Confused about police clearances

[Scott and Mhay 57]

I e-mailed a friend of my wife's that was in korea with her. Well, she went back to the PI and got married and filed for a K3 visa. I was asking her about the police clearance from korea. She said that they never asked for it because she was already back in the PI.

I was going to have my wife go to the korean embassy in manila and apply for the clearance...but now hearing her friend's experience makes me wonder....will they even ask for it? Problem is if I send my wife to manila she will be going to get her passport changed to her married name and then have to go to a different part of manila to do the police clearance. Anyone experience this? Is the police clearance requirement different between a K-3 and CR1? I am assuming it is since with a CR1 it is an immigrant visa. Does my wife just need her police clearance from her town and an NBI clearance then? Maybe I am reading too much into this, but I dont want anything to hold us up when it gets to be that time for the interview. Thanks..

Edited January 6, 2010 by Scott and Mhay

[Pinay Wife 47]

If your wife has lived one year or more in Korea, she will need the Korean Police Certificate. She does not need to get a police certificate from her town in the Philippines. The NBI clearance will suffice. Regardless of your wife's friend's experience and because everyone's case is unique, it is best to strictly follow the instructions as laid out by the embassy.

Please note that according to the US Embassy, three reasons account for about 90% of all refused immigrant visas in Manila:

http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwh3219.html

- An incomplete or incorrectly completed Affidavit of Support

- A lack of secondary evidence proving relationship or identity

- Incomplete or outdated police or medical clearances

NBI CLEARANCE AND POLICE CLEARANCE

Applicants aged 16 or older must have a valid Record Clearance for Travel Abroad Purposes from the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and a Police Certificate from every other country where they have lived for one year or more since reaching the age of 16 (six months or more for K visa applicants).

Police clearances should be in the applicant’s current name, birth certificate name, maiden name and any aliases or nicknames ever used, including different spellings you have used of those names.

Information on how to secure police certificates from other countries is available on the Department of States’s website at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...ocity_3272.html.

[payxibka 10,045]

did the embassy even know about the time spent in Korea or maybe they missed it.... My wife had to get a PC from another country to cover her university years despite the fact that she was back in her home country for more than 10 years

[Scott and Mhay 57]

I dont think my wife's friend was in korea for a full year. My wife however was in korea for a little over a year.

Will it cause any problems or delays if we dont have a MNL case number yet? I am under the impression the police clearance will be sent directly to the US embassy in manila and not my wife since it is a korean clearance.

Thanks for the replies.

Edited January 6, 2010 by Scott and Mhay

[payxibka 10,045]

I dont think my wife's friend was in korea for a full year. My wife however was in korea for a little over a year. I think i read where the K visas had different requirements as far as requiring police clearances... With the CR-1/IR-1 it is anywhere she lived for over 6 months right? Either way...i guess i will just have her apply for it.

Will it cause any problems or delays if we dont have a MNL case number yet? I am under the impression the police clearance will be sent directly to the US embassy in manila and not my wife since it is a korean clearance.

Thanks for the replies.

the "technical" requirement for all visas that need PC's is 6 mos. Some consulates however, do not always follow the "technical" and have changed the 6 mos to 1 year for "foreign" PC's, so it is possible to have different requirements from consulate to consulate. I believe NVC follows the "technical" requirement.

[Scott and Mhay 57]

I also know that according to the DOS site that you listed there it says that if you are not in korea, they are unavailable...really confusing...but I guess i will have her do it either way...i dont want to have anything to cause delays.

Police Records

Korean National Police Certificate (Crime-Investigation History Report: Bomjoi-Soosa Kyongreok Johoi Hoiboseo) is available to visa applicants of any nationality who are physically present in South Korea. The new KNPC now includes all serious crimes since 1945, regardless of expungement benefits under Korean law, and misdemeanors for five years, according to the Individual Information Protection Law of March 2003.

Applicants presently in Korea: Foreign nationals, regardless of visa status, and Korean citizens must apply in person at any local police station. The KNP checks non-Koreans according to the requestor’s Korean alien registration card or passport. Korean citizens must show a Korean identity card with the Korean citizen’s unique, lifetime Korean identification number, which is found on Korean national identity cards and Korean passports adjacent to the applicant’s name. KNP processing is no fee and takes less than one hour. The new KNPC bears a red ink half inch square stamp on the bottom containing the Korean characters for National Police. It is issued in Korean only and applicants must attach a complete English translation, certified as true and correct by anyone competent in Korean and English, for the visa interview. A simple computer printout of criminal records is issued with the Korean annotation for information only, has no red ink stamp and is not a KNPC for visa purposes.

Applicants outside of Korea: Unavailable.

[Pinay Wife 47]

You may want to read the thread below from the Philippine Forum about the Korean police clearance.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=223591

[mrmarouka 0]

This Korean police certificate stuff is really starting to upset me. If it weren't for this, my wife could be in the States with me by February. Now it looks like we'll be waiting even longer.

Has anybody actually gone to the Korean embassy in Manila and had any success with this yet? Why does it take so long? Are the Koreans having the embassy workers fold up the applications into little paper airplanes and launch them out the windows? You'd think they'd be using forms of communication adequate enough to cut down on time.

Or it could be that they just don't give a damn about anybody.

My wife was in Korea for exactly one year (not one day longer) with an E-6 Visa. She was confined to a squalid dormitory for 365 days with very little opportunity to go anywhere or do much of anything aside from work (which, if you know what an E-6 Visa is, you know the work sucked).

I thought she was through with that wretched excuse of a country, and now it's coming back for another round of nightmares. For Christ's sake, I just want to be with my wife.

I realize this is a Homeland Security issue, but I'd prefer my wife on an airplane bound for The States than some guy with explosives in his underpants...

I also know that according to the DOS site that you listed there it says that if you are not in korea, they are unavailable...really confusing...but I guess i will have her do it either way...i dont want to have anything to cause delays.

Police Records

Korean National Police Certificate (Crime-Investigation History Report: Bomjoi-Soosa Kyongreok Johoi Hoiboseo) is available to visa applicants of any nationality who are physically present in South Korea. The new KNPC now includes all serious crimes since 1945, regardless of expungement benefits under Korean law, and misdemeanors for five years, according to the Individual Information Protection Law of March 2003.

Applicants presently in Korea: Foreign nationals, regardless of visa status, and Korean citizens must apply in person at any local police station. The KNP checks non-Koreans according to the requestor’s Korean alien registration card or passport. Korean citizens must show a Korean identity card with the Korean citizen’s unique, lifetime Korean identification number, which is found on Korean national identity cards and Korean passports adjacent to the applicant’s name. KNP processing is no fee and takes less than one hour. The new KNPC bears a red ink half inch square stamp on the bottom containing the Korean characters for National Police. It is issued in Korean only and applicants must attach a complete English translation, certified as true and correct by anyone competent in Korean and English, for the visa interview. A simple computer printout of criminal records is issued with the Korean annotation for information only, has no red ink stamp and is not a KNPC for visa purposes.

Applicants outside of Korea: Unavailable.

[Scott and Mhay 57]

Yep i am part of the other thread too.

I found out how long my wife's friend was in korea....she was there for about 8 months and came on a K3 visa to the US...they never asked for the police clearance...

My wife is going to the korean embassy tomorrow...we will see what happens. She will try to apply there and see what they say.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Scott and Mhay