K1 visa police certificates answer from US Consulate

[sweetswinks 400]

I decided after so much conflicting information regarding police certificates for NSW specifically, I would email the Sydney U.S. consulate to ask them directly what was needed.

My email sent yesterday:

Hi there,

I live in NSW and I am looking for information regarding obtaining a police certificate for the purpose of the K1 visa as I could not find consistent information on the Sydney consulate website.

1. When applying for a police certificate for the K1 visa, do residents of NSW need a police certificate based off a fingerprint check? (The information on the Canberra embassy website has not indicated fingerprints are required)

2. When applying for a police certificate for the K1 visa, if the police criminal records department have sent the certificate directly to the beneficiary rather than the U.S. consulate, can the beneficiary bring this to the Sydney consulate and will this be accepted on the interview day?

Thank you for your assistance.

Sydney U.S. Consulate response:

Thank you for your email.

You only need to apply for 1 Australian police certificate and it can be based on a name or fingerprint check.

A police check based on name check only must contain all aliases previously and presently used. Failure to provide a name check certificate with all aliases may result in the consular officer refusing your application for a police certificate based on a fingerprint check.

And yes, you may provide a valid police certificate on the day of interview.

Regards,

U.S. Consulate General, Sydney

Immigrant Visa Unit (BC)

SydneyIV@state.gov

http://canberra.usembassy.gov/immigrant-visas.html

From this they state that you can get either with or without a fingerprint check - the purpose is to check All of your known aliases against any criminal records, but fingerprints are not a primary requirement unless you have not disclosed all known aliases.

Also, they are fine with the police certificate being brought on the day.

I hope this helps someone!

Thanks!

[vanessalga 8]

You can apply for the NSW police certificate online but you need to go to a police station with your ID too. When I went to my local police station they tried to tell me I needed to apply for the 'fingerprint' cert. I insisted this is not correct and ask them to proceed anyway with the name check only. They very reluctantly agreed... I had no problem at the interview. I brought the police cert based on name only and there was no issue. So just keep in mind if your local police tries to convince you to apply for the fingerprint, just refuse as it costs more and is not necessary.

[patem 2]

when I had my done, i just apply for one on internet and it was posted to my address which i included in my documents when sending the packet 3 and it was accepted.

however i do not know whether anything has changed since nov 2013

[sweetswinks 400]

You can apply for the NSW police certificate online but you need to go to a police station with your ID too. When I went to my local police station they tried to tell me I needed to apply for the 'fingerprint' cert. I insisted this is not correct and ask them to proceed anyway with the name check only. They very reluctantly agreed... I had no problem at the interview. I brought the police cert based on name only and there was no issue. So just keep in mind if your local police tries to convince you to apply for the fingerprint, just refuse as it costs more and is not necessary.

Did you wait til you had your case number for this? Considering they do not send it to the consulate, I cannot see why one would need to wait until they had the NVC case number.

[vanessalga 8]

I already had my case number when I submitted but you don't need to wait for that (it is just I happened to receive mine really quicker than I expected).

In the online form asks you for the type of visa, I wrote 'US fiance visa'. I received my police certificate about a week after doing the ID check at the police station.

[TheBigO 18]

Hi all.

Do any of you know how long the Police certificate is valid for?

I am CR1 and going through NVC now but they are back logged big time so I am wondering if my police certificate will be "out-of-date" when it comes to the interview.

Any ideas?