Urgent: New police certificate requirement!!!

[BChance 38]

I live abroad and had to pay a third party company to get the US/border certificate and they had to digitize my fingerprints, send request to RCMP which cost $200.00 including FedEx and then again to get the new Privacy Act one. I’m in $400.00 so far. Still awaiting my Privacy Act one...

Riduclous that they won’t just accept the US border crossing one, but whatevs...

[NikLR 13,227]

NVC and consulate both seem to accept the border crossing one.

 

What it seems like from this thread is that people are tossing all 3 police checks at the intake at interview.  No one is waiting to see if they're asked for another one and then providing it if asked. (Which they will ask for AT the interview if you don't have the right one.) NVC is rejecting privacy act on a separate note.  

If you go anywhere but the RCMP that company can charge you for the man hours it takes to run the police check. 

[SR_CAN 111]

I got a few messages regarding my K1 interview last week. Just to clarify: I gave them two police certificates - The privacy act check and a regular criminal record check via fingerprinting. The officer said he didn't want to see the regular one and instead, needed the privacy act one. He handed me back the regular check to take back home.

[msham 11]

I believe it depends right now on which one you hand them. If you get either Privacy Act or Border Crossing, I would suggest bringing name check as well. We presented name check and Border Crossing and they didn't say a word. It's unfortunate that this hasn't been sorted out yet, so better to be safe than have to deal with it after the interview.

[saadbutt 10]

Had my interview Yesterday. I hadn't received my RCMP certificate in time so i took the receipt for when i applied for it. The police certificate i had submitted was only valid till sep 11 so i had taken out a new police certificate and took the old expired one as well. They only matched my old one to the documents that were submitted. Did not care for the new polcie check or RCMP check for that matter. Just put down a note in their file that new police certificate submitted but old one is still valid. I believe the reason was that the old police certificate had been obtained in the past year and was still valid per their guidelines even though the certificate said it was only valid till Sep 11. 

[AshleyJill 3]

Just wanted to provide a clarification that I obtained from NVC today regarding the RCMP certified criminal check.  Their website states that fingerprints must be shown on the document, however per their September 10, 2018 update requiring the check be requested under the Canadian Privacy Act the document you receive does not have fingerprints shown.

 

I spoke to a NVC rep and supervisor today and they confirmed that the document they use for comparison and approval does NOT have fingerprints on it.  They are looking into this on their end and updating things accordingly.  Please continue to use the September 10, 2018 update/comments when requesting the certified criminal check.

[LLabout 16]

6 minutes ago, AshleyJill said:

Just wanted to provide a clarification that I obtained from NVC today regarding the RCMP certified criminal check.  Their website states that fingerprints must be shown on the document, however per their September 10, 2018 update requiring the check be requested under the Canadian Privacy Act the document you receive does not have fingerprints shown.

 

I spoke to a NVC rep and supervisor today and they confirmed that the document they use for comparison and approval does NOT have fingerprints on it.  They are looking into this on their end and updating things accordingly.  Please continue to use the September 10, 2018 update/comments when requesting the certified criminal check.

That's the one I did on September 10th and it got rejected.   It delayed my CC date by a month. And cost me $150 total for two different police checks as the NVC told me they needed to see the fingerprints. I really hope they get this cleared up for others out there that will be going through the same process. 

[C32 46]

So I applied for my record checks yesterday in Vancouver. They were super friendly and did their best to help me, but most of the staff there weren’t aware that rules had changed and now they require the privacy act. So there was tons of confusion and lots of impromptu meetings amongst themselves to try and figure out how to help me. 

 

In the end, I got the privacy act one and the border crossing one. Both with finger prints and photos taken.

 

Just a heads up: Tips I’ve seen online that the privacy act one should be free are misleading: the request itself is free, but this specific request requires fingerprints which is not free, and it cost me $60. So be prepared for that if you’ve not yet done this. 

[don_mar 18]

On 10/23/2018 at 9:26 AM, saadbutt said:

Had my interview Yesterday. I hadn't received my RCMP certificate in time so i took the receipt for when i applied for it. The police certificate i had submitted was only valid till sep 11 so i had taken out a new police certificate and took the old expired one as well. They only matched my old one to the documents that were submitted. Did not care for the new polcie check or RCMP check for that matter. Just put down a note in their file that new police certificate submitted but old one is still valid. I believe the reason was that the old police certificate had been obtained in the past year and was still valid per their guidelines even though the certificate said it was only valid till Sep 11. 

Can you actually have the interview without getting the police certificate first? It appears to me that you need to upload all Civil Documents to CEAC website first otherwise you can't move to the next step. I'm confused. 

[MeghanK 629]

34 minutes ago, don_mar said:

Can you actually have the interview without getting the police certificate first? It appears to me that you need to upload all Civil Documents to CEAC website first otherwise you can't move to the next step. I'm confused. 

K1 Visas are different. They do not send anything to NVC, they bring all the docs CR1s typically first send to NVC direct to their interview. They are not reviewed by anyone prior to interview.

 

Edit - I see original comment is CR1 but these visa differences still get a bit confusing in this thread either way   And I think this also highlights the confusion between NVC and the actual consulate. They are not on the same page.  

Edited October 24, 2018 by MeghanK

[don_mar 18]

42 minutes ago, MeghanK said:

K1 Visas are different. They do not send anything to NVC, they bring all the docs CR1s typically first send to NVC direct to their interview. They are not reviewed by anyone prior to interview.

 

Edit - I see original comment is CR1 but these visa differences still get a bit confusing in this thread either way   And I think this also highlights the confusion between NVC and the actual consulate. They are not on the same page.  

Thanks for the explanation! Now I know I'm not doing something wrong 😊 After reading through this long post, I am still not sure which police certificate to get. I'm not in a hurry to get to the interview stage so I think I'll wait out a bit.

Edited October 24, 2018 by don_mar

[Ashhh 17]

On 10/23/2018 at 12:55 PM, LLabout said:

That's the one I did on September 10th and it got rejected.   It delayed my CC date by a month. And cost me $150 total for two different police checks as the NVC told me they needed to see the fingerprints. I really hope they get this cleared up for others out there that will be going through the same process. 

This is what I'm worried about. My husband is headed to Commissionaires on Friday and I'm afraid to tell him to just get Privacy Check if NVC might reject it. He already has the name check police certificate in hand, but I'm inclined to tell him to do both Border Crossing and Privacy Check just in case.

[SKB2017 95]

There's still confusion on which one they want so to be safe, spend the extra money and get both so you don't have any problems or delays.

[saadbutt 10]

8 hours ago, don_mar said:

Can you actually have the interview without getting the police certificate first? It appears to me that you need to upload all Civil Documents to CEAC website first otherwise you can't move to the next step. I'm confused. 

I had already uploaded the old police certificate before September 10. They accepted that at the interview didnt even mention or ask for the new RCMP certificate. 

[Groundbeaver 0]

After being rejected by sending a Crossing Boarder one, I sent the Privacy Act one (without fingerprint) to NVC. Unfortunately, it was REJECTED again because " 10 - Canada Police Certificate - The certificate does not display the applicant's fingerprints." I then checked the Department of State website, it clearly states "The Certified Criminal Record Check requested under the Privacy Act is fingerprint-based, but the report does not include an image of the applicant’s fingerprints."  What the hell??? I'm calling NVC to figure it out