Police Certificates

[jj_154 0]

Hi,

I read that police certificates may be required from any country my wife lived for any length of time. My wife lived in the U.S. from 2001-2004 and she lived in Brazil from her birth to 1998. She lived in Japan from 1998-2001 and 2004-now. After browsing the web, it seems that police certificates from Brazil are not issued unless the requester applies in person in Brazil. What are we supposed to do if we are asked for a police certificate from Brazil? Has anyone had this problem?

On a related note, how does one go about getting a police certificate from the U.S.

I just want to have all these details sorted out as much as possible before we are faced with them.

Thanks,

John

[trailmix 77]

Hi,

You don't need police certificates for the U.S..

For Brazil, you may want to contact the consulate there and see if they can be of assistance as they probably get asked for this type of information all the time:

Certificates of Good Conduct (Atestados de Bons Antecedentes) related to possible violations of state law are available to persons over the age of 18 from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica in each of Brazil's states (and the Distrito Federal). Atestados related to possible violations of federal law are available to persons over the age of 18 from any station (Delegacia) of the National Police (Policia Federal). Criminal records in Brazil are expunged five years after any sentence has been served.

Because each state maintains a separate database of violations of state law, a prospective immigrant must obtain a separate record from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica of each state in which he or she has resided within the past five years. Additionally, a prospective immigrant must obtain a record from the Policia Federal, since state police records do not include violations of federal law.

For addresses or telephone numbers of Secretarias de Seguranca Publica, an applicant may call the immigrant visa unit of the U.S. Consular General in Rio de Janeiro. If a state's Secretaria refuses to provide an Atestado to an applicant, he or she may request the assistance of the Rio IV unit. link

[YuAndDan 153]

The consulate will handle the US "Police Cert" this is the name checks that they do.

As for Brazil:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...ocity_3521.html

[jj_154 0]

Because each state maintains a separate database of violations of state law, a prospective immigrant must obtain a separate record from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica of each state in which he or she has resided within the past five years. Additionally, a prospective immigrant must obtain a record from the Policia Federal, since state police records do not include violations of federal law.

Hi,

You said that the immigrant must obtain records from each state in which he/she resided in the last five years. My wife has not resided in Brazil for approximately 10 years (she left in the winter of 1998). Does that mean she will not have to provide a police certificate from Brazil? Or is it sort of a case-by-case basis to decide how many years back to require a police certificate?

Thanks,

John

Edited March 1, 2008 by jj_154

[caeli 0]

The general rule is that she will have to provide police certificates for any country she has lived in for more than 6 months since she was 16 years old with the exception of the US. Most of the consulates in the counties where she resided will have information about how to procure the certificates from that country and are usually your best contact for information.

Good luck.

Because each state maintains a separate database of violations of state law, a prospective immigrant must obtain a separate record from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica of each state in which he or she has resided within the past five years. Additionally, a prospective immigrant must obtain a record from the Policia Federal, since state police records do not include violations of federal law.

Hi,

You said that the immigrant must obtain records from each state in which he/she resided in the last five years. My wife has not resided in Brazil for approximately 10 years (she left in the winter of 1998). Does that mean she will not have to provide a police certificate from Brazil? Or is it sort of a case-by-case basis to decide how many years back to require a police certificate?

Thanks,

John

[jj_154 0]

The general rule is that she will have to provide police certificates for any country she has lived in for more than 6 months since she was 16 years old with the exception of the US. Most of the consulates in the counties where she resided will have information about how to procure the certificates from that country and are usually your best contact for information.

Good luck.

Thanks,

We will try to contact the Brazilian consulate.

John