Urgent: New police certificate requirement!!!

[vlp1234 0]

On 10/5/2018 at 12:39 AM, HarryWL said:

I wonder what the process is for people not living in Canada but need Canadian background checks 🤔

Yep, also wondering.

I'm from France, but I lived in Canada enough time for me to need a police certificate from Canada for my K1 interview.

Was going to get a simple name check until I saw the new requirement on the travel.state.gov website.

Don't really know what to do, the companies authorized to deal with RCMP are all about $200 per document. A bit expensive to get all different versions (name check + non-certified privacy act + certified with fingerprints and pictures).

Also wondering if this new requirement only applies to US consulates in Canada, or also apply to the US embassy in Paris

[HarryWL 262]

1 hour ago, vlp1234 said:

Yep, also wondering.

I'm from France, but I lived in Canada enough time for me to need a police certificate from Canada for my K1 interview.

Was going to get a simple name check until I saw the new requirement on the travel.state.gov website.

Don't really know what to do, the companies authorized to deal with RCMP are all about $200 per document. A bit expensive to get all different versions (name check + non-certified privacy act + certified with fingerprints and pictures).

Also wondering if this new requirement only applies to US consulates in Canada, or also apply to the US embassy in Paris

 

Yeah the whole process is very confusing. Evan if they put one line for applications outside of Canada, it would make the process a million times easier. I imagine calling embassy in Paris would probably be the best path to find out exactly what they expect. 

Edited October 6, 2018 by HarryWL

[Kat & Jim 47]

On 10/4/2018 at 2:32 PM, MissMyHusband said:

Thanks! I will try to keep everyone updated. Also, if anyone has recently had their police certificate accepted, please let us know which one it was?

 

We did call the US Consulate in Montreal today, they gave me an email and I sent my inquiry, but all I got was an automated response.

 

 

I sent the Montreal Consulate an email "montreal-iv-dv@state.gov" on Sept 7th asking questions about the Important changes to the Canada Police certificate Requirement and this is the reply I received on Sept 10th: 

 

Hello,

 

Thank you for your inquiry.

 

According to our records we do not have a pending visa case for you at the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal.

 

The NVC does all the pre-processing for all the Consulates worldwide and schedules the immigrant visa appointments on our behalf for all the cases that are documentarily qualified. Please contact the NVC for any updates on your case and next steps in processing. The NVC contact details are available herehttps://nvc.state.gov/ask   

 

The U.S. Consulate General in Montreal does not handle scheduling/expediting interview appointments. These requests should be addressed to the NVC.

 

We hope that this information is helpful in replying to your inquiry.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

 

Regards,

OP03

Correspondence Unit

US Consulate General in Montreal

 

 

This email is UNCLASSIFIED.

 

[ymon 0]

Hello Everyone, I'm having an issue with the criminal record check...I live outside Canada and applied for a criminal record check through an agency.  I got it in july 2018   however when submitted to the NVC they said that it was an invalid document because the application type was not supposed to be Visa/border crossing/foreign travel/work/visa/passage.....and that the request is supposed to be under the privacy act.   Plus I see people talking about getting a "non certified criminal record check" when clearly  this linkhttps://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Canada.html says a certified criminal record. 

 

 Does anyone know an agency that would follow such guidelines? because I tried to apply through the commissionaires and the don't recognize my address...I am stuck and I'm desperate to get this sorted out.  Please help.

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by ymon

[SKB2017 95]

8 hours ago, ymon said:

Hello Everyone, I'm having an issue with the criminal record check...I live outside Canada and applied for a criminal record check through an agency.  I got it in july 2018   however when submitted to the NVC they said that it was an invalid document because the application type was not supposed to be Visa/border crossing/foreign travel/work/visa/passage.....and that the request is supposed to be under the privacy act.   Plus I see people talking about getting a "non certified criminal record check" when clearly  this linkhttps://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Canada.html says a certified criminal record. 

 

 Does anyone know an agency that would follow such guidelines? because I tried to apply through the commissionaires and the don't recognize my address...I am stuck and I'm desperate to get this sorted out.  Please help.

 

Some of the information on the travel.state.gov website is incorrect.  Whoever wrote it didn't do their homework.  The Privacy Act police certificate is not a certified document.  The website also states that your fingerprints must be on the certificate, but even though you get your photo and fingerprints taken, neither of those appear on the Privacy Act certificate itself when you receive it.  There are other people here in the same boat as you being outside of Canada and needing this police certificate as well and I don't recall reading anything that gives an answer for that sorry.  

[HarryWL 262]

Heading to commissionaires tomorrow in Hamilton, I’ll be sure to let you guys know how it goes. 

[MeghanK 629]

If any K1 folks head to their interview with the privacy act certs without photo/fingerprints, also please let us know what happens! I wonder if they would be rejected at the consulate interview the same way they seem to be at NVC for CR1 since for K1 we don't send anything to NVC. Thanks! 

[MariahK 16]

21 minutes ago, MeghanK said:

If any K1 folks head to their interview with the privacy act certs without photo/fingerprints, also please let us know what happens! I wonder if they would be rejected at the consulate interview the same way they seem to be at NVC for CR1 since for K1 we don't send anything to NVC. Thanks! 

My interview is next Wednesday, I have all police checks lol I will let you know which one they accept. I will give them the privacy act one first and see. Nervous lol! 

[MeghanK 629]

25 minutes ago, MariahK said:

My interview is next Wednesday, I have all police checks lol I will let you know which one they accept. I will give them the privacy act one first and see. Nervous lol! 

Thank you, you are my hero right now! And good luck at the interview! 😀

[HarryWL 262]

Very smooth process at the commissionaires office in Hamilton. Guy seemed knowledgeable about what was required but we discussed the conflicting information on the website. 

 

Total was like $56CAD, hopefully should receive back soon. He said it might take a little longer as there’s some kind of human intervention as previously mentioned by another user. 

[Kat & Jim 47]

11 hours ago, HarryWL said:

Very smooth process at the commissionaires office in Hamilton. Guy seemed knowledgeable about what was required but we discussed the conflicting information on the website. 

 

Total was like $56CAD, hopefully should receive back soon. He said it might take a little longer as there’s some kind of human intervention as previously mentioned by another user. 

I also went to the commissionaires office in Surrey BC this past Friday. The lady I spoke to was nice and easy to talk to. My cost was $76.00. She wasn’t to clear though when I would receive it back, I had to ask her will it take 1 to 2 weeks to receive ? She agreed and said it could take longer.

[LLabout 16]

THEY ACCEPTED MY POLICE CERTIFICATE!!!!     They rejected my PRIVACY ACT on September 16th (submitted it on 09.14.18), I got the VISA/BORDER CROSSING completed the week after and submitted it along with the rejected PRIVACY ACT certificate on 09.27.18, they accepted all my VISA/BORDER CROSSING documents TODAY (10.10.18).  So i'm' assuming that even though they ask for the Privacy Act document, that the Visa Border Crossing is in fact the one to get.  If I had my time back I would have gotten both done at the same time and it would have saved me 4 full weeks.

 

I received an email from them stating that the NVC has received all the fees, forms and documents. They will work with the Consulate in Montreal to schedule an interview and send that notice to me.  Does this mean that today is my CC date?

Edited October 10, 2018 by LLabout

[MeghanK 629]

Not sure if this was mentioned somewhere in this thread yet, but I wonder if the discrepancy is with NVC. The new reciprocity directions do specifically state the "U.S. Consular posts in Canada" as requiring the privacy act ones. Also the fact that they wrote GET THE PRIVACY ACT ONES in capslock is bizarre to me, because someone somewhere meant business about it, but they are still being marked as incorrect. Maybe they were sick of getting the non-privacy act ones sent to them from NVC? Did NVC not get the memo or? I'm super anxious to get some insider info from what happens at the consulate stage for K1s.  

[arellah 125]

1 hour ago, LLabout said:

THEY ACCEPTED MY POLICE CERTIFICATE!!!!     They rejected my PRIVACY ACT on September 16th (submitted it on 09.14.18), I got the VISA/BORDER CROSSING completed the week after and submitted it along with the rejected PRIVACY ACT certificate on 09.27.18, they accepted all my VISA/BORDER CROSSING documents TODAY (10.10.18).  So i'm' assuming that even though they ask for the Privacy Act document, that the Visa Border Crossing is in fact the one to get.  If I had my time back I would have gotten both done at the same time and it would have saved me 4 full weeks.

 

I received an email from them stating that the NVC has received all the fees, forms and documents. They will work with the Consulate in Montreal to schedule an interview and send that notice to me.  Does this mean that today is my CC date?

Yes that is your CC, congrats!

[LLabout 16]

29 minutes ago, arellah said:

Yes that is your CC, congrats!

YES!!!!   thank you!!!!!!  I'm beyond excited to sit and wait now!  I have resigned myself to the fact that this is a very slow process, but I can at least know that i'm awaiting a letter with my interview date, then a medical exam, then interview!!!  YAY!