RFE Frustration!

[HighlandFling 0]

Have looked around the boards, but can't seem to find an answer! I'm circling the airport, just need a VJ ATC to guide me in!

 

So, since filing our application and waiting almost a year, my wife and I are finally at the NVC stage of the process.

 

This morning I woke to bad news... we'd received a dreaded RFE from the NVC. They want a photocopy of "the applicant's court or prison records indicating the nature of this person's conviction and sentence." Now, on my Police Certificate (and I'm not sure how it looks for other countries) it states the date of conviction/nature of offence/sentence issued. 

 

Here's the dilemma... The convictions were from 15 years ago and there have been no further convictions since then. I'm all set to contact the court to see if they do hold a record of this. However, as the nature of the conviction AND the sentence issued is already on the Police Certificate (which was approved by USCIS and the package sent to the NVC), is it worth phoning the NVC to inform them of this fact? By saying, "Hey, you might wanna read the full page and see that the information you want is right there!" And I'm pretty sure that all I'll be sending them is a letter from the court stating they don't keep records past the 10 year mark. 

 

We have waited so long to get to this point, to have it held up by someone who can't digest the full information when it is laid out in front of them to delay the process even further!

 

Any information/pointers at this stage would be hugely helpful. 

[nightingalejules 678]

How frustrating!

 

Yes, contact the court and get whatever they send you, whether it's further information or just the same info again. I think it's unlikely that they will not have the records, since there was a conviction, but you may be right (not familiar with the Scotland/UK legal system).  Once you have their response, if it doesn't shed any more light on the situation, send it in with a second copy of your Police Certificate.  Include a cover letter explaining where they can find the information they're asking for: "In paragraph 2 of beneficiary's police certificate (I've attached an additional copy; the original is in the package I sent on --/--/--) the *** police department has described the offence and sentence as follows: [exact wording]"

 

I wouldn't phone them. Even if you could get through to someone it wouldn't help, since it seems as though the call centres are outsourced, and don't do much more than answer basic questions. 

 

Unfortunately, delays are more or less inevitable when you're dealing with the government and while it would be so gratifying to be able to just call and sort it all out, now that you've got an RFE you need to respond to it in the manner they're expecting (ie: new papers in the mail).

 

Good luck!

Edited October 21, 2017 by nightingalejules
weird formatting

[Roel 7,192]

General advice for any RFE.  Just send them what they want. 

[broppy 204]

1 hour ago, HighlandFling said:

Here's the dilemma... The convictions were from 15 years ago and there have been no further convictions since then. I'm all set to contact the court to see if they do hold a record of this. However, as the nature of the conviction AND the sentence issued is already on the Police Certificate (which was approved by USCIS and the package sent to the NVC), is it worth phoning the NVC to inform them of this fact? By saying, "Hey, you might wanna read the full page and see that the information you want is right there!" And I'm pretty sure that all I'll be sending them is a letter from the court stating they don't keep records past the 10 year mark. 

Call the court and ask about a memorandum of conviction - they will have records. Last I heard, the fee was £60 in England & Wales - I expect Scotland's not going to be far from that figure.

 

1 hour ago, nightingalejules said:

(I've attached an additional copy; the original is in the package I sent on --/--/--)

I hope not - you're not supposed to send original copies of anything to NVC - just photocopies (or scanned copies if you're lucky enough to do email or online processing).

[mindthegap 2,589]

Subject access request (this is different to the normal police certificate).

 

If in England. go here: https://www.acro.police.uk/subject_access.aspx

Or Scotland, here: http://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/

 

Cheap, and will detail everything....right down to the arresting officers collar number, DNA sample serial #,  fingerprint code, and sentence.

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by mindthegap

[nightingalejules 678]

2 hours ago, broppy said:

I hope not - you're not supposed to send original copies of anything to NVC - just photocopies (or scanned copies if you're lucky enough to do email or online processing).

This was intended to be an example of what a person could write. And to be honest, in my case I was able to do online processing so I just brought all the originals to my interview.

I just had it in my mind that the police certificate(s) did need to be originals if a person didn't do online processing, so that's what I wrote as the "template" for a cover letter.