UK Police Certificate

[swordfish2k0 0]

Hi,

When applying for a UK police certificate do i need to get one from all counties i have lived in or does the certificate cover the whole of the UK?

Also i was in the US for 18 months on a J-1 visa do i need a police certificate from there? or will they have already checked up on that?

Many Thanks

[L & P 0]

Hi Sword,

As far as i am aware the UK police certificate is good for all the UK counties. About the time you have spent in the US, i do not know but with all the helpful people on that site I am sure someone will be able to guide you.

All the best

Laurence

[mengo76 0]

Sorry to hijack... Does anyone know how to request a police certificate when you don't live in the UK any more? Specifically, how am I gonna pay the 10 pound fee?

[rebeccajo 14]

Google "Subject Access Form".

[minnietheminx 0]

For any country that you have lived in for more than 6 months, you need a police certificate from that country also, so yes, you will need to obtain one from the US. I lived in Canada for a year so I had to get one to cover the time that I spent there.

As for the £10 fee if youre not in the UK, then Im guessing you'll have to do what I did for my Canadian police check....I went to the bank and they made out a certified cheque for the specific amount I needed in Canadian dollars. This of course cost a small fee, but it ensured that I wasnt sending cash over to cover the amount.

[*Snowdrop* 603]

For those needing a UK police cert.....

The ACPO Criminal Records Office in the UK is piloting an initiative to provide Police Certificates for Visa purposes.

The four countries involved in the pilot are Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America.

http://www.acpo.police.uk/certificates.asp

The fee seems to have gone up to £35 and the certificate only lasts six months!

[minnietheminx 0]

The fee seems to have gone up to £35 and the certificate only lasts six months!

Yeah, Id heard about that. Thankfully I got mine before our approval otherwise Id b £25 out of pocket

[minnietheminx 0]

Ooooh. I may actually be wrong. It seems that the rules are slightly different if the 6 months+ you spent in a foreign country was the US. Apparently the US will do its own checks on you....I got this from an identical question that was asked in britishexpats.com

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=514466

You learn something new everyday eh

[nacampbell 0]

I believe that it is necessary for countries where you lived for more than 12 months, not 6. I lived in Japan for 10 months and nothing was required from there. Not going to help the original poster any but i just wanted to clarify.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

It's 12 months if you're going through the London embassy. Bruce lived in Germany and Russia for under 12 months but under 6 months and they specifically told us certs for those countries were not required.

And yes, the US does its own checks for you if you lived there.

[sarah&rob 1]

Question about the Police Certificates...

on the application it says:

Country to be visited: …………………………………… UK Departure date: dd / mm / yyyy.

What if, at the time you are filling out this application, you do not know the departure date?