Foreign Police Certificate from New Zealand for London USA Embassy

[robertsjaso1 1]

Just thought I would provide an FYI of my K1 interview experience at the London embassy on 30th Jan 2017.

 

I had done as much previous research as possible and it is possible that the change had been made very recently. I am dual national NZ/UK who was born in NZ (left NZ in 2013 and have not been back since). As part of the documents required I had my NZ police certificate which I had obtained through the Ministry of Justice the same as anyone else in NZ would. For the first trip to the window and the handing over of documents, I was asked if I had contacted the NZ embassy to obtain my police certificate and explained that I followed the process as if I had been in NZ (and then had family ship the certificate over). He noted on my file that the certificate came from the MOJ and then completed the rest of the tasks and asked me to sit down to wait for the interview. When I was called to the actual interview there was a form already sitting in front of me that was similar to a Consent Release Form. I was asked to sign to state that I gave the Department of State permission to request my information from New Zealand and have the police certificate approved that way. The rest of the interview was carried out and at the end he notified me that my application had been approved and they would get the paperwork from NZ before sending my passport back to me with the visa and that I could expect it to be delivered in the next 2-3 weeks.

 

As far as I am aware, there had been no previous information that specifically asked for the police certificate to come from the countries embassy (except in cases where a police certificate is difficult to obtain and then I had seen it advised that it would be easiest to talk to the embassy) so I had not done that. Perhaps this is a new development, but on the other hand, they already had a form ready to go which suggests that this could be a regular occurrence and it was a New Zealand specific form too.

 

Just wanting to give a heads up to anyone out there that has a similar background to me so they know what to expect.

[KiwiK8 0]

You know what?! I think you're right. My husband (American) and I (Kiwi) are currently applying for my immigrant visa and are in the NVC phase. I've done a lot of searching and reading of instructions as I don't want to get it wrong. The other night I came across a web page (somewhere in CEAC or NVC or Auckland Consultant system) which said something about NZ applicants NOT needing to get their police check directly but I could quite fit that together with everything else I've read about getting a Police Certificate (i.e. the document cover letter which asks you to check it off and everything else that talks about it without saying some countries the consulate can get it direct). So this is helpful for me. 

 

I'm going to see if I can get further answers from the consulate and if not, I'll probably just include my Police Check / Certificate anyway (as I'm in NZ right now) just to be sure, but I have a suspicion that you're right and it's a NZ system that the US consulate must have access to (I guess as long as you give consent). 

 

Good to know, but weird that they don't make this very clear in the process.

[Londonergirl 133]

I am a Swedish citizen living in UK.

I ordered my police certificate from Sweden (in English), will they require more? I don't really understand... 

[robertsjaso1 1]

1 hour ago, Londonergirl said:

I am a Swedish citizen living in UK.

I ordered my police certificate from Sweden (in English), will they require more? I don't really understand... 

This post was really just for future New Zealand applicants living in the UK and applying for a K1. For your situation, it would be better to refer to posts from applicants from Sweden.

 

14 hours ago, KiwiK8 said:

You know what?! I think you're right. My husband (American) and I (Kiwi) are currently applying for my immigrant visa and are in the NVC phase. I've done a lot of searching and reading of instructions as I don't want to get it wrong. The other night I came across a web page (somewhere in CEAC or NVC or Auckland Consultant system) which said something about NZ applicants NOT needing to get their police check directly but I could quite fit that together with everything else I've read about getting a Police Certificate (i.e. the document cover letter which asks you to check it off and everything else that talks about it without saying some countries the consulate can get it direct). So this is helpful for me. 

 

I'm going to see if I can get further answers from the consulate and if not, I'll probably just include my Police Check / Certificate anyway (as I'm in NZ right now) just to be sure, but I have a suspicion that you're right and it's a NZ system that the US consulate must have access to (I guess as long as you give consent). 

 

Good to know, but weird that they don't make this very clear in the process.

Yeah, best to cover yourself and bring a NZ police certificate from the Ministry of Justice anyway. If you do that, worst comes to the worst, they will just get you to sign a form allowing them to contact the NZ embassy on your behalf like what they did for me. Best to have more than you need rather than not enough and potentially lengthen what is already a long process.

[Londonergirl 133]

Right, all I asked was if this applied to NZ citizens only or if it also included other nationalities. Massive apologises (I guess).

[robertsjaso1 1]

11 minutes ago, Londonergirl said:

Right, all I asked was if this applied to NZ citizens only or if it also included other nationalities. Massive apologises (I guess).

No my apologies if my response came off gruff, just meaning to help and point you to the right place. It is a long and arduous process and the more help we are able to get from others, the better.