Is there an 'expiration' for the police clearance certificate?

[LorRie 37]

I am 1/3rd of my way into the K1 visa process right now, waiting on the NOA2/approval. As all of us 2017 filers know that this year, the wait has been a bit longer than previous years. Instead of focusing my energy on how long the wait is, I am trying to start preparing all the documents I will need once the NOA2 arrives. I've read the medical check up part cannot be done beforehand (until I receive the NOA2 with the details on how to proceed) but it seems like people are getting their police certificates ready beforehand.

My question is, how important is the date on the police certificate? For example, if my interview is scheduled for June 2017, and I get the police certificate on February 2017, will that be ok? How far out can the date on the police certificate be? When would the document be considered "expired"? I am just wondering if I can get the police report now or if I should wait until I get the green light from the US embassy to start gathering the documents. And of course, I am referring to the report from my home country, which I am still currently residing in. 
 

[A'n'L 735]

You should wait for your NOA2. Most consulates I've seen require the police certificate to be less than 6 months.

 

Also, you don't have to look further than 2014/2015, the wait for i129f NOA2 could take up to 15 months for some applicants (backlog at TSC). So consider yourself lucky :-)

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Agree with above, last year was definately pretty fast; but prior to that the wait time was a lot longer.

 

As to police reports, within 6 months is reasonable. There isn't an 'expedite' that I am aware of unless there have a fee for it or what not, also depends on what country youre trying to get it from.

 

Some are fairly quick, same take weeks or longer to get.

[LorRie 37]

1 hour ago, A'n'L said:

You should wait for your NOA2. Most consulates I've seen require the police certificate to be less than 6 months.

 

Also, you don't have to look further than 2014/2015, the wait for i129f NOA2 could take up to 15 months for some applicants (backlog at TSC). So consider yourself lucky :-)

I will definitely consider myself lucky..   And thanks for the tip, I will wait for NOA2 to begin collecting required documents. 

[geowrian 22,338]

The police certs are generally valid for 6 months. However, if you have a police cert from a country that you have not re-entered (and can show that you have not entered it), the expiration on it doesn't really matter.

[RachelleB 0]

Hi.. I have a problem with my police clearance. I was in bahrain for 3 years. I applied for my police clearance last year 2017 and the expiration is July 2017. I leave bahrain last September 2017 and stay here in PH until now. Do you think I still need to get the new police clearance? Thank you. Sorry fir my english. Please I badly needed yourhelp.

[JoelThai 313]

On 4/27/2017 at 9:28 PM, geowrian said:

The police certs are generally valid for 6 months. However, if you have a police cert from a country that you have not re-entered (and can show that you have not entered it), the expiration on it doesn't really matter.

 

My research on this topic with @Loren Y found that the DOS considers a Police Certificate to be valid for 12 months.  Links to the official DOS sources of this information can be found in this posting...

 

 

[JoelThai 313]

15 hours ago, RachelleB said:

Hi.. I have a problem with my police clearance. I was in bahrain for 3 years. I applied for my police clearance last year 2017 and the expiration is July 2017. I leave bahrain last September 2017 and stay here in PH until now. Do you think I still need to get the new police clearance? Thank you. Sorry fir my english. Please I badly needed yourhelp.

If your certificate is more than 12 months old and you remained in the country after the certificate was issued, it appears that you will need a new certificate.

 

"Police clearance letters are valid for 12 months from the date of issuance. You are not required to renew a police clearance letter from your previous country of residence if you have not travelled to that country after the date of the issuance of such letter."

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/RGA - Riga.pdf

 

Also see for a second source of information:

 

 

Important: Police certificates expire after one year, unless the certificate was issued from your country of previous residence and you have not returned there since the police certificate was issued. If at the time of your interview the following three items are all true, you must bring a new police certificate to your visa interview:

• You are more than 16 years old;
• The police certificate submitted to NVC was obtained more than one year ago; and
• You still live in the country that issued the certificate.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-if-you-are-selected/diversity-visa-prepare-supporting-documents.html

[Paul & Marina 53]

Yes