Police Checks

[Marina + Dave 0]

Hey Everyone!

I think I posted a similar question here a couple months ago, but I never got an answer! So I'm hoping this time will be more fruitful!

My fiance is an Australian Citizen living in the UK. As we understand you have to submit a police check for every country you have lived in for more than 6 months. So, he has to do one for Australia and the UK.

The UK one is easy...just a simple form in the local police station and 10 pounds!

The Australian one is a bit more complicated. There are tons of different types of Australian police checks. Simple name and background checks (like the UK one) and fingerprint checks. I emailed the American Consulate in London about which type of police check they needed and got a very generic answer. The lady quoted me a paragraph off of the Australian Federal Police website that states that "the fingerprint check will serve as a national police check for other governments". However, she didn't state whether the simple name and background check would also be okay. The only reason I ask is cause the fingerprint one is quite a bit more expensive than the normal name check. --Not to mention the hassle of getting his fingerprints done in the UK and having them officially mailed to Australia, etc!

I'm just wondering if there are any other Aussies out there and which police check you used!

Thanks!

Marina

[Detty2809 0]

Police certificates from any other countries require fingerprints check... I had to get one from Indonesia and one from Japan. Both required fingerprints check..... Plus, it's better to be safe than sorry later on so maybe you should get the lil bit more expensive one?

But then again maybe some Aussies could respond to this thread?

[kaffykat 0]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But he will need to get the fingerprint one done (federal). That is what I had to get done when I got the police certificate.

[Marina + Dave 0]

Thanks for the speedy replies!!

We don't really mind having to speed the money if that's what you have to have.....we just didn't want to get the more expensive one only to find out later we could have gone with the cheap one!!!!

So one of you said that you always have to have fingerprint police checks for 'different countries'...what does different countries mean? Do you mean any country other than the US? Cause I'm pretty sure the UK one does not involve a fingerprint thing. I'll paste here what the US London Consulate sent me in the email...

"This statement will serve to advise the U.S. Embassy, London whether or not any criminal conviction is held against him/her.

In order to obtain the required statement, the applicant should apply to his/her local police station, where he/she will be given the application forms(s). When completing the application form, the applicable category is “prosecution/conviction history”. There is a £10 fee. The local police will submit the application to the National Identification Service which will respond directly to the applicant. The National Identification Service does not accept applications from individual applicants; the request must be made through the local police. Under the legislation, it can take up to 40 days to receive this document. You are legally entitled to gain access to this information about yourself under Section 21 of the Data Protection Act, 1984."

Anyway, so maybe that does include a fingerprint thing and they just didn't mention it. But anyway, I just wanted to post that on cause I *believe* it's saying that for the UK police check all you have to do is fill out a form and pay the 10 pounds!

At least that's up there now in case someone else needs the information for the UK...that came directly from the consulate, via email!

Again, thanks for the help!!

[rebeccajo 14]

You don't need to submit fingerprints to obtain your UK police certificate.

Any blanket statement as to what each nation requires for a police certificate is going to be erroneous.

[Jen&Aaron 0]

Hi there,

For Australia you DEFINITELY need to get the name AND fingerprint check done - I've just been through the interview process and the form which is sent from the Sydney Consulate in Packet 3 states that that is what you need. It says to contact the Australian Federal Police if you are not in Australia in order to organise this - otherwise you can go to your state police within Australia.

Good luck!