Do I still need a police certificate if it says "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one."

[bikkil]

Hi guys

I intend to apply for citizenship next week and the only concern I have is police certificate from my home country. It does say clearly on canada.ca website that I do not have to. But my previous experience with Express Entry is that they said if it difficult to obtain police certificate then add it in Explanation Letter which I did but then I discovered that (from my GCMS notes) that it was still required which delayed my application for many months.

If any one has a similar experience where it says "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one.", should I attach this screen shot and what their website says or should I bother and go through the trouble of obtaining it?

Please advise

 

[bakshivishal]

Hi guys

I intend to apply for citizenship next week and the only concern I have is police certificate from my home country. It does say clearly on canada.ca website that I do not have to. But my previous experience with Express Entry is that they said if it difficult to obtain police certificate then add it in Explanation Letter which I did but then I discovered that (from my GCMS notes) that it was still required which delayed my application for many months.

If any one has a similar experience where it says "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one.", should I attach this screen shot and what their website says or should I bother and go through the trouble of obtaining it?

Please advise

Police certificate is generally required for citizenship application. Check the application checklist page, it also has instructions on how to get one and if you need one. ex: if since you became PR and moved to Canada, you did not live in another country for more than 183 days, you may not need one.

 

[CaBeaver]

Hi guys

I intend to apply for citizenship next week and the only concern I have is police certificate from my home country. It does say clearly on canada.ca website that I do not have to. But my previous experience with Express Entry is that they said if it difficult to obtain police certificate then add it in Explanation Letter which I did but then I discovered that (from my GCMS notes) that it was still required which delayed my application for many months.

If any one has a similar experience where it says "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one.", should I attach this screen shot and what their website says or should I bother and go through the trouble of obtaining it?

Please advise

You are required to provide a PCC for all the countries you visited 6 months or more in the last 4 years. Exceptions are there if you provided PCC for your country of origin (which is open to interpretation. To me it means your country of nationality) when you applied for PR, and didn't visit again for more than 6 months afterwards.

 

[bikkil]

Thanks a lot guys, I became resident August 2017 and I went back home one mont later and I did spend more than 6 months in 2017 and 2018.

So the fcat that they say for my country "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one." does not change anything? That I still need to provide it?

 

[Jakke]

Thanks a lot guys, I became resident August 2017 and I went back home one mont later and I did spend more than 6 months in 2017 and 2018.

So the fcat that they say for my country "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one." does not change anything? That I still need to provide it?

 

[dpenabill]

Thanks a lot guys, I became resident August 2017 and I went back home one mont later and I did spend more than 6 months in 2017 and 2018.

So the fcat that they say for my country "You do not have to provide a police certificate (country name) unless we ask for one." does not change anything? That I still need to provide it?

I intend to apply for citizenship next week and the only concern I have is police certificate from my home country. It does say clearly on canada.ca website that I do not have to.

Foremost, follow the instructions in the application form itself and the guide for applying for citizenship.

Clue: they do NOT clearly say the applicant does not need to provide a police certificate from their home country. On the contrary, they only describe a particular, fairly narrow exception.

In particular, the "note" in the form for question 10.b) states:

"If you were in your country or territory of origin immediately prior to becoming a permanent resident and landing in Canada and this time falls within this four (4) year period, you are not required to prove a police certificate. Please indicate this in the explanation box."​

You are referring to being in your home country AFTER landing, not "prior" to becoming a PR.

THUS . . .

If you were in a country other than Canada for 183 or more days in a row during the last four years, the truthful answer to question 10.b) is YES.

If that country was the applicant's home country, or "country of origin," AND that was "PRIOR" to when you became a PR, the applicant still lists the country in the chart for 10.b) but can check NO, no police certificate will be provided, and in the explanation box state "was in country of origin before, or 'prior,' to becoming a PR."

But you were in your home country for six months AFTER becoming a PR. So the instructions CLEARLY say you need to check yes you are providing a Police Certificate and one should be included . . . unless there is some other truthful explanation for why a certificate cannot be submitted.