Police certificates - how long are they valid for

[swervetech69]

Yeah me too, how can we get an answer on this. I know the CIC website says 3 months, i literally got an email from an officer in Hong Kong and these were his exact words.


"Subject: GEN-023 Processing times

 

Dear Sir,


Police certificates are required for each country an applicant has lived in for 6 months or more since the age of 18.  Police certificates are valid for 1 year only, and must not be expired at the time of assessment.

[Bargeld]

If it doesn't fit into the window by like a month or a few just submit outlining in a cover sheet that you understand that the background might be slightly outdated, submit for a new one, and if they feel like they need an updated one they'll request it.

This is exactly what my wife and I did. We filed in May 2011, the background was dated December 2010 (we had submitted for another one a week earlier than the PR app was mailed, and it arrived around the same time sponsorship approval came), we told them in a cover letter I had another coming and would happily submit it when the VO requests it from me. They never even requested an updated one.

[Newbie1234]

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.

We submitted our application without FBI report and FBI report was dated two months back. Now if report is submitted after three months. is it still valid? or we need new one?

[ddobro2]

It's 3 months, as in CPCM must receive them within 3 months of the date on the certs. You're probably thinking of 6 months because that refers to needing to provide the certs at all - if you've lived in a country for six consecutive months since the age of 18, you must provide a police certificate for said country.

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!   

[Newbie1234]

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.

Even original application did not include FBI check report?

[toby]

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

This is what Charlie has said several times. 

But for me the issue is, if the Police report is valid when submitted with the PR application, but expires (becomes more than one year old)  because CIC takes (say) 17 months to assess the application, does CIC then demand a new police report?  My experience says "no", but an acquaintance had to get a new report, and Charlie says yes too.

So, a useful exercise might be for everyone to report:
(1) when they submitted their application,
(2) through which embassy,
(3) when was a final decision given by CIC, and
(4) did they have to provide another police report because their original one had expired during CIC's assessment of the PR application.

This way, if in some cases a police report was required, but in a few cases it was waived (as ours was), then you have ammunition to argue that yours should be waived too, because the practice is inconsistently applied.

[CharlieD10]

I think it would depend, like so many things when it comes to CIC and equitable treatment, on what country the applicant is from/resident in.  I know for sure that in more than a year of watching this process, I have NEVER seen them extend the validity of a PCC for a Jamaican applicant.  It's either they bang out the application and rush the applicant off the island by demanding proof of an itinerary with a departure date before the expiration, or they have told them to get new ones because they were past the 12 month mark.  I strongly doubt telling the IOs here in Kingston that the validity of others' PCCs have been extended will make any impression on them.  This is Jamaica, after all, who knows what we could have gotten up to in the 17 months it took them to fiddle about with our application! 

[toby]

I think it would depend, like so many things when it comes to CIC and equitable treatment, on what country the applicant is from/resident in.  I know for sure that in more than a year of watching this process, I have NEVER seen them extend the validity of a PCC for a Jamaican applicant.  It's either they bang out the application and rush the applicant off the island by demanding proof of an itinerary with a departure date before the expiration, or they have told them to get new ones because they were past the 12 month mark.  I strongly doubt telling the IOs here in Kingston that the validity of others' PCCs have been extended will make any impression on them.  This is Jamaica, after all, who knows what we could have gotten up to in the 17 months it took them to fiddle about with our application! 

But Charlie; I hear that life in Jamaica is so sun-soaked and relaxed that people can't get up and do anything in less than 17 months.  So why the need for a new police certificate when nothing happened, nothing could have happened,  in the intervening 17 months? :-)

 

[CharlieD10]

But Charlie; I hear that life in Jamaica is so sun-soaked and relaxed that people can't get up and do anything in less than 17 months.  So why the need for a new police certificate when nothing happened, nothing could have happened,  in the intervening 17 months? :-)

 

Ha. Ha. LOL.