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lyndsey0927

Chinese police clearance for foreigners--how to get one issued from date of arrival in China

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My husband just had his interview and was preliminarily approved pending he submit a new Chinese police check. He's Canadian. We've been together since 2009 in university and everything is legitimate. We teach English in Guangzhou. We arrived in China on March 2nd, 2016 on legal Z work visas and changed to our residence permit on March 30th, 2016. The Notary Office/PSB in Guangzhou only issued him a police check dated from March 30th, 2016 to present. US immigration wants a police check dated from the date he stepped foot in China on March 2nd, 2016. The Notary Office/PSB absolutely refuses to do this. They say it's impossible. We've gone back 3 times and brought a translator but no luck. There's got to be someone else that has done this. What did you do? A mere 28 days between his China entry date and date of residency permit is stopping us from getting his green card!! Any advice is appreciated!

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Australia
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Go back and ask one more time, and get them to give you a piece of paper (on letterhead) that states it is impossible to get the police clearance for these dates.  Get this piece of paper translated by an approved translator. 

 

Ask your translator to see if s/he can find the rules online that show you cannot get these dates covered.  Have this page translated.

 

Create a timeline of your attempts to get the document.  Submit a signed statement from your translator saying that s/he accompanied you on x date and the police refuse to issue you a clearance covering these dates.  Put these two documents together with the original and the translation of the refusal to US Immigration, plus the web page that says it cannot happen.  US Immigration can ask for a lot, but if it is impossible to get the document, and the police will give written notice of such (or a web page says so), it is highly likely you will be able to proceed.  I can only imagine that some sort of payment may need to change hands at the Notary Office/PSB in Guangzhou.

 

If you DO find a web page that says it cannot be done for those dates, you probably don't need a statement from the police themselves.  Of course, if you DO find a web page that states those dates can be covered in a report, then take your translator back to the PSB and show it to them!

 

Good luck.  Hopefully, this will be able to solve your issue.

 

Sukie in NY

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Our Prior Journey

N-400 Naturalization

18-Feb-2018 - submitted N-400 online, credit card charged

18-Feb-2018 - NOA1

12-Mar-2018 - Biometrics 

18-June-2018 - Notice of interview received

26-July-2018 - Interview  - APPROVED!!!

26-July-2018 - Oath Ceremony Scheduled

17-Aug-2018 - Oath Ceremony

 

 

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Australia
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Where did you stay from March 2 until March 30th?  There is a legal requirement for visitors to register with the PSB within 24 hours of arriving.  If you were in a hotel, they were supposed to register you.  It gets dicey if you were in a private home.  Were you in school-sponsored housing?  If so, they might have had the responsibility for it, but it sounds like no one registered you during those days.  You may have to fall on your sword and explain this to US Immigration.  If it is the school's fault, then they might help with a letter saying it had been overlooked.  If the school told you they would take responsibility for registering you and didn't, then you might be able to explain that to US Immigration as well.

 

Best of luck with this sticky wicket.

 

Sukie in NY

 

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Our Prior Journey

N-400 Naturalization

18-Feb-2018 - submitted N-400 online, credit card charged

18-Feb-2018 - NOA1

12-Mar-2018 - Biometrics 

18-June-2018 - Notice of interview received

26-July-2018 - Interview  - APPROVED!!!

26-July-2018 - Oath Ceremony Scheduled

17-Aug-2018 - Oath Ceremony

 

 

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Thank you for your response Sukie! As soon as we arrived on March 2nd, we were put in a hotel by our company and we were registered the day we arrived. We signed our rental contract and moved into an apartment on March 13th and we also registered again at the local police station with our agent. As far as we know, we did everything by the books and legally. Our translator called Chinese immigration and was informed of a law that doesn't allow background checks until the date you receive your residence permit. So it's impossible to get what we need. Will try to explain this to immigration and hopefully it works. 

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lyndsey0927, good luck and keep us updated!

 

PS. i just got my non criminal record from local PBS and it doesnt include day of arrival or registration, just says smth like "there is no criminal record by 30 of Dec 2016", hope it will be ok, my inteview date is soon

 

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Sph111 can you please tell me the steps you took to request your check? We were turned away at the local PSB twice and were told to go to the Notary Office where they did the background check. If the PSB check doesn't give a starting date, that may help us. If we can request one there...

 

PS my husband said the interview was a breeze once they were convinced he wasn't a criminal haha. They thought he was dodgy because of the wrong dates on the police check and he still passed once they realized it wasn't on purpose.

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1) As its my first time in China, i went to both police stations (where i live now and where i used to live) in order to get the paper from them. The papers contained dates - and I am absolutely sure that at least one of them had the same dates issue as yours - dates started not from the day when i arrived to the country, but after 30 days or so.

2) Then I  went to the notary with a Chinese friend. It took them an hour of shouting at each other to sort things out but they did. Once I showed them the example of the non criminal record from here http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/41297-police-report/page-2 , the notary place said they knew what to do and thatthey will process my request asap. I paid money and picked it up  two weeks later. I have to tell you that I am not sure whether it was PSB and Notary place in one place, i thought that they worked together. 

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Filed: Country: Canada
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Hello 

 

Were you able to get this solved?

I am in a similar situation.

 

I am a Canadian and married an American last year. I went for my spousal visa interview on Feb.15th at the U.S consulate in Guangzhou. I have lived all over China off and on for the last 13 years. I was able to obtain my police check from Beijing where I have lived for the last 5 years. The visa officer asked for police checks for the entire time I have lived in China. 

 

I have been doing some research and what I have been finding is that in order to get police checks from all of the pervious cites I have lived in, I would need the passport that had my visas and entry/exit stamps. I first came to China in 2003 and am no longer in possession of that passport as I didn't have it returned to me from the Canadian passport office.

 

The visa officer said that they wanted to see real evidence that I tried to obtain the police checks. I have been keeping all documentation that I have had with the companies that can do police checks in China. I am also in talks with an immigration lawyer in Beijing.

 

My wife is going to have someone from her school try to get in touch with the different PSB's and see what they say. I know what they are going to say lol 

 

Any info or advice would greatly appreciated. 

 

Thank you for your time. 

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Thank you SPH! I think we're on the right track. 

 

Rippley: writing a signed personal statement will help. That's what the VO said to me when I went to talk to them during office hours last week. We filed a case with Chinese immigration with the help of a Chinese friend. They informed us of an official law (in Guangzhou) that states that background checks cannot be performed or obtained by the notary office/PSB unless you have a passport with a valid visa. We printed this law, got it translated and notarized from the notary office, and will include it when we send our documents back again. This was also recommended by the VO. Maybe there's a similar law in Beijing?

 

The PSBs were no help for us. It seems to me that if you can get some sort of signed statement from the authority that issues your background checks stating that they can't actually do it without your old passports then along with writing a personal statement yourself detailing your efforts, it might suffice. This is just what the VO in Guangzhou told me. 

 

I really hope I can be of some help!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry it's taken a while to update! Our company had our passports for 4 weeks putting our new work visas in so we couldn't do anything until yesterday when we got it back.

So here's the low-down again. There's a law in Guangzhou that only allows us to get background checks from the date we became residents. Not from the date we entered China. Since the US Consulate will ask for a background check covering your entire time in China, you need to tell them that it's not possible. We wrote a personal statement detailing this and signed it. We also got this section of the law translated and notarized. Here is the law in Chinese:

 

第八章 办证程序

第二十六条 无犯罪记录证明的办理应按照受理申请、录入信息、核查身份及户籍、查询前科、调查档案、制作证明书、发放证明书等流程严格进行。无犯罪记录证明只对可核查证件所提供的时间段出具。即以户口迁入迁出时间、居住证暂住时间、广州就读时间、临时居住登记时间为准。按照每一类证件显示有效时间的完整时间段来出具,不可随意分段出具。
 

I'll attach the whole document that includes the law as well. We got only this part translated to English and notarized. The translation from the Notary Office basically said background checks can only be performed from the starting period of an official residency permit whether it be for work, study, whatever... So when you enter China on a Z visa like we did for work, that's not an official resident visa. The official resident visa came 28 days later and that's the date the background check will cover.

 

If any non-Chinese visa applicants are submitting your Chinese background checks for the first time at your interview, save yourselves the trouble of getting delayed and include this law translated and notarized, a personal statement detailing that you know the background check is supposed to cover your entire time in China, but that it can only be done from the time you got your residence permit as outlined in this law, and sign the statement. After we did this and before we submitted the extra documents again at CITIC, I brought the documents to the US Consulate office hours and talked to a visa officer to make sure we did the right thing. We got the okay to submit the documents doing what I outlined above. We submitted them yesterday so we haven't been approved yet, but I will keep you updated on the process. 

 

P.S. This law is specific for Guangzhou. Not sure what it's like for other cities. We've only lived in Guangzhou.

广州市公安机关办理无犯罪记录证明规定(征求意见稿) (1).doc

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Filed: Country: Canada
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Hi lyndsey0927 

 

I just returned from Wenzhou. One of six place that I've been trying to get a record check from. I had to hire an immigration lawyer. Nobody in Wenzhou was willing to issue any documentation saying that they wouldn't issue a record check. I was told by the person that was helping me in Wenzhou that the only registration they had for me was the two hotels I registered at. I never registered at any hotels during my time there lol. The alleged registration took place with an expired passport. It was pretty comical by the end of the day at the police station in Wenzhou. 

 

I won't be getting any background checks for the six cities that I've lived and my lawyer is writing up a declaration stating this. I love how China likes all manner of paperwork but when you ask for it, they don't seem to have it. 

 

Getting a record check in Canada is pretty straight forward. They type your name into CPIC and if there is something there, it tells them. I wonder why China hasn't adopted a national data base? Good luck and thanks for the info.

 

Cheers 

Edited by rippley5150
spelling error
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  • 1 month later...
19 hours ago, lyndsey0927 said:

Approved! We did it! Thank you for your input on this post and shoot me a message if you have any questions. Hope I can help.

Congratulations!!!

How long did it take you to get the visa?

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Sent form I-130 September 18th, 2016. Interview January 25th, 2017 and received form 221g. Sent further required documents in March, case was in AP for about 2 months and then approved May 15th!

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