will they still require RCMP police clearance? please help

[missmyhoney]

Should i start process for the RCMP police clearance now or wait for them to ask?

My husband and i are worrying about the RCMP police clearance for a 6 months stay on tourist visa in canada last year. our spousal application is currently in process in manila and our proof of relationship documents were already returned to us this week as they have no need for them anymore. The only police clearance i submitted is from philippines and they have not asked for the one in canada.

per rcmp website, paperbased fingerprinting may take 120 days and more for mailing. could not find any accredited fingerprint scanning services here in our country so we have no other option but do manual fingerprint process. i feel awful forgetting about it and the thought of us being apart longer makes me want to cry. :'(

thanks for the help.

 

[missmyhoney]

i think i found an answer posted by robbiesluv way back 2008. will this still apply?


When you submit an outland application, and you have spent more than 6 months in Canada at some point, the overseas visa office will request a name check from the RCMP. If the name check comes back with a positive "hit" (more likely if you have a common name), they will send the applicant a letter asking for a fingerprint clearance. Commissionaires can do a digital scan clearance request where results are available within 72 hours, but it's my understanding that they will only do those types of clearance if you have a request letter from CIC. Otherwise, you'd have to get an ink fingerprint clearance - which still takes appx 120 days. But almost all region specific instructions advise you to wait to get an RCMP clearance until you're asked to do so . . . so now, with the 72 hours processing time if you have a request from CIC, it's not a big deal to just wait to hear from the visa office. No reason to submit an RCMP clearance upfront - especially if your region's instructions say to wait.
Edited by - robbiesluv on October 29 2008 09:22:02

 

[charloux]

Hello missmyhoney, my husband never sent in a RCMP criminal record check to CIC with the original application (Dec 2009), as it said on the website that CIC conducts their own checks for Canada (and we thought that included the RCMP check). However, in May 2010 he received a package of our photos (proof of relationship), and also a request to send in his fingerprints. We are hoping that we will hear from CIC by October, as that is when the RCMP should forward the results by (~120 days).

My husband lived in Canada for approximately 2 years, and he never had any issues with the RCMP (or law) accept for a transit ticket in Vancouver... so we are thinking that perhaps that may be the reason for the "hit".

It is pretty tough to say whether you (or he) should send in the fingerprints to the RCMP now, and save a possible 120 months added on, or to risk it as they may not even request it. All I can say is I wish now that he got his fingerprints done before he left Canada... I wish we knew then.

I hope for the best for you! Let me know how things go!

 

[canadianwoman]

Should i start process for the RCMP police clearance now or wait for them to ask?

My husband and i are worrying about the RCMP police clearance for a 6 months stay on tourist visa in canada last year. our spousal application is currently in process in manila and our proof of relationship documents were already returned to us this week as they have no need for them anymore. The only police clearance i submitted is from philippines and they have not asked for the one in canada.

per rcmp website, paperbased fingerprinting may take 120 days and more for mailing. could not find any accredited fingerprint scanning services here in our country so we have no other option but do manual fingerprint process. i feel awful forgetting about it and the thought of us being apart longer makes me want to cry. :'(

thanks for the help.

You need the police clearance from any country you have stayed in for 6 months or longer, except Canada. The visa office will let you know later if they want one from Canada - usually they don't.

 

[RobsLuv]

As far as I know the information that I posted a couple of years ago is still valid. The disadvantage you have is that it appears from your post that you're currently together in the Phils and there's no place for your husband to get digital printing done to help facilitate faster RCMP processing. You could just go ahead and start an RCMP clearance, but it's my understanding that normally CIC wants the RCMP to send the results to them . . . not to you for you to send to them. So I don't know if it would do much good to request a clearance now when you don't have information from CIC that tells you where they'd want it to go, etc. And it's pretty normal for things that are sent to the processing office, but not requested, to end up lost because they're not watching for them.

If there's no reason to worry that your hubby will end up with a "hit" coming up when they do a name check, you're probably safe to assume they won't require a fingerprint check. I've been in Canada now for almost 4 years and even now, while they're reprocessing our PR application after our appeal, I've not been asked for an RCMP clearance.

 

[MrsCasanova]

i think i found an answer posted by robbiesluv way back 2008. will this still apply?

this information is out of date


When you submit an outland application, and you have spent more than 6 months in Canada at some point, the overseas visa office will request a name check from the RCMP. If the name check comes back with a positive "hit" (more likely if you have a common name), they will send the applicant a letter asking for a fingerprint clearance. Commissionaires can do a digital scan clearance request where results are available within 72 hours, but it's my understanding that they will only do those types of clearance if you have a request letter from CIC. Otherwise, you'd have to get an ink fingerprint clearance - which still takes appx 120 days. But almost all region specific instructions advise you to wait to get an RCMP clearance until you're asked to do so . . . so now, with the 72 hours processing time if you have a request from CIC, it's not a big deal to just wait to hear from the visa office. No reason to submit an RCMP clearance upfront - especially if your region's instructions say to wait.
Edited by - robbiesluv on October 29 2008 09:22:02