As an agency which helps foreigners for their Police Check in China, clients asked for the ways to tell whether a notarized police check is real.

We list 3 methods to check whether the police check is genuine.

The most convenient method - checking the watermark.

All the notarial certificates from Chinese notary offices are secured by paper with watermarks. If you look the paper against the sun, you will see a ornamental column (google huabiao images) and a line of Chinese characters.

You can do it without extra cost and find out the result right away.

The most reliable method - legalization.

Embassies in China are providing a service - legalization, it will prove the notarized police check is genuine.

But this method is time-consuming and requires extra fee for legalization.

The unpopular but growing method - scanning QR code.

Shanghai Notary Offices offered a method to check the genuineness by scanning the QR code which printed on the notarial certificate. Both of iOS and Android smartphones can manage that.

By typing correct verification code, the browser will be redirected to result page as below.

Shanghai-Issue notarized Police Clearance Certificate verification