Background Checks: Before or After Interview?

[nncs]

From experience, do you know if they do background checks before or AFTER an interview?

 

[iarblue]

Before they have to have everything done on your app before they can interview.They cant interview you then do checks it would make no sense.

 

[coolvolkz]

@Iarblue
Is background screening same as background check?.. I asked our MP and told us that "his application is queued for background screening." What do you think will be next?..visa coming out soon?
Thanks

 

[canadianwoman]

They do background checks before and after the interview. The major background check, done by CSIS, is after the interview. This is the background screening your application is queueing for. They can take quite a long time - sometimes a year - but usually are not anywhere near that long.

 

[katie3234]

This may sound like a really stupid question but I am going to ask anyways. When they are conducting a background check what exactly does that entail? The reason I am asking is because:
My husband was deported from Greece a total of 5 times, each time held in prison while waiting for them to deport him. Anywhoooo on his criminal record check for Greece nothing came up, on his criminal record check for Albania (where he is a citizen/resides) nothing came up. However he said that the last time he was deported the police officer entered his information into a system and was able to see that he had been previously deported.
So I guess my question is will the immigration officers go further than just looking at his record check? Would I be able to say that he has never been deported or anything of the sort before? Or do they check these things out in-depth?

 

[iarblue]

I think it all depends on what visa office you are going through as to how they do their background checks,they dont go into any detail on how or what methods they use to do the checks,but i would immagine they go deeper into your life than a police report does.

 

[canadianwoman]

So I guess my question is will the immigration officers go further than just looking at his record check? Would I be able to say that he has never been deported or anything of the sort before? Or do they check these things out in-depth?

If he does not admit that he was deported on the application, and if the visa officer then finds out that he was, the application will probably be refused for misrepresentation, and he will be banned from Canada for 2 years. He could then reapply, but his credibility will be shot.
How much time they spend on the background checks varies. His Greek criminal record check came up clean, so they may not spend much time checking further. Still, his deportations are on record in Greece.
I would just be honest and admit the deportations.

 

[thaihubbie]

What are they checking when they do background checks? Why is the Police Clearance not enough?

 

[milad]

Hey ALL,
Actually I have a question and this is the first time i am using this Forum. We have our interview in Sao Paulo Visa office and after the interview the immigration officer told us that they need to check our background more. although we sent all the police certificate tat they needed and as we are not from Brazil we also provided police certificates from our home country. So now I just wonder how long will it takes for receiving the answer? they did not ask us to provide anything else for them and just ask us to wait and told us that they will contact us.
thanks

 

[MandiF]

I was just reading back through the forum and saw this thread and now I'm confused.

Are the background checks separate from the police certificates? In addition to the police certificates? As I'm not really sure what these are for and what happens with them.

If anyone would help with this query, would be great.

Thanks

 

[boyee6576]

Yes the PCC is different from the security checks. The police clearance is for the country you live in and each country you have lived in for atleast 6 months. The security checks is a check that Canada does, its not the same as the pcc.

 

[MandiF]

Thanks for your reply boyee, but am still a bit confused its a check that Canada does for what exactly? To check that I haven't faked the police clearance or for something else?

 

[confusednscared]

Thanks for your reply boyee, but am still a bit confused its a check that Canada does for what exactly? To check that I haven't faked the police clearance or for something else?
[/quote

I think it's a thorough check to see that you have no other ties or criminality from that stated in your application or PCC elsewhere, preferably from developing nations. I think there is this system where a few countries link their data in this huge database which allows another nation within that database to access your criminal history, etc.

 

[MandiF]

Weird.

Thanks for letting me know.

 

[nncs]

Hi,

My husband was approved on August 10th verbally by the IO at the interview. However, the officer told him that his security/background checks are not yet done.

These are things like verifying all the information you gave. Things like your education, all addresses you have lived in, military served (if applicable), etc....the more countries and addresses you've lived in, the longer it takes - if they decided to dig deeper anyway.

....we are trying to wait patiently...though some days are rough to get through...