Hong Kong Certificate of No Criminal Conviction

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa
1

Hi everyone, one of the countries for which I need to provide a COC for a citizenship application is Hong Kong. I am not a resident there since 2007.

Going through some online posts, its clear that

  1. they need a letter from the embassy that outlines the need for the same
  2. they will send it only to the embassy and not to the applicant

Has anyone gone through this process and let me know how to get this initial letter from the embassy and also how the process works - does the embassy finally send us the COC stamped by them?

2

I have been through the process a couple of times, the last time very recently. For a resident of HK, it’s quite simple:

  • Contact Portuguese consulate in Macau (via email) and they will provide you with a formal request letter via email.

  • Use this to apply for the CNCC online with the HK police and make appointment for fingerprint collection.

  • Attend HK police station for fingerprint collection.

  • The police will issue the certificate a week or two later and send it to the consulate in Macau.

  • You need to collect it physically from there, or have someone with a POA collect it physically from there for you. Specifically:

    “Applicants must collect their CNCC in person, or in alternative, by third party with power of attorney (Original POA notarized by Notary).”

The consulate charges MOP 943 (~EUR100).

If you’re not in HK, the police allow you to get the fingerprints done at a consulate in the country you reside in. But…just looking on the police website site now, it seems there’s a new policy from 30-March-2026 stating that you may not need to provide fingerprints if can use the iAM Smart app, but you’d likely need to hold a permanent resident card, not sure if you do.

All the info is here:

and here:

Add: The consulate contact details are here. You need the email for notary matters:

1 Like
3

I wrote to the Macau Embassy and they have asked me to submit a few documents. But they have not outlined how much they charge to stamp the document and to send it to me by courier (or even if they will).

Thanks for the links. For the HKG police, I need to fill the form to see if I need to submit fingerprints. The exceptions are not very clear…

4

Unless something has changed, I’m reasonably sure that they wont send it. It must be collected. So you’d need to pay a third party to collect it and send it to you and they’d need an original POA from you notarized etc.

But of course check with them as things may have changed.

5

Okay. You’ve got a mission ahead of you assuming you’re not still resident in HK.

  1. Book a flight to London and make an appointment with the Met Police for the fingerprints. It costs around ÂŁ100. The PT police and the Chinese consulate in Lisbon will not do them.

  2. Get a PT lawyer to write to the PT Consulate in Macau requesting the letter to the HK police. They’re unlikely to reply to you as a private citizen.

  3. Create an account and apply for the PCC online with this letter and courier them your fingerprints. Wait.

  4. After the Macau consulate has your PCC they will translate and stamp it.

  5. Contact a lawyer in Macau and send them a signed and apostiled Power of Attorney to retrieve the PCC from the PT Consulate.

  6. This lawyer will courier it to you.

So, there you have it. We’re doing this at the moment. Just try Thailand and Vietnam. They’re even worse.

6

Thanks RG and Tim. I was getting a feeling the Embasssy wasn’t exactly very supportive and I also don’t understand why HK can’t release the COC to the applicant - they are a party to the Hague convention on Apostille and it would have been a simple process.

7

Did anyone use a local lawyer or agency in Macau to manage this? Especially given the requirement of a POA for anyone to even collect the document, not sure how easy it is to organize it from outside. I am based in Singapore and don’t plan to make the trek to HKG or Macau for this.

8

Point 2 is wrong. The Macau consulate are quite responsive to individual emails and usually reply within a day or two, sending information on what to supply or the form and then the letter. However, regarding fingerprints, those new rules are TOTAL BULLSHIT. I applied for my latest CNCC last week and meet ALL the criteria of the new law. They asked me to come for fingerprints anyway! I am now on route to Portugal so of course I cannot come in until I get back, which will delay my application weeks. I tried asking them why they need fingerprints when it said I did not and they made some rediculous comment about “sometimes people enter HK on a different passport”. WTF? You either meet the criteria or you don’t. So don’t rely on that.

9

Well I guess YMMV. We’ve had to do this twice - once while in HK but during Covid so trips to Macau were impossible and again now from Lisbon. Both times we’ve had to get our immigration lawyers in Lisbon to write to the consulate requesting the referral letter. But good to hear you’ve been able to deal with them directly.

You won’t get fingerprints done in Lisbon. The easiest, nearest, we found was the Met Police service in London which is booked and paid for online in advance so could in theory be done on a day trip. The Chinese consulate in Lisbon indicated they would do fingerprints for HK citizens but not for foreigners despite it being a HK requirement that the Mainland doesn’t have for PCCs.

10

Thank you both for the inputs. Agree with Sarah that the Macau embassy has been quite responsive so far but sent a form asking for HKID. Since I am in Singapore, getting the fingerprints locally should be possible.

The collection is the part I am worried about. How did you arrange for the collection of the documents from the Embassy?

11

Heh, we just did our fingerprinting at Lisbon PSP in Feb, 2026 and I am still hearing people can do so thus far. I am wondering what is stopping you from getting fingerprints in Lisbon?

@kramanat We did use a Macau lawyer to collect the legalised CNCC last month from the Embassy on behalf of us given a POA (you need to courier back to them the physical signed copy, and they will take care of the rest). They can also send to our Portugal lawyer directly by DHL at a fees. I can share with you their admin contact if you’re interested. Their fees is not cheap though, a few thousand HK$ but if you need someone to help doing it remotely and reliably.

12

Not doing it in Portugal as I am here in Singapore :slight_smile:

Herculus, pls share the lawyer’s contact in DM and let me see if it makes sense. I have friends in HKG who have offered to go to Macau and pick it up, but trying to avoid that unless requried.

13

@HCheng

The police in Lisbon. We have visited a number of police stations in and around central Lisbon and they have refused to do this and denied all knowledge of this type of service. There is zero information about fingerprinting by the police available on line. All searching and communication in native Portuguese.

We did find a price organisation that will do FBI fingerprinting but the FBI is not the HK Police and as we know the HK police are not very flexible. We also found a private British company that would come to Lisbon to do it but (a) they charge GBP2800 for three days to make the trip; and (b) they admit the HK police may not accept them.

Where, exactly, did you get them done in Lisbon and what specific process did you request? Can you give detailed information please because this would be invaluable information for the forum.

14

@kramanat You will still need your friends to have a physical signed PoA for the Macau embassy to release your PCC (and it will need drafting in legalese here in Lisbon so there could be lawyer costs here - check this with the Macau embassy and whether they want an apostle on it or what they would accept) but it will undoubtedly be cheaper than the Macau lawyers fee as the return ferry journey and a few celebratory pastel de nata will be a small price to pay compared to local legal fees.

15

Makes sense, I will bribe a friend with some good food and drinks for a day trip to Macau :slight_smile:

I will need to still get a notarized document made etc - just tiring thinking about it.

16

@richn4

We actually did it twice, once in Setubal area, once in Lisbon PSP. You have to go to their treasury office to pay the fees for the fingerpriting service. Interestingly, the Setubal cost is 102 euro while Lisbon is 121 euro (I don’t know if it is different region/different time that caused the difference), then go to the special PSP unit that offer fingerprinting service (not all PSP office do indeed). Here’s the original instruction from the Setubal Chefe Principal which we email to enquire about the service:

Para o efeito, V.ª Ex.ª deverá ter em consideração o seguinte:

1.º passo – Deverá deslocar-se aos serviços desta Polícia (PSP) – Tesouraria, sitos na Avenida Luísa Todi, n.º 350 – 2904-502 Setúbal e proceder ao pagamento do ato administrativo no valor de 102€ (cento e dois euros) e posterirmente ser-lhe-á emitida a correspondente Fatura, pelo Núcleo de Recursos Financeiros, deste Comando Distrital da PSP de Setúbal;

2.º passo – Deverá obter o impresso/formulário próprio para a recolha das impressões digitais, o qual deve ser obtido no site da embaixada ou no departamento que requer a diligência.

3.º passo – Posteriormente e na posse dos documentos acima indicados (fatura comprovativa do pagamento e formulário próprio), deverá deslocar-se, junto dos nossos serviços competentes, nomeadamente à Secção de Polícia Técnica (SPT), sitos na Rua Oliveira Martins, n.º 6ª, 2900-510 Setúbal, nos dias úteis das 09h00 às 12h00 e das 14h00 às 17h00, para ali proceder à diligência da recolha das impressões digitais.

For Lisbon area, we pay the fees at the Treasury first:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/L9wCkNT1eP3USEPP9?g_st=isi

then went to this PSP quarter to have the fingerprint:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YWCVTvXFnogoueCu8?g_st=iw

I actually heard thru the grapevine there’s the PSP unit in Saldhna area doing the fingerprints for free, but I don’t have any details yet.

Regarding the fingerprint card, just tell the police officier that Hong Kong Police doesn’t offer any fingerprint card. Using the Portugal local one would be good. Good luck!

17

DM’ed you the Macau lawyer contact detail.

18

During covid my lawyer (in Portugal) arranged for a firm he knew in Macau to collect and courier to him. Ask your lawyer or if you do not have one, try just googling any law firm. They need a POA I think to collect. It’s a PITA.