My police check has been 'referred'. What does it mean?

If your Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC) has been marked as 'Referred', it means your application has been passed to one or more police agencies for manual processing and verification.

Why does this happen?

Your check is referred when you name and date of birth are the same or similar to someone who has a criminal history in the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's national database.

Common Name Scenario

If your name is John Smith, your NCCHC will likely be referred to multiple police jurisdictions becuase many people in Australia share that name or similar variations.

Police jurisdictions must undertake additional manual research to correctly verify that your identity is different from an John Smith who may have a criminal record. This manual vetting process takes time but ensures your results are completely accurate.

Why Manual Processing is Important

✅ Accuracy: Ensures you receive the correct results for your specific identity

✅ Identity Protection: Prevents mix-ups between people with similar names

✅ Peace of Mind: Provides confidence that your check results are definitively yours

Processing Times: What to expect

Standard Processing (70% of checks)

Completed automatically without manual review
Results typically returned within 1 day
No additional verification needed

Referred Processing (30% of checks)

Manual processing required by police agencies
Results generally take 1-15 days to be returned
During high demand periods: May take upto 1 month or longer

What You Need to Do

Nothing! Simply wait for the manual processing to be completed. The police agencies will handle all verification steps automatically.

Tracking Your Application:

You can check the status of your application through your CVCheck account dashboard. As soon as a result is obtained, we will let you know.