Police Certificates

[bullismt 0]

I am trying to determine if my wife needs to submit police records/certificates from the Czech Republic.  She worked there for 8 months and is originally from France, she currently lives in France and has for the past few years.  Using the table on the NVC website for civil documents, under police certificates I do not believe she needs them, however they are asking for them on CEAC website.  I have talked to a few people and they saying something about her being there for 6 months makes them required.  Below is the table I am referring to, any help is appreciated.  

 

If you are 16 years of age or older, you must obtain a photocopy of a police certificate from all countries you have lived in using below criteria:

If you ...	AND you...	THEN submit a police certificate from...
Are 16 years old or older	Lived in your country of nationality for more than 6 months at any time in your life	Your country of nationality
Are 16 years old or older	Have lived in your country of current residence (if different from nationality) for more than 6 months	Your country of current residence
Have ever lived in another country for 12 months or more	Were 16 years or older at the time you lived there	The country where you used to live.
Were arrested for any reason, regardless of how long you lived in that city or country, and no matter what age you were		The city and/or country where you were arrested.

Note: Present and former residents of the United States do NOT need to submit any U.S. police certificates.

Important: Police certificates expire after two years, unless the certificate was issued from your country of previous residence and you have not returned there since the police

[powerpuff 6,699]

Why do you believe she doesn’t need them? The table (which is from an official source upon which NVC and consulates rely on) says if you lived  in a country for more than 6 months and she has lived in Czech Republic for 8 months 

[Lil bear 4,210]

2 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Why do you believe she doesn’t need them? The table (which is from an official source upon which NVC and consulates rely on) says if you lived  in a country for more than 6 months and she has lived in Czech Republic for 8 months 

The section you have quoted regarding 6 months in another country is qualified by the requirement that you are currently living in that country. I read that section to say that …. 8 months previously residing in Czech R but NOW residing in France and a French national .. she does not need a police certificate.  from CR. She does require one from France 

 

I may be wrong !! 

[powerpuff 6,699]

3 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

The section you have quoted regarding 6 months in another country is qualified by the requirement that you are currently living in that country. I read that section to say that …. 8 months previously residing in Czech R but NOW residing in France and a French national .. she does not need a police certificate.  from CR. She does require one from France 

 

I may be wrong !! 

Gotcha, I see that now. It used to be 6 months, did they change it? I’m guessing NVC isn’t up to date if they’re still requiring it.

 

@bullismt I believe you can notify NVC and argue that she doesn’t need a police certificate from CR. You should highlight the section that applies to you and attach the above table 

Edited September 20, 2022 by powerpuff

[Lil bear 4,210]

4 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Gotcha, I see that now. It used to be 6 months, did they change it? I’m guessing NVC isn’t up to date if they’re still requiring it.

 

@bullismt I believe you can notify NVC and argue that she doesn’t need a police certificate from CR. You should highlight the section that applies to you and attach the above table 

I dont read that OP has received an RFE from NVC. I think they are trying to sort out what to submit 

 

I'm not sure about changes. Been >6 years since we were at NVC stage and gladly forgotten the smaller details of that stage 🤪

Edited September 20, 2022 by Lil bear

[Chancy 6,241]

12 hours ago, bullismt said:

I am trying to determine if my wife needs to submit police records/certificates from the Czech Republic.  She worked there for 8 months and is originally from France, she currently lives in France and has for the past few years.

 

If your wife no longer lives in the Czech Republic AND she is not a Czech national, she is technically not required to provide a police certificate from there.  So if she gets an RFE from NVC for it, you may upload a statement that it is not required in her case.  But remember that the interviewing consul officer has discretion to ask for a police certificate even for shorter stays.  So if it is not too much trouble and expense to get the police certificate from the Czech Republic, I recommend getting it anyway.  At my interview, the CO did ask me if I ever lived in another country for 6 months at a time.  I didn't, but if I did, I doubt I could have argued my way out of the requirement for police certificate, since he was very specific about the 6 months.

 

[powerpuff 6,699]

2 minutes ago, Chancy said:

But remember that the interviewing consul officer has discretion to ask for a police certificate even for shorter stays.  So if it is not too much trouble and expense to get the police certificate from the Czech Republic, I recommend getting it anyway. 

I agree, ultimate decision is with the CO. I believe back in my K1 process it did say 6 months which made me get the police certificate for a country I used to live in, I was trying my best to avoid any possible delays.

[bullismt 0]

Thanks for the info.  It is just frustrating because to me the criteria that needs to be met for the police certificate to be required are pretty clear and I do not believe that we meet those requirements.  I do understand however that at the end of the day  they can request any extra info they want.  Its just that on the CEAC website it was requesting the Czech police records initially and I did not understand why,  I would think if the wanted them it would have been an RFE.  The other issue is that it sounds like its a 2-3 month  turn around on requesting them from the Czech, and I'm not even sure that we are going the correct course to try an acquire them.     

[Mel.King 23]

11 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

If your wife no longer lives in the Czech Republic AND she is not a Czech national, she is technically not required to provide a police certificate from there.  So if she gets an RFE from NVC for it, you may upload a statement that it is not required in her case.  But remember that the interviewing consul officer has discretion to ask for a police certificate even for shorter stays.  So if it is not too much trouble and expense to get the police certificate from the Czech Republic, I recommend getting it anyway.  At my interview, the CO did ask me if I ever lived in another country for 6 months at a time.  I didn't, but if I did, I doubt I could have argued my way out of the requirement for police certificate, since he was very specific about the 6 months.

 

I would upload a statement or a letter to the NVC explaining that she does not require the police certificate, and highlight the relevant sections of law like @powerpuff suggested. This will help you not get an RFE (hopefully - because and RFE will slow down your case). BUT - I would request the police clearance certificate now so that when the interview stage comes along, you have it.  It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Mel.King

[Ted277 40]

You don’t need police clearance if you lived in another country not more than 12 month. So I don’t think your spouse need it. Spent a lot of money getting police clearance in Ghana and found out they don’t even need it 😭 . Got my visa without the police clearance. The embassy will also make this clear to you in the emails they sent before interview. So don’t waste that time and money getting police clearance if your spouse didn’t stay more than 12 months there. I’m happy I could help.  

Edited September 21, 2022 by Ted277
To elaborate more

[Ted277 40]

On 9/20/2022 at 1:45 PM, powerpuff said:

I agree, ultimate decision is with the CO. I believe back in my K1 process it did say 6 months which made me get the police certificate for a country I used to live in, I was trying my best to avoid any possible delays.

If you actually did K1 and received email from the embassy, they will categorically tell you exactly the police clearance you should get. And on the email, it says the applicant should get police clearance from another country he/she have stayed more than 12 months. Unless your embassy didn’t explain well. I took the Ghana police clearance to the interview, they ask how long I stayed and I replied 8 months and they didn’t take it. Only collected the Nigeria police clearance. 

[Ted277 40]

On 9/20/2022 at 1:18 PM, powerpuff said:

Why do you believe she doesn’t need them? The table (which is from an official source upon which NVC and consulates rely on) says if you lived  in a country for more than 6 months and she has lived in Czech Republic for 8 months 

With what I read from the post. The 3rd row is exactly what is applicable in this situation. And I repeat, if she didn’t stay more than 12 months. Don’t bother getting the police clearance because you don’t need it. It’s very expensive, time consuming and exhausting. It will make you stay longer in NVC stage and finally during interview when embassy sends an email, you’ll realized that you wasted your time getting it. 

[Ted277 40]

On 9/20/2022 at 1:29 PM, Lil bear said:

The section you have quoted regarding 6 months in another country is qualified by the requirement that you are currently living in that country. I read that section to say that …. 8 months previously residing in Czech R but NOW residing in France and a French national .. she does not need a police certificate.  from CR. She does require one from France 

 

I may be wrong !! 

You’re spot on. 

[powerpuff 6,699]

6 minutes ago, Ted277 said:

If you actually did K1 and received email from the embassy, they will categorically tell you exactly the police clearance you should get. And on the email, it says the applicant should get police clearance from another country he/she have stayed more than 12 months. Unless your embassy didn’t explain well. I took the Ghana police clearance to the interview, they ask how long I stayed and I replied 8 months and they didn’t take it. Only collected the Nigeria police clearance. 

 

As I said, I chose to be safe than sorry. As you also saw in this thread, COs are different. Everyone has a choice they are free to make - I chose to get a certificate because it was not a hassle in my case. Others can choose to not obtain it and that’s fine.
 

As a note, the consulate did not list I-134 as a document to bring, yet they asked me for it at the interview and I had it with me along with supporting docs. I rather have a document and not be asked for it than not have it and be asked for it. 
 

Just now, Ted277 said:

With what I read from the post. The 3rd row is exactly what is applicable in this situation. And I repeat, if she didn’t stay more than 12 months. Don’t bother getting the police clearance because you don’t need it. It’s very expensive, time consuming and exhausting. It will make you stay longer in NVC stage and finally during interview when embassy sends an email, you’ll realized that you wasted your time getting it. 

I already addressed it above and I will not do so again now. FYI not every procedure to get a police certificate is difficult. Sometimes it is not that difficult.

[Ted277 40]

1 minute ago, powerpuff said:

 

As I said, I chose to be safe than sorry. As you also saw in this thread, COs are different. Everyone has a choice they are free to make - I chose to get a certificate because it was not a hassle in my case. Others can choose to not obtain it and that’s fine.
 

As a note, the consulate did not list I-134 as a document to bring, yet they asked me for it at the interview and I had it with me along with supporting docs. I rather have a document and not be asked for it than not have it and be asked for it. 
 

I already addressed it above and I will not do so again now. FYI not every procedure to get a police certificate is difficult. Sometimes it is not that difficult.

 

I understand where you’re going about playing safe, that’s thoughtful. And official website said “if you haven’t stayed in another country for more than 12 months, you don’t need it” 

 

if its easy for her to get the police clearance, she should go ahead but if it’s not, she clearly don’t need it.