International teachers + criminal checks=DISASTER- Advice please!

[clayrview]

My partner (from UK) and I (Canadian) have lived abroad together for 5 years.
We met in Korean (2006/2007) lived apart in 2008 while I went to school, England (2009) China (2010) and now Vietnam 2011/2012!!

We are planning to start our application in the fall, and then IF approved move to Canada in July 2012.

The only hitch is in the application process- we need to include criminal checks for ALL countries he's lived more than 6 months in- which is england, china, vietnam, and south korea. And all need to be recent (within 3 months of application)

Although the website says you can only get criminal checks from these countries (other than england- go figure) in person!

Are they having a laugh?
Basically can we never go home? Never settle down together?
Or do we need to spend thousands of dollars flying around Asia to get these documents? We both work full time, so it's pretty much impossible.

ARRRG.

Anyone have a similar problem/know what to do?

Thanks,

Christine

 

[clayrview]

Also note- we are not married, living common law for 2 years (documented with leases).
We are in no rush to get married, as we partners in life regardless, and would rather wait till we've set up somewhere and settled down.

BUT IF we are married- does this circumvent any of this nonsense(tsk, I know criminal checks are important)- make it easier/or is it still equally as annoying/difficult.

 

[shamsia]

Usually people consult the appropriate embassies to obtain the Police Certificates AND manage to get it. So dont lose hope yet. Contact the embassies and see what they tell you. All the best!

 

[canadianwoman]

Being married won't help with the police checks. It will only make the whole process easier if you don't have solid proof of living together for a year.

Try getting the police checks without going to the countries, but I must admit the only person I know who needed police checks from China did in the end have to go there in person to get them. And she had to bribe them. If you seem to be encountering a lot of difficulty and people saying everything will be ready next week, but next week it never is, then go there in person to get them.

 

[clayrview]

I have emailed both consulates so hopefully I'll get some clarity.
I reckon processing times for UK citizens should be upwards of 10 months? Am I right?
Can we process the application and forward on criminal checks as we get them?

ALSO
Where will he be required to do his interview? Do I have to be present?

It costs us 1000 USD to fly return from Vietnam to UK, but 2000 USD from Vietnam to Canada. Each. so that's 4000 dollars out of our start up money for Canada, which is not really acceptable!

Or can we do the interview from abroad?

AHH!

 

[Jurjen]

It's possible to do the application from outside of Canada. Then the local office (embassy) will do the interview, if they require it.

 

[canadianwoman]

I have emailed both consulates so hopefully I'll get some clarity.
I reckon processing times for UK citizens should be upwards of 10 months? Am I right?

Yes, but many people get the visa much more quickly than that. If you submit a good application with sufficient proof that your relationship is genuine, and there is nothing unusual about your relationship (a 40-year age gap, multiple children from various relationships, etc.), then probably your PR visa will be issued sooner than the timeline given on the CIC website, and they might waive the interview.

Can we process the application and forward on criminal checks as we get them?

You are supposed to send the criminal checks with the application. If you really can't get one, an explanation and proof you will send it soon may be accepted.

Where will he be required to do his interview? Do I have to be present?

He can apply through London, because he is a UK citizen. If he entered Vietnam on a visa good for a year, he can also apply through the Canadian embassy that processes PR applications from Vietnam - Singapore. But Singapore takes a long time.
So the interview will be in the embassy that is processing his application, presumably London, since there is no reason to go through Singapore if it is not necessary.
You do not have to go to the interview. Occasionally the visa officer will phone the sponsor during the interview to check if the two of you have the same answers, but it is pretty rare.

Or can we do the interview from abroad?

He will have to go to London (or Singapore, though for applicants from Vietnam they do sometimes have the visa officer go to Vietnam; waiting for this takes time.)

 

[clayrview]

Ok- a little confused.
Am I sending the entire pack of forms and evidence to the Mississauga office, or the London office, or the Vietnam embassy or where?

Or do I send it to Mississauga and they forward it on?

My friend is Irish, living in Korea, with a Canadian husband says Mississauga told her she had to process the whole thing through the Korea/Canada Embassy first.


Another question- My partner is hoping to go to school (teachers college) in Canada when we go back. Should we include this in our case (shows that he wants to work in Canadian education) or will it hurt us that he won't be looking for a job?

ta!

 

[scylla]

You send the entire application to Mississauga. Once Mississauga has finished their processing (sponsor approval), they forward the entire package to the visa processing office (e.g. London).

I don't think there's any harm in mentioning that your partner is interested in attending teacher's college in Canada.

 

[canadianwoman]

Am I sending the entire pack of forms and evidence to the Mississauga office, or the London office, or the Vietnam embassy or where?
Or do I send it to Mississauga and they forward it on?

Yes, you send the whole application (sponsor's part and applicant's part) together to Mississauga, CIC in Mississauga checks that all the forms and documents necessary are there, that everything is signed, and then they decide if the sponsor is eligible to sponsor. If yes, CIC forwards the whole application to the visa office you have chosen to process the PR application - either London or Singapore.

My friend is Irish, living in Korea, with a Canadian husband says Mississauga told her she had to process the whole thing through the Korea/Canada Embassy first.

Your friend misunderstood what they said, or was misinformed. If she is applying for a Canadian PR visa through the spousal sponsorship route, they first send their application to Mississauga, then Mississauga will send it all to whichever visa office the couple has chosen for processing (London or Seoul, for them).

Another question- My partner is hoping to go to school (teachers college) in Canada when we go back. Should we include this in our case (shows that he wants to work in Canadian education) or will it hurt us that he won't be looking for a job?

It won't hurt. It is good to discuss your plans for your life together in Canada, and show any proof of this you can - this is good evidence that your relationship is genuine. So discussing how he wants to go to teacher's college, then get a job teaching, and also explaiining how you are going to support yourselves while he does this, is fine.

 

[clayrview]

We've just been informed by the Korean and Chinese embassys that we need to go in person to get the checks!
And we've neither the funds or the time to fly around Asia! Who does?

Immigration Canada does state that "In extenuating circumstances, Canadian Immigration Visa Offices will waive the requirement to submit Police Clearance Certificates."

Does anyone know if this is possible- if we write a letter of why we can't get the checks....

Good GOLLY what a headache!!!

 

[scylla]

We've just been informed by the Korean and Chinese embassys that we need to go in person to get the checks!
And we've neither the funds or the time to fly around Asia! Who does?

Immigration Canada does state that "In extenuating circumstances, Canadian Immigration Visa Offices will waive the requirement to submit Police Clearance Certificates."

Does anyone know if this is possible- if we write a letter of why we can't get the checks....

Good GOLLY what a headache!!!

Have you tried contacting the Canadian embassies/consulates in those countries? Sometimes they can help.

We were successful in getting a waiver. However our situation was a bit different than yours.

My husband was unable to obtain a police certificate for Kuwait (he lived there fore a year and a half in the mid 80's). The problem wasn't that he had to travel there to obtain one. The problem was that you literally couldn't get a police certificate for that time period because all of the Kuwait City records (where my husband was living) were subsequently destroyed in the war.

We spent about 4 months trying various things to obtain the police certificates (i.e. calling/emailing various embassies and consulates for help, asking friends living there to ask in person, etc.).

In the end, we wrote a letter that we included as part of our PR application package. In that letter, we provided a list of all of the things we had done to try to obtain the police certificate. We also quoted/cited several government web sites that supported the "it's impossible" claim. My husband also "respectfully" asked that CIC accept this letter in lieu of the PC - and that he was declaring that he committed no crimes while in Kuwait. He also mentioned that he was there on a US military government contract (as a civilian) - and that had he committed a crime, he would have been sent home by the US. He then supplied proof that he was hired for futher US government contracts and obtained security clearance for these roles(this wouldn't have happened if he had gotten into any kind of trouble in Kuwait).

I honestly don't know if the letter did the trick - or if CIC already knew that it was impossible to obtain pc's for this period. Regardless, we had no delays to our processing.

Good luck...

 

[scylla]

I should also add that because we spent so much time trying to obtain the Kuwait PC, two of our other PCs were technically expired (i.e. older than three months) when we mailed the application.

We submitted the following:

Kuwait - letter (no PC)
Egypt - PC expired by three months
US - PC expired by one month
4 US States - PCs for all 4 States and all were valid

We weren't asked to re-submit anything.

I'm not sure this is typical. Our IO may have just been very nice/reasonable.

 

[canadianwoman]

We've just been informed by the Korean and Chinese embassys that we need to go in person to get the checks!
And we've neither the funds or the time to fly around Asia! Who does?

It will be a lot easier to do it in person, even if expensive. Can you get a friend in either country to take all of your husband's documents and try to get it for him? This may not work, OK, but it is worth trying before spending the money to fly there.

Immigration Canada does state that "In extenuating circumstances, Canadian Immigration Visa Offices will waive the requirement to submit Police Clearance Certificates."

Does anyone know if this is possible- if we write a letter of why we can't get the checks....

Your circumstances are not bad enough to be considered extenuating. If you went there in person, and documented all your efforts, and still couldn't get them, then maybe ... But even then, there is one forum member (kabisha) right now whose husband's PR application was rejected because they really couldn't get the police certificate. Scylla had really good proof that they tried, and that it really was impossible. Another forum member (inlimbo) also has evidence that they tried, and that it is proving impossible, and her husband's application seems to be in limbo.

 

[Bangkokcanuck]

The problem was that you literally couldn't get a police certificate for that time period because all of the Kuwait City records (where my husband was living) were subsequently destroyed in the war.

Oh sure a little war and you give up hahaha, seriously I think that would have to fall under the no chance in hell of getting one category... glad to hear that the VO was reasonable about your situation