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Can I use this Police Certificate?

AMBriers

Star Member
Sep 23, 2018
102
40
Hi all, (hope this is the right place to put this)

I am attempting to be sponsored by my common-law partner and obtain a partner visa. I am a UK citizen, and have been in Canada on an IEC visa for nearly 2 years, and living with my partner the entire time. On the list of requirements for the visa, it states I need a police certificate from the UK. I read somewhere that police certificates are valid for a year after issue, or that they can be dated the last time you resided in your home country (if I recall?).

I have a police certificate dated from May 2016 that I used to apply and obtain my IEC visa. Since November 2016, I have been living in Canada with my partner, and have been back to the UK for 7 weeks worth of vacation visits.

Since technically I have not been residing in the UK since before I came over on my visa, could I still use my old police certificate? Seems a bit annoying and yet another unnecessary expense to request another when I've barely been back in the UK in the two years I have been in Canada.

To apply for a UK police certificate, I need proof of address. Technically my address at the moment is in Canada, so would this alone mean I should apply for a new one, or would my last UK address still work; thus bringing me back to the question of; would my old one still be valid?

Thanks for your time. Hopefully my question makes sense.
 

KBH

Champion Member
Sep 13, 2017
1,454
763
Toronto, ON
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
Mississauga
App. Filed.......
August 2nd, 2017
AOR Received.
September 22nd, 2017
File Transfer...
October 7th, 2017
Passport Req..
December 29th, 2017
VISA ISSUED...
January 23rd, 2018
LANDED..........
Feb 1st, 2018
IRCC has removed all police certificate guidelines related to the spousal stream from their website, so any information shared here by anyone will be a guess. What you've stated was indeed the rules, before they changed them/removed them from public view.

I'll put it this way. Depending on whether you apply inland or outland, AOR can take anywhere from 4 weeks to over 9 weeks. That means if your application were to be returned due to submitting a police cert they don't like, you'd be delaying yourself anywhere from a month to three months (by the time the app gets sent back). Get a new cert.
 

AMBriers

Star Member
Sep 23, 2018
102
40
Oh, okay fair enough. Sometimes I really dislike the way IRCC operate. They only seem to make things more confusing. It says they want a police certificate, does this have to be the real thing, or can it be a colour copy? The checklist doesn't specify. I can get my father to send everything off that I need in the UK, and can get the certificate within 2 days if I pay a higher fee, but I'd hate to have to wait to have it shipped over. My certificate from 2016 is the original copy, as I had that in case they asked for it when activating my IEC visa.

Thanks again.