FBI Processing Times

[evaz]

I'm applying through the family class under spousal sponsorship and I'm from the US. I received a request for an identity history summary check (via fingerprints) from the FBI on Oct 30th but because of my work schedule and the fact that the fingerprinting places were all closed on the weekends, I wasn't able to get them done until today, Nov 6th.

While I was at the fingerprinting place, the man who took my impressions convinced me not to go through a channeler because his experience was that the FBI itself was quicker than they said on the website and that it was a rip off to pay extra for another service to process them. Even though I expressed my worry that CIC needed them by November 29th, he assured me I would have more than enough time.

However, I peeked back on the FBI site afterwards and saw that their processing times are at 2-4 weeks right now. I'm pretty stressed that I won't receive my results in time to send them to CIC, but because I only received one original impression and not the two the channeler required, I mailed it directly to the FBI tonight, priority so they will receive it tomorrow morning.

So, I'm asking if anyone has any experience with this or advice? Does the FBI usually get to it pretty quickly despite their estimated times? Should I call CIC, explain the situation and see if I can get an extension? Or do I take a big monetary loss and get another two sets done to send to a channeler?

 

[lion.com]

I'm applying through the family class under spousal sponsorship and I'm from the US. I received a request for an identity history summary check (via fingerprints) from the FBI on Oct 30th but because of my work schedule and the fact that the fingerprinting places were all closed on the weekends, I wasn't able to get them done until today, Nov 6th.

While I was at the fingerprinting place, the man who took my impressions convinced me not to go through a channeler because his experience was that the FBI itself was quicker than they said on the website and that it was a rip off to pay extra for another service to process them. Even though I expressed my worry that CIC needed them by November 29th, he assured me I would have more than enough time.

However, I peeked back on the FBI site afterwards and saw that their processing times are at right now. I'm pretty stressed that I won't receive my results in time to send them to CIC, but because I only received one original impression and not the two the channeler required, I mailed it directly to the FBI tonight, priority so they will receive it tomorrow morning.

So, I'm asking if anyone has any experience with this or advice? Does the FBI usually get to it pretty quickly despite their estimated times? Should I call CIC, explain the situation and see if I can get an extension? Or do I take a big monetary loss and get another two sets done to send to a channeler?

I am not American and not allowed to use channeler. So what I did: went on fbi.gov site, filled up form on-line and meanwhile had my fingerprints done to send the card to USA. Sent fingerprint card to fbi office on Friday and on Tuesday I received results. It clearly says on fbi.Gov site that there are two ways to apply for police clearance: electronic ( what I did) and by mail. For electronic it takes 3-5 business days and u get copy on your email too, and by mail ( which means u submit all docs only by mail) you get it done 2-4 weeks. Very fast to me, just over a year back I had to wait for 4 months... if u don’t have much free time just use a channeler millions of people do it...
read it carefully. It explained everything!
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks
Did you fill up form online or u just submit all by mail??? If the wait is longer than what expected, I think you can submit receipts that you sent docs to fbi and waiting for results. At least my representative told me it’s an option when I was not sure when I receive my summary check certificate.

 

[evaz]

I am not American and not allowed to use channeler. So what I did: went on fbi.gov site, filled up form on-line and meanwhile had my fingerprints done. Sent fingerprint card to fbi office on Friday and on Tuesday I received results. It clearly says on fbi.Gov site that there are two ways to apply for police clearance: electronic ( what I did) and by mail. For electronic it takes 3-5 business days and u get copy on your email too, and by mail ( which means u submit all docs only by mail) you get it done 2-4 weeks. Very fast to me, just a year back I had to wait for over 4 months... if u don’t have much free time just use a channeler millions of people do it...
read it carefully. It explained everything!
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks

Thank you for your reply! I did submit my request online, and received the confirmation via email, but since I had to physically mail my prints to them I assumed my wait time would be the same 2-4 weeks. Does that mean mine should also be done quickly?

 

[lion.com]

Thank you for your reply! I did submit my request online, and received the confirmation via email, but since I had to physically mail my prints to them I assumed my wait time would be the same 2-4 weeks. Does that mean mine should also be done quickly?

Oh yes, than it won’t take long)) i did absolutely same thing! On-line form and prints card sent by mail. Received results just few days after they received card)

 

[evaz]

Oh yes, than it won’t take long)) i did absolutely same thing! On-line form and prints card sent by mail. Received results just few days after they received card)

Thank you! That makes me feel a lot better!

 

[evaz]

I just wanted to post an update for anyone else who might stumble on this thread later and is as nervous as I was!

Because I submitted the request to the FBI online, it really sped my process up exponentially! I was worried that the 2-4 week wait for mailed requests also counted for online requests if the fingerprint card was mailed but that wasn't the case at all.

I mailed my fingerprint card to them on Nov. 6th, they received it Nov. 7th, emailed me on Nov. 8th to tell me that they received it would process it "in the order it was received" and then sent me the response that same day!

Obviously processing times might change depending on how backlogged they are but it seems submitting the request online really does speed the process up and I thankfully didn't need to spend the extra money on a channeler because of that. I hope my own nervousness about the process can help someone else later!

 

[PandavN]

I just wanted to post an update for anyone else who might stumble on this thread later and is as nervous as I was!

Because I submitted the request to the FBI online, it really sped my process up exponentially! I was worried that the 2-4 week wait for mailed requests also counted for online requests if the fingerprint card was mailed but that wasn't the case at all.

I mailed my fingerprint card to them on Nov. 6th, they received it Nov. 7th, emailed me on Nov. 8th to tell me that they received it would process it "in the order it was received" and then sent me the response that same day!

Obviously processing times might change depending on how backlogged they are but it seems submitting the request online really does speed the process up and I thankfully didn't need to spend the extra money on a channeler because of that. I hope my own nervousness about the process can help someone else later!

This is true, we got the reply second day after we mailed in our fingerprint card.

 

[Figuringthingsout]

Thank you for your reply! I did submit my request online, and received the confirmation via email, but since I had to physically mail my prints to them I assumed my wait time would be the same 2-4 weeks. Does that mean mine should also be done quickly?

Hi,
Apologies if this is a basic question...but when you submitted your FBI result to IRCC, did it need to be in the sealed letter from the FBI or a printout of the digital version was good enough? Thank you