Up on the Certificate

An NSW National Police Check discloses what NSW Police Force calls disclosable court outcomes (DCOs) under the Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW) together with federal legislation, and it can include outstanding, unresolved court matters as well as convictions. Because it is a national check, interstate convictions from other states and territories appear too. A conviction that has become spent is generally excluded from that disclosure; see Spent Convictions in New South Wales for the waiting periods, the permanent exclusions and the exceptions that still let a spent conviction through.

An NPC is explicitly not suitable for court purposes, since it may not contain every charge on file. A full criminal history for court use requires a separate Government Information Public Access (GIPA) Act request through NSW Police Force's Infolink service instead.

Checks That Replace or Add to a Standard NPC

A standard NPC is not a Working With Children Check. NSW Police Force's own guidance is direct on this: that application goes to a separate agency, the Office of the Children's Guardian, not NSW Police Force. See Working With Children Check in NSW for how that separate scheme works, including how it treats spent convictions differently.

A check needed for an overseas visa, or while the applicant is currently outside Australia, is also not an NSW Police Force product. NSW Police Force's own FAQ redirects those applicants to the AFP, covered on the national anchor page, and recommends checking with the destination country's consulate on which national product it actually requires before applying.

Using a Police Check Against You in NSW

New South Wales has no criminal record ground in the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977. That means an employer, landlord or organisation that treats someone unfavourably because of a criminal record, spent or otherwise, is not committing a state law discrimination breach the way they would be for a ground the Act actually lists, such as race or disability. The only avenue for someone who believes a police check result was used against them unfairly is the federal Australian Human Rights Commission's conciliation mechanism, covered on Criminal Record and Employment Rights in Australia, which is not a binding state law right but a complaint and conciliation process.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a police check cost in NSW?

A standard Name and Date of Birth National Police Check costs $58.60 (GST free), as at 2026-08-18, on NSW Police Force's own online portal. A Fingerprint check costs $221.70, and a mailed printed copy adds $5.60. NSW Police Force's product page states fees increase each 1 July under a CPI based schedule, so confirm the current amount before applying.

Is there a discounted rate for volunteers in NSW?

A volunteer rate of around $15 (GST free) exists, but it is not self service. A volunteer sector organisation must first be registered with NSW Police Force, and that organisation issues the applicant a unique link before the discounted check can be lodged. This figure comes from a FAQ page that the force's own current fee schedule shows to be out of date elsewhere, so confirm it directly with the registered organisation or NSW Police Force before relying on it.

How long does an NSW police check take?

NSW Police Force says most digital certificates, verified instantly through the government's Document Verification Service, are available within an hour. An application that needs manual identity verification, because the ID supplied did not match automatically, can take up to 10 business days. A Fingerprint check's clock does not start until the fingerprints, taken in person at a NSW police station, are physically received by the Criminal Records office.

Does an NSW National Police Check expire?

No. NSW Police Force describes the certificate as a point in time check that does not carry its own expiry date. Acceptance of an older result is entirely up to the organisation relying on it. A lost certificate can be reprinted electronically within 6 months of the original issue date, but that does not represent a newer check.

Do spent convictions appear on an NSW police check?

No, once a conviction is spent under the Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW), the disclosure obligation is removed and it should not appear on a standard National Police Check. See Spent Convictions in New South Wales for the waiting periods and the exceptions to that rule.

Can an employer in NSW hold a criminal record against someone with no state law protection?

NSW's own Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 does not list criminal record as a protected ground, so there is no state complaint pathway comparable to what exists in some other states. The only avenue is the federal Australian Human Rights Commission's conciliation mechanism, covered on Criminal Record and Employment Rights in Australia.