Police Check Confusion in NSW

[vutapson 0]

Greetings everyone, we'd appreciate hearing if anyone has had difficulty or gotten conflicting information about the police check process in NSW. My wife Anna (the applicant in Sydney) made an appointment to go to her local police station (in Fairfield, the closest to her residence) under the assumption that she could simply fill out form P799 and pay the $175 AUD. Once there she was told she had to wait until she received instructions from the NVC before they could do the check, and that the police do two separate checks (one for name and date of birth for $50 and the other for fingerprinting for $40 - they seemed totally confused about the $175), and that they do not send her the results (how can she bring it to the interview if they don't send her the results?). Can we not get the police check done ahead of time? Are they just giving her a hard time? Can we circumvent that police station and go to another one or get the check done through the AFP, as I think I read elsewhere on this forum? Any clarification would be much appreciated. . . Mark

[jezz85 0]

Hi Mark, my advice is get your wife to go to the NSW police website and download the form and fill it out ready to take in. Then she should call the police station and make an appointment to get her fingerprints and name check done. You're right, it costs $175 (or similar if they've changed it in past 6 months). Important to get fingerprints, not JUST name check. If she doesn't get anywhere she could call back at another time and hopefully get someone else to speak to. I had the same problem at my local police station (also in NSW). I think that some people at the police station don't know what they're talking about or have the wrong info. Get her to call till she finds someone who knows.

There are a couple of other threads like this on here that will help too.

Best of luck!

[tonyr7 0]

hi mark

i think parramatta station would be a better choice

all your SO needs to do is download the form from the police website and have the money

parramatta gave me no problems mate i got mine ahead of time they do however only do the fingerprinting in the charge room, so if its occupied, you gotta wait

appointments are not necassery for the above reason they even do it on the weekends early am seems the best time

good luck

[jezz85 0]

At my local police station you had the option of making an appointment on Sundays OR going in during the week and hoping there was no one in lock up (couldn't do the prints if there was, subsequently I called ahead three times and all three times there WAS someone in lockup so I ended up making the Sunday appointment. Fairfield might be different, but that is what my local station does).

I guess no crime happens on Sundays?

[vutapson 0]

Thanks Jezz85 and Tonyr7, that confirms for me that the police at this station don't know what they're doing! I should have made it clear in my post that Anna DID download the police form beforehand and take it with her, but she was told that was not the form to use. She's not going back to that station - she'll try the Paramatta station or others until she finds one that gets it right. Thanks again. . . Mark

[davidaustralia 0]

wow thats annoying. Here in Melbourne I had my fingerprints and name check and put through the national database and 3 days later I had the report, It was supposed to take a minimum of 10 days but they moved quick for me! Sorry to hear about the polices confusion.