re police clearance

[lisaf 0]

regrding police clearances, Ive heard that its from countries lived in the within the last 5 years before applying for a visa...Ive also heard since the age of 16?? Can anyone clarify? I worked on a cruise ship in 1992 for about 1 1/2 years. Does a cruise ship come under the terms of "places lived" It probably visited over 5 countries yet none of them would add up to a minum of 6 months anywhere. SO A clearance by country is not possible. I have checked Maritime websites and no luck. I am currently in Asia getting a clearance from a country I DID reside in longterm, but am having an anxiety attack about this ship thing.

[daphne2109 0]

regrding police clearances, Ive heard that its from countries lived in the within the last 5 years before applying for a visa...Ive also heard since the age of 16?? Can anyone clarify? I worked on a cruise ship in 1992 for about 1 1/2 years. Does a cruise ship come under the terms of "places lived" It probably visited over 5 countries yet none of them would add up to a minum of 6 months anywhere. SO A clearance by country is not possible. I have checked Maritime websites and no luck. I am currently in Asia getting a clearance from a country I DID reside in longterm, but am having an anxiety attack about this ship thing.

Hi there,

I sent a message some days ago regarding the same subject (police certificate) but for a

different situation, since my question was that I lived from 1991 to 1992 (1 year) in USA,

so now I dont know about the cruise ships.To me they should be considered neutral territories,

so if you are unsure or you are panicking (like me) the best way is to send an email to the Consulate/

Embassy in your country where you are gonna have yr interview and ask them this question, I

did that, and they sent me a reply the day after, telling me that if you lived in USA in the past

at least 1 year a USA police certificate is not needed, so now I feel better. If I were you

I would do the same, I mean sending an email to the American Embassy/Consulate in yr country.

Good luck!!!

[mrswooten4ever 0]

Police clearance is required from the age of 16 for each country of residence where you have lived for more than 6 months. Not sure about the cruise ships though but logically i'd say they'd take it from the port of origin?i.e the country that owned the cruise liner unless you actually stayed for 6 months or more at a port of call.

Good Luck

Adele

[lisaf 0]

thanks for the replys. Hmm the country where the ship was registered says i must have documents to prove my residency ( such as a house lease, phone bills etc.) for a minumum of 6 months. Impossible. I will try again emailing the embassy in OZ.

[rebeccajo 14]

clmarsh used to be employed by a cruise line.

[gag54611 1]

While you were working for the cruise line, I presume that you had a home where your mail and things went to. I imagine that that location would be considered as your residence during those 1.5 years.

G

[ChristinaM 0]

Since I did not have a K1 visa, I didn't have to have a police certificate either.

Did you work straight through, or did you return to Oz between contracts?

My gut feeling would be that anywhere you filed your taxes would be where you were considered resident during that time. If you didn't file taxes (not that anyone who works cruiseships does that ) then I would simply let it be.

Unless all your mail went home to Oz and someone either dealt with it or forwarded it to the cruiseship mail centre, it's not a good indicator of residency in this particular case - for those who don't know, the cruiselines have mailing depots to provide an address for the ship you're on back in home port. For example, mine was in Galveston, Texas, but I didn't live there.

You probably have a C1/D, right? That's a (very) non-immigrant visa, and as such would not deem you resident anywhere. I'm pretty sure you should not be considered resident anywhere other than "home" - Australia.

Sorry I can't be more help to you on this one - you might want to try thundrdancer, whose husband was also a cruiseship worker. Good luck!

[lisaf 0]

Since I did not have a K1 visa, I didn't have to have a police certificate either.

Did you work straight through, or did you return to Oz between contracts?

My gut feeling would be that anywhere you filed your taxes would be where you were considered resident during that time. If you didn't file taxes (not that anyone who works cruiseships does that ) then I would simply let it be.

Unless all your mail went home to Oz and someone either dealt with it or forwarded it to the cruiseship mail centre, it's not a good indicator of residency in this particular case - for those who don't know, the cruiselines have mailing depots to provide an address for the ship you're on back in home port. For example, mine was in Galveston, Texas, but I didn't live there.

You probably have a C1/D, right? That's a (very) non-immigrant visa, and as such would not deem you resident anywhere. I'm pretty sure you should not be considered resident anywhere other than "home" - Australia.

Sorry I can't be more help to you on this one - you might want to try thundrdancer, whose husband was also a cruiseship worker. Good luck!

yes my mail stayed in Australia, occasionaly my family sent birthday cards and stuff to the ships address ( singapore) so hopefully I should be nothing more than a longtime tourist! ok thanks for the reply

[lisaf 0]

reply from Consulate...

in case anyone else has a cruise ship problem one day, the embassy informed me that as long as the ship did not stay in any port for 12 months, you do not need clearance. Sigh of relief.