Obtaining Police Certificate When in a A Different Country

[mc962 55]

We just received the NOA2 for the K1 visa petition (online at least), at the end of the last week, and so I started going through the things needed for the next steps.

In our case, my fiance is a Vietnamese citizen, but has been living and working in Japan for several years, and so we are planning to go through the consulate in Tokyo.

My understanding is that we will need Police Certificates for Vietnam and Japan (the non-US countries she has lived in).

Does she need to go back to Vietnam to get this certificate, or can it be requested through the Vietnamese Embassy in Tokyo? Ideally we would like to get the certificate without going needing to fly back to Vietnam just for that, but I understand that different countries may have different policies.

I am mainly looking for advice from people in similar situations, from people who have gone through the process of obtaining a police certificate for a Vietnamese citizen when that citizen lives abroad.

[Cata&Ben 199]

Hi 

 

You can find the information in this webpage:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/VietNam.html

 

Look for the Police Records section.

 

 

[mc962 55]

Thanks for that, I didn't even think about just going to the state department site.

It seems to strongly suggest that she will need to go back to Vietnam, although it didn't quite say much about 'Vietnamese citizen no longer living in Vietnam'.

 

Quote

If applicant cannot present himself/herself at the National Center of Criminal Records, he/she can grant authority to someone else to apply on his/her behalf as long as he/she provides a Letter of Attorney which is legalized/ authenticated by Vietnamese Consulate General or Vietnamese Embassy at the city of their current residence.

This seems somewhat promising as well.

[Cata&Ben 199]

Good Luck! I am happy you found a good solution