Police certificates - how long are they valid for

[MDSB]

Hello

Hope someone can help. 

Can anyone confirm how long police certificates are valid for?  I've read both 3 months and 6 months and becoming confused. 
The reason for my concern is that I need to provide 3 police certificates - USA (FBI), Australia (AFP0 and UK (ACPO).  All have different processing times on their websites and so I need to be smart about when I apply for each one.   

Any advice/confirmation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!   

[Rinnerz]

From CIC's website regarding police certificates (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/intro.asp):

The certificate must have been issued no more than three months before you submit your application.

[MDSB]

Thank you for your speedy reply Rinnerz... I thought that might be the case but was secretly hoping for 6 months... it's going to be tricky getting the timing right!   

[angtao]

WHAT? I just read this and I am freaking out. We started getting all the paperwork and stuff in June 2010. My husband had to get 3 police clearances and we got one in August, one is September and another in October.

Does this mean he is going to have to do all 3 of them again?

My husband came to Canada in Oct'09 and we are applying inland. Do you think that they would only want to see another updated one from Canada?

So confused?

[shykitten]

Im kind of in the same predicament ...We worked so long doing the paperwork and to make sure everything was included in our application ...My husband got his police clearance Sept 28,2010 and our app was transferred to London on Feb 17, 2011 (timeline is below) ...and here i was feeling fairly confident about everything i included ...now, im not so sure ...

[CharlieD10]

The certificates must be no more than 3 months old when the application is submitted to CPC-M.

Once they are within that time frame at the submission of the application to CPC-M, they are then held valid for a year from the date they were done.   

This applies for Outland applications, I do not know the rules regarding those submitting Inland.

[toby]

The certificates must be no more than 3 months old when the application is submitted to CPC-M.

Once they are within that time frame at the submission of the application to CPC-M, they are then held valid for a year from the date they were done.   

This applies for Outland applications, I do not know the rules regarding those submitting Inland.

Actually, as long as the Police certicfate is up-to-date when submitted to CIC, it does not necessarily go out of date if the Application is in process for more than a year -- unless the Visa Officer decides to ask for an updated one.  We submitted our Application to CIC in  November 2009, with a police report issued in October 2009. We just got a call to an interview for 4 April 2011, obviously more than a year later.  Yet the Visa Office confirmed to me that the original police report is still valid.  So, it depends on the Visa Officer.

 
 

[CharlieD10]

Actually, as long as the Police certicfate is up-to-date when submitted to CIC, it does not necessarily go out of date if the Application is in process for more than a year -- unless the Visa Officer decides to ask for an updated one.  We submitted our Application to CIC in  November 2009, with a police report issued in October 2009. We just got a call to an interview for 4 April 2011, obviously more than a year later.  Yet the Visa Office confirmed to me that the original police report is still valid.  So, it depends on the Visa Officer.

 

Mmm, I guess so.  Because PCC's are never held valid for more than a year for Jamaicans.  I'm guessing the Visa Officers in Jamaica have to know what we got up to while we waited for them to debate our lives more than those in China. 

[shandymoo]

Im kind of in the same predicament ...We worked so long doing the paperwork and to make sure everything was included in our application ...My husband got his police clearance Sept 28,2010 and our app was transferred to London on Feb 17, 2011 (timeline is below) ...and here i was feeling fairly confident about everything i included ...now, im not so sure ...

I remember I delayed applying for my police certificate as i found out about the 3 month thing... I was gonna apply in october and then left it for a month so it would be valid as i knew i was submitting it in january. Mine is dated 25th november so it was still in the 3 months when they received my app in january in mississagua and then still in the 3 months when London received it on february 17th as it expires 25th feb if they hadnt received it.

In your case, yours will have expired on december 28th which is 3 weeks before you submitted your application so they are extremely likely to request an up to date police certificate. If i were you i would apply for a new one now as in a few weeks they might start processing your application and then see that its expired and send out a request for a certificate, which then would have to wait a while for. You might be delayed a while because of this

[missha]

WHAT? I just read this and I am freaking out. We started getting all the paperwork and stuff in June 2010. My husband had to get 3 police clearances and we got one in August, one is September and another in October.

Does this mean he is going to have to do all 3 of them again?

My husband came to Canada in Oct'09 and we are applying inland. Do you think that they would only want to see another updated one from Canada?

So confused?

Oh angto, I didnt know that you went thru the same issue like I did.

[cantor2537]

Police certificates are extremely annoying. My wife lived in China for a couple years after age 18 before immigrating to the US, at which time she needed a police certificate for US immigration. We had to get another one from China when we submitted in August 2011, because the Chinese one was no longer valid even though she has not been back, as well as an FBI check. Luckily for us, after digging through her papers, we found her old Chinese passport (she is now a US citizen) and the citizenship/resident card. We got her cousin to get the police check for us in China. The FBI check and the Chinese check took exactly two months so the police checks came at the same time. I cannot imagine having to do this every three months after your application reaches CPC-M. If they ask, I suppose we could get another FBI check, but it makes no sense to get another Chinese check if she hasn't even been back for 9 years.

[toby]

Police certificates are extremely annoying. My wife lived in China for a couple years after age 18 before immigrating to the US, at which time she needed a police certificate for US immigration. We had to get another one from China when we submitted in August 2011, because the Chinese one was no longer valid even though she has not been back, as well as an FBI check. Luckily for us, after digging through her papers, we found her old Chinese passport (she is now a US citizen) and the citizenship/resident card. We got her cousin to get the police check for us in China. The FBI check and the Chinese check took exactly two months so the police checks came at the same time. I cannot imagine having to do this every three months after your application reaches CPC-M. If they ask, I suppose we could get another FBI check, but it makes no sense to get another Chinese check if she hasn't even been back for 9 years.

Common sense and CIC practices are sometimes dissimilar.

My wife and I are living in China; we were called to an interview in April 2011, but -- after I argued the point -- the Hong Kong consulate agreed that the police certificate submitted in December 2009 was still OK, that a new one was not necessary. This is common sense.

But when a Canadian acquaintance moved to Canada with his Chinese wife (she on a temporary visa), they then applied for PR through Hong Kong, and the wife was forced to get a new police certificate, even though she had not been living in China since submitting the PR application!  This is not common sense. Perhaps CIC was worried about her committing cyber crime in Canada but registered in China!? Silly.

Before this, his wife was awarded a temporary visa even though she stated her plan to stay in Canada and apply for PR. This may be considered common sense, depending on your point of view.  But when my wife applied for a temporary visa, with a PR application in process, vowing to return to China because her home was in China, and she did would not jeopardize her PR application by overstaying her temporary visa, she was denied. This is not common sense, and inconsistent with the acquaintance's experience.   

So, it is difficult and futile to complain about CIC`s inconsistent practices; they seem to be part of the institutional mentality.

[swervetech69]

To add to the confusion i just got an email from the Hong Kong visa office and they told me one year, different from the 3 months on the CIC website

[CharlieD10]

Once more....police certificates are VALID FOR ONE YEAR PROVIDING THE APPLICATION REACHES CPC-M WITHIN 3 MONTHS OF THE DATE THEY WERE ISSUED.

Hopefully that clears that up.

[scarycemetery]

They are valid for one year. We had an interview today and asked the visa officer and he said one year.