Police Certificates from Multiple Countries

[khtom 0]

Hi Everyone,

We submitted the I-130 petition for my husband on September 9th, 2011, and received the NOA1 September 14. We are now in the process of preparing further documentation, including police certificates.

Our case is a bit complicated: my husband is a French citizen, born in France, currently living in the Netherlands. His father is a diplomat, so he grew up all over the world and has now been living all over the world as an adult. Since he was 16, he's lived in the following places for more than 12 months: Cameroon, Kuwait, UAE, and Afghanistan. In researching the police certificates for these particular countries on the State Department website, it looks like getting any police certificates will be difficult:

1. In Cameroon, someone needs to apply on your behalf for the certificate, you cannot request it yourself if you are out of the country. Is this really the only option? Does anyone have experience getting a police certificate from a Cameroonian embassy abroad?

2. Kuwait - According to State Department: "Available only to those residing in Kuwait; certificates are not available for applicants applying outside Kuwait."

3. UAE - Not possible to obtain a police certificate if the person is not physically present in UAE. Does anyone know if it would be possible to get the police certificate from a UAE embassy? The State Department website says: "Not available by mail. Post recommends that consular officers waive the general requirement to obtain police certificates unless the applicant lives in the UAE."

4. Afghanistan - According to the State Department, police certificates from Afghanistan "may be available but are not reliable."

So, I guess my main question is, if someone has been living outside of their home country for most of their adult life, yet is potentially unable to provide police certificates for most, if not all of those countries in which they've lived, do you see this as being a major problem for the NVC? We do already have his French police certificate, but that may be the only certificate we'll get.

Thank you in advance VJers, we couldn't do this without you!

khtom

[GLJ1322 5]

Hi Everyone,

We submitted the I-130 petition for my husband on September 9th, 2011, and received the NOA1 September 14. We are now in the process of preparing further documentation, including police certificates.

Our case is a bit complicated: my husband is a French citizen, born in France, currently living in the Netherlands. His father is a diplomat, so he grew up all over the world and has now been living all over the world as an adult. Since he was 16, he's lived in the following places for more than 12 months: Cameroon, Kuwait, UAE, and Afghanistan. In researching the police certificates for these particular countries on the State Department website, it looks like getting any police certificates will be difficult:

1. In Cameroon, someone needs to apply on your behalf for the certificate, you cannot request it yourself if you are out of the country. Is this really the only option? Does anyone have experience getting a police certificate from a Cameroonian embassy abroad?

2. Kuwait - According to State Department: "Available only to those residing in Kuwait; certificates are not available for applicants applying outside Kuwait."

3. UAE - Not possible to obtain a police certificate if the person is not physically present in UAE. Does anyone know if it would be possible to get the police certificate from a UAE embassy? The State Department website says: "Not available by mail. Post recommends that consular officers waive the general requirement to obtain police certificates unless the applicant lives in the UAE."

4. Afghanistan - According to the State Department, police certificates from Afghanistan "may be available but are not reliable."

So, I guess my main question is, if someone has been living outside of their home country for most of their adult life, yet is potentially unable to provide police certificates for most, if not all of those countries in which they've lived, do you see this as being a major problem for the NVC? We do already have his French police certificate, but that may be the only certificate we'll get.

Thank you in advance VJers, we couldn't do this without you!

khtom

I've been in Saudi for more than 2 years (work related). Like you I was also worried. Check this link: http://travel.state.gov/visa/fees/fees_3272.html you can start searching the country's information about their reciprocities on whether you need the police certificate or not. Mine was ok because they don't give clearances for people not living in Saudi anymore.

I also received my packet of instructions from NVC and police clearance from Saudi was marked X so I don't need to provide that from our US consulate. Good luck.

[canadian_wife 1,829]

What you are going to want to do is contact the French consulate he'll interview at and see, many times the consulates understand restrictions on police certs.

Good luck

[khtom 0]

Thank you both for the replies. I've also just realized my husband had diplomatic immunity during the years in Cameroon and Kuwait. Does anyone have any previous experience with presenting proof of diplomatic immunity in place of police certificates? He did not have diplomatic immunity in UAE and Afghanistan, but it seems it won't be possible to get police certificates from those countries since he is no longer in those locations.

Thanks!

khtom

[khtom 0]

What you are going to want to do is contact the French consulate he'll interview at and see, many times the consulates understand restrictions on police certs.

Good luck

He is actually a resident in the Netherlands now, so we are expecting his consular interview to take place in Amsterdam, not France. Point noted on just calling and getting an answer from there. Thank you!

[canadian_wife 1,829]

He is actually a resident in the Netherlands now, so we are expecting his consular interview to take place in Amsterdam, not France. Point noted on just calling and getting an answer from there. Thank you!

Sorry, why did I think France

Good luck - contact the consulate, if he had diplomatic immunity then who knows what classification he'd be under

[khtom 0]

Hi All, to follow up on the above, we have sent my husband's IV to NVC with only one police certificate (from France) as we believed it would not be possible to get the documents for all of the other countries my husband has lived in since he was 16 (see list above). Today we received a letter from the NVC stating that my husband's police certificate from Cameroon was missing, and that we needed to send it to NVC ASAP.

I called the NVC and recited the State Dept guidance on reciprocity with Cameroon to the woman I spoke with. I explained that he does not live in Cameroon, and does not have any friends or relatives there who could obtain the police certificate on his behalf. The woman responded with the same statement, and then said, "well, he's in Amsterdam, so he should go to the Cameroonian embassy and ask them." I don't really understand why they are making us go through this, as I thought our justifications for not obtaining a Cameroonian police certificate were pretty clear.

So, my question is, has anyone else had a similar experience in relation to Cameroonian police certificates? Has anyone else had luck speaking with the Cameroonian embassy in their country and obtaining any NVC acceptable documents from them?

Thanks!