Why did the NVC ask for a police certificate for a country the applicant had been in for under 3 months?

[American Husband 0]

When preparing to help my wife apply for a US visa, I read that she would need a police certificate from every country she had been in for 6 months or more. When we did the DS-260 we listed Malaysia as a country my wife had been in, but she had been there for less than three months so we were very surprised when we are asked to submit a Malaysian police certificate as one of her civil documents. We think it would be enormously difficult to get a Malaysian police certificate so we submitted a typed explanation that my wife had been there for less than three months instead.

 

Will the explanation be enough? Why were we asked for the police certificate to begin with? 

[Boiler 45,404]

She is Malaysian?

[American Husband 0]

Thanks for the reply. She is not Malaysian. We just briefly visited Malaysia together

[OldUser 6,548]

On 9/13/2024 at 6:21 AM, American Husband said:

 so we submitted a typed explanation that my wife had been there for less than three months instead.

 

Will the explanation be enough?

Did you support it with any scans of passport with entry / exit stamps to Malaysia?

 

On 9/13/2024 at 6:21 AM, American Husband said:

Why were we asked for the police certificate to begin with? 

Looks like somebody made a mistake. 

[American Husband 0]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Did you support it with any scans of passport with entry / exit stamps to Malaysia?

 

No, but we included a plane ticket showing our date of entry and the marriage certificate from another country right after we left.

 

Someone making a mistake seems strange, because this was part of an automated online system. It seemed to populate the list of police certificates we needed based on the countries she visited.

[Crazy Cat 41,685]

4 minutes ago, American Husband said:

No, but we included a plane ticket showing our date of entry

Why was that required?  Sounds like the DS-260 indicates she lives there....or lived there.

[Crazy Cat 41,685]

On 9/13/2024 at 8:21 AM, American Husband said:

I read that she would need a police certificate from every country she had been in for 6 months

Where did you read this? 

 

 

 

Edited September 14 by Crazy Cat

[American Husband 0]

17 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Why was that required?  Sounds like the DS-260 indicates she lives there....or lived there.

 

We spent over two months there. Should we not have counted that as a place she lived?

[Crazy Cat 41,685]

11 minutes ago, American Husband said:

 

We spent over two months there. Should we not have counted that as a place she lived?

I thought she visited there.  I would not have listed it as a residence.  Even so, a police certificate would not be required even if she lived there less than 12 months.

Edited September 14 by Crazy Cat

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[American Husband 0]

14 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

Where did you read this? 

 

 

 

 

I guess I must've misremembered because of the country of nationality and country of current residence. In any case, 12 months is even longer so that makes it even stranger that a stay under three months would get flagged in their system as something that requires a police certificate. Thanks for reassuring me that I haven't misunderstood the rules.

[American Husband 0]

14 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

I thought she visited there.  I would not have listed it as a residence.  Even so, a police certificate would not be required even if she lived there less than 12 months.

I guess it was an ambiguous case because it was a transition period where she didn't have a permanent address. We're both travelers.

[pushbrk 12,824]

13 hours ago, American Husband said:

I guess it was an ambiguous case because it was a transition period where she didn't have a permanent address. We're both travelers.

What you have done should satisfy NVC.  Your mistake was listing a place you visited, as a place of residence.