Hello guys,
Does anybody know that we can submit the police certificate from back home after we send the citizenship application or do we have to send it along with the application? Can we send it 3 or 4 months after we send the application?
Clarification.
Previous responses state that the failure to include a Police Certificate with the application, if required (that is, if the applicant spent a total of six months in a country during the four years preceding the day the application was signed), will result in an incomplete application which would be returned to the applicant.
Applicants can, however, alternatively explain why they are unable to submit a police certificate with the application. A reasonable explanation should pass the completeness check. And thus not result in the application being returned to the applicant.
Whether the explanation that an application has been made for a police certificate from country XX, but there is an inordinate delay in obtaining the police certificate, is a sufficient reason to pass the completeness check, I am not certain but my guess is that almost any reasonable explanation will suffice including this.
If a police certificate can only be obtained from within the respective country, an explanation that the applicant is in Canada and has no plans to travel to that country in the near future, and therefore a police certificate cannot be obtained, should likewise suffice to pass the completeness check.
That said, depending on all the circumstances involved, this may invite non-routine processing, perhaps referrals for additional background and security checks, and thus result in some processing delays.
Almost always best to obtain all that is requested and then apply. As noted in other contexts, sometimes applying sooner can result in it taking longer to become a citizen. Avoiding obvious or overt triggers for non-routine processing is generally the more prudent approach, even if there is no way to for-sure avoid non-routine processing.
Can you please advise on Police clearance Certificate, I landed in 01-14 as a PR. Went to home country for 1 month in 2016 only. As per new rule Bill c 6 will come into effect from Fall 2017. So now if I submit my citizen application in ex. Sept 2017, Do i still need to submit PCC. The rule is if you out 6 month of last 4 yrs b4 applying for citizenship. Please update on this.
Who must submit a police certificate with the application is an administrative decision which IRCC can change any day, with or without any advance notice.
Since there is nothing in Bill C-6 which changes the relevant time period for prohibitions based on criminal charges or convictions abroad, the safe bet is that this part of the application form will not change when the new 3/5 presence rules take effect.
Thus, you can go to the current application form, the current checklist, and the current instruction guide, and for purposes of submitting a police certificate, what those forms and information instruct will almost certainly continue to apply. Currently, the application calls for a police certificate from any country in which the applicant spent a total of 183 days or more during the four years preceding the date the application was made.
But, again, IRCC could change this aspect of the application any time . . . it could reduce the total time triggering required inclusion of a police certificate to just three months, or even one month . . . or it could increase it to a longer period of time.
That noted, again, there is nothing to indicate that any changes are anticipated, so the current instructions and requirements will most likely still apply in September, October, early next year, and so on.
The current application form clearly references the
last four years, not just since the applicant became a PR, but the last four years. Thus, if as of the day the application for citizenship is made, the applicant spent a total of 183 days in another country during the four years preceding that day when the application is made, the applicant is required to submit a police certificate or explain why one cannot be submitted with the application.
It warrants noting that if waiting another month to apply will make a difference, that is probably a good reason to wait another month to apply. After all, more of a margin above the minimum presence requirement is almost always a good thing anyway.
In any event, if the application is made, say, as of October 11, 2017, the applicant must submit a police certificate (or explain why not) if the applicant spent a total of 183 days in a country during the four year period October 11, 2013 to October 10, 2017. Date the applicant became a PR is not a factor.
FWIW Notes: Providing a police certificate is not a requirement for the grant of citizenship. Whether or not IRCC requests or demands a police certificate is thus an administrative action. This is important because who must submit a police certificate, and when, is not regulation-driven but is, rather, a discretionary decision which IRCC can change at any time. Indeed, an applicant can be required to submit a police certificate during the processing of the citizenship application even if the applicant was in a country significantly less than six months. The only limitation on IRCC's request for a police certificate is reasonableness.
It warrants remembering that the purpose of a police certificate is to meet the applicant's burden of proving the applicant does not have any prohibitions related to criminal charges or convictions in a country other than Canada. That is the requirement, that the applicant not have any conviction (within the preceding four years) for what would be, if committed in Canada, an indictable offense, or any such charges pending. (And, again, this requirement does not change even though the physical presence requirement will change to a 3/5 rule sometime this fall.)
