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Feb 2016: Latest Update on Police Certificates

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IRCC (formerly CIC) has announced latest updates on their website:

POLICE CERTIFICATES

Purpose:
To determine if the applicant or their family members have a criminal record or poses a security risk to Canada

Document requirements:
For the applicant’s current country of residence, the police certificate must have been issued no more than six months before the submission of the e-APR.
For countries in which the applicant no longer resides, the police certificate must have been issued after the departure date of the last time the client resided in that country for more than six months.
Police certificates are required up front and are mandatory for each country (except Canada) where an individual has lived for a total of six months or more. This instruction is for the purpose of the completeness check under section R10. However, it is always at an officer’s discretion to request a new or additional police certificate.
Some countries require that the applicant complete a consent form to initiate a police certificate. For example, an applicant seeking a police certificate from New Zealand must download and complete the Consent to Disclosure of Information (NZ) form available on the IRCC website. The form is then uploaded (with any other police certificates the applicant may provide) as part of the e-APR. If the application is not rejected as incomplete, the processing office will assess the consent form and electronic file and initiate the police certificate.

In exceptional circumstances, IRCC may accept:

proof of having requested a police certificate for such countries; and
an explanation of best efforts (not a guarantee of acceptance). The applicant should explain the delay in a document and upload the document. The uploaded document must show that the applicant requested a police certificate as soon as possible after receiving their Invitation to Apply.

Individuals who must submit this documentation:

The principal applicant
Their spouse or common-law partner
Their dependent children 18 years of age or older, including non-accompanying



Police certificates

As part of a complete application, applicants, their spouse or common-law partner and their dependent children 18 years of age or older (including non-accompanying dependants) must submit a valid police certificate for all countries or territories (except Canada) in which they have lived for a total of six months or more, since the age of 18.

Note: This includes the requirement to provide a police certificate for countries in which the individual has traveled for six months or more, whether or not the individual had an established residential address during this time.

The IRCC website provides instructions to applicants on how to obtain a police certificate.

Police certificates are typically valid for one year from the date they are issued.

For the applicant’s current country of residence, the police certificate must be issued no more than six months before submission of the e-APR.

For countries in which the applicant no longer lives, the police certificate must have been issued after the last time the client lived in that country.

The personalized document checklist provided to applicants in their MyCIC account does not prompt applicants for individual police certificates based on their declared residence and travel history; rather, applicants must determine which police certificates are required as part of their application and must compile the police certificates into a single file to upload as a single supporting document.

Exceptional circumstances

The IRCC website provides country-specific instructions on what documentation must be provided to that country’s policing agency in order for them to initiate the request for a police certificate.

Applications that do not include a required police certificate and do not provide supporting documentation where required should be rejected as incomplete.

The officer’s discretion may be required in assessing whether police certificates that do not fall within standard IRCC parameters may still be required to process the application. For instance, the war in Syria has made it extremely difficult for former residents to obtain a police certificate; officers may need to use discretion on how to best fulfill this admissibility requirement.

Some countries will not issue police certificates to applicants, and instead will only communicate directly with the relevant Canadian authorities. In such cases, existing IRCC procedures to obtain documentation should be followed.

In exceptional circumstances, some applicants may experience delays in obtaining police certificates within the 60-calendar-day timeframe allocated to submit a complete e-APR. In such situations, applicants should submit a letter of explanation as part of their application and include proof of having requested a police certificate (e.g., a copy of the receipt obtained when they requested the police certificate from the prescribed authority). The officer’s discretion may be required in assessing whether police certificates that do not fall within these time limits are valid and reliable for the purpose of evaluating admissibility.

Link for above info:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/perm/express/intake-complete.asp

I hope this helps.