Police Certificates - delay the process?

[LMB 0]

Hi,

My K-1 will (eventually!) be processed in London. I have 2 questions related to the Police Certificates.

1) I need to obtain a police certificate from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong authority has a clear process outlined on the website which is great, however I noticed that they need to receive a copy of the letter from the relevant embassy before they can issue any certificate.

I wanted to know if receiving the police certificates is one of the requirements to complete before you can send back "packet 3"? (Not entirely clear what makes up packet 3 and packet 4; and want to know how long I might have to delay sending packet 3 i this police record takes some time).

2) The Hong Kong website also states that they will only send it directly to the (US) embassy, and not to me. It's my understanding that we need to collect everything and take it to the interview, not have the required documents sent separately to the embassy (where I'm sure it would get lost if not following the requested procedure).

Has anyone encountered the same problem that the certificate was not sent to them directly, but to the embassy?

Any problems with this, or advice?!

Many thanks!

[Marty J 0]

There are a number of countries that will only send the police certificate to the embassy, so I don't think you're going to have any problems there. You might want to wait until your petition has been approved and sent to the embassy before you apply though, so they have a case to match it up with.

As for timing, I didn't have all my documents when I returned the checklist, but I had applied for them all and was reasonably certain of having them. Interviews at London seem to be taking between 4 to 8 weeks at the minute. That could change by the time you're ready though.

Packet 3 will be a letter basically telling you to go to this webpage and to follow the instructions (don't click the links at the top, they go to an older page).

Packet 4 will be another letter advising you of your appointment date with a bit of info about the interview and a map to the embassy. You'll get this after submitting your forms and checklist.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Marty J

[payxibka 10,047]

this is more a consulate issue than a K-1 issue... moving to consulate forum

[LMB 0]

There are a number of countries that will only send the police certificate to the embassy, so I don't think you're going to have any problems there. You might want to wait until your petition has been approved and sent to the embassy before you apply though, so they have a case to match it up with.

As for timing, I didn't have all my documents when I returned the checklist, but I had applied for them all and was reasonably certain of having them. Interviews at London seem to be taking between 4 to 8 weeks at the minute. That could change by the time you're ready though.

Packet 3 will be a letter basically telling you to go to this webpage and to follow the instructions (don't click the links at the top, they go to an older page).

Packet 4 will be another letter advising you of your appointment date with a bit of info about the interview and a map to the embassy. You'll get this after submitting your forms and checklist.

Thank you for the information. Hong Kong authority needs to recieve a copy of the letter from the NVC requesting me for the certificate, which is so annoying because I can't prepare it ahead of time, and will definitely delay the process :-(

The link especially is very helpful. thanks.