Hi all


Mine and Alarna's police certificates came today, I was getting a wee bit worried because as most know I sent all the information and a Cheque on the 5th March 2007, so it was more then 40 days for the certificates to come back.

Both are clear, Alarna and I have never been in trouble with the law so I knew nothing should of been out of the ordinary, so I would suggest that if you have not got one to apply for one now, they are valid for one year.

Janice

Good advice, Janice! Ours came in record time (10 days) but that certainly is NOT the norm. Better to be safe than sorry!

I STILL say the visa gods got it wrong there, tha NOA2 took FOREVER and the police cert no time at all!


Mine took forEVER.

^^ I'll agree with you there!

The only saving grace has been how FAST London has been with our case.

Well things are starting to come together at last.........Tracy I know you and Chas will have a successful interview by god girl you have been swatting up for suchhhhhhh a longggggggg time hehehehe

Aww thanks Janice!! I really don't have any worries about the interview - seems like just another step in the process now.

I know you guys have been through quite a bit too. Here's hoping we both have swift journeys from here on out!

I have Merseyside police sending me a form out so should get it in Wednesdays post.

I am expecting Mylene's police clearance from japan to take 2 to 3 months to be returned, and we couldn't even file for it until the paperwork made it to her embassy .. ugh, she sent off for it last week

I just got my Police certificate back today, took 31 days

Dawn.

Is there a thread that sorta gives people an idea of how long the Police Cert's in the UK are taking, overall?
So far we've been waiting well over 2 weeks now..probably inching towards three weeks, but I'm not sure exactly when Craig mailed away for them. I'm a little ticked that the police told him they take like 10 - 20 days max, when I can see from reading here they generally take much longer!!

Anyway, he's had his medical and all, we're just waiting on those damned certificates so we can apply for his interview date.

Around 40 days.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...ice+certificate

On the official forms it does say that it takes 40 days, or it used to at least!

Ha - Dan went to his local police station and told them what he needed. They gave him the wrong form to fill out - sooo about 2 weeks later he got a reply that what they requested was not what he was wanting and to go back and request form (don't remember what it was). Finally, they got it off to Scotland Yard to get the right thing. Now we're just waiting on it. That was about a week and a half ago. Guess that makes us nearly 3 weeks in the wait, but 2 could have been avoided! Oh well - no big deal - don't even have our NOA2 yet, just wanted to get a jump on things.

That is why it is best to have everything in Advance, all you little ducks in a row so to speak

That's what we're hoping for...just hope there aren't any more little snags once the ball gets rolling!

Something else to remember is that the 40 day countdown starts from the date on the receipt they will send you. In all likelihood if you haven't got that yet your 40 days haven't even started yet. It tends to take them about 3 weeks to get a receipt to you.

Well he said he had gotten something in the mail that they had received the request at Scotland Yard. I'm assuming this is the receipt? Bless him - so descriptive - no idea what it said or looked like.

Yup, that's it! It'll have a date on it somewhere, that's the date you start counting from.

If he hasn't lost it yet - I'll have to get that date, then!! Thanks for the info.

I found this link to a request for a police certificate in the UK:-

http://www.met.police.uk/dataprotection/forms/3019b.pdf

^^ Yup. That's the one on the London embassy's site.

I just found out today that Craig never got a response. Nothing. He got the receipt from the police where he made the request and that's it. He made the request almost a full month ago. He's going to make some calls tomorrow, couldn't today as it was a bank holiday.

This is frustrating. He's not heard one single word...nothing. I really hope it's not lost and we aren't starting all over again from scratch

~Kim

My police certificate got lost in the post. When I counted up the days from my receipt, it was something like 45 days. So I phoned up the number they give you and the nice lady on the other end of the phone sent me out another one straight away.

First one never did turn up.

That's comforting. Yeah he'd been trying all day today and apparantly since we haven't waited a full 40 days all he can do is wait. In the end I'm glad you finally got yours. I hope it's that speedy for us. We're on like day 30 so it's not that much longer to wait to figure out where it is!!



~Kym

I've just sent off for mine, as I was told about it lasting a year.
I am hoping to have everything here and ready for US embassy asking for it!!

How do you go about getting your Police Certificate? Do you just go to the local station and request it? My fiance leaves here (Alabama) to go back to Ireland (Belfast) on Tuesday and he's going to go ahead and get the ball rolling to get his. I'd hate for them to give him the wrong form! We didn't even KNOW about a Police Certificate until a couple of days ago when someone mentioned it to us, so any advice about how to get one would be appreciated!
Also, he has only had one "run-in" with the law and that was last year. He was arrested for a mail-fraude type of offense (an Ebay deal gone bad), but they only questioned him and then charges were dropped. He was home within two hours and the police said it wouldn't be on his criminal record. If it IS on his Police Certificate tho, is this something we should be concerned about since he WAS actually arrested although charges were dropped????
Thanks for any info!

This link is on London embassy's site:

http://www.met.police.uk/dataprotection/forms.htm#b

You want form #3019B.

Got it! Thanks Tracy!

I'm confused, some of you are mentioning getting police certificates for both of you. Do I (the USC) need one as well? Why would I get mine from the UK...that doesn't make sense. Sorry to ask a lame question, I figured my own country would just do my background check.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Ta,

Kim

Arwensun is doing a CR-1 - different kettle of fish...

my fiance yesterday on the phone: "What letter of receipt?"

Uh-oh!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Thanks for clearing that up CR-1 is not a K-1 *whew* I feel better now

And TimsDaisy..yeah he's still never gotten a letter of receipt. He's assuming that the receipt he got handed in the police station (as he applied in person) will be record enough. Long about the 25th of this month is our 40 day mark!!

~Kim

I had a receipt handed to me in the Police station, I also got another through the post though. The one in the police station was dated March 22nd, the one in the post was dated March 30th. From walking into the police station and receiving the actual official document was 39 days.

Dawn.

I don't know if this helps anyone, but I applied twice for my police certificate through two different police forces, just in case one lost my application or something. I applied through the Metropolitan Police because you can no matter where you live, and through Cheshire Police force because that's where I actually live. Both cost me £10 and in the end they came through within a day of each other.

Just a thought...

Just in case anyone reads this and was as worried as I was...He got a receipt handed to him in the police station when he ordered his Certificates..he never got another word in the mail and finally at about the 30 day mark, he got his police certs in the mail!!

There is always hope

I applied for my police certificate with my local heddlu (Welsh police) and after 50 days and no letter I rang them to ask where it was. They told it had been sent a few weeks ago, but as I hadn't received it they'd send me a replacement.

Typically of course after getting home I found the original, buried under a pile of my housemate's junk. So it had actually only taken 30 days to come through, but had lain hidden for another 20!

I sent mine off on the 9th May and got a letter of receipt on the 11th. So its been about 19 days since the application was accepted.

I swear we're past the 40 day mark since the receipt date without getting Dan's cert. He thinks not, but hasn't checked the date to be sure yet. I know it was mid-April when he sent for it (again because the first form they gave him to fill out was wrong).

Yeah, Marlon sent his out towards the end of April and nothing yet. Of course the Jamaican mail system takes forever!

We still don't have ours either. I know he applied for it at least 4 weeks ago and he go the receipt when we were in Canada, so that was, let's see, 2 weeks ago. All that adds up to . . . shrug, dunno when it will turn up! Soon, I hope, since we're awaiting packet 4!

I think I feel some fiance-nagging coming on!

Well, it's 40 days from the receipt date, he's had that for two weeks, I'd say you could have another 3 weeks or so until your 40 days are up.

Yeah, there's time left on the clock for sure. I don't really think we'll hit a problem, and there isn't much to do at this point since he did put in the request in ample time (the receipt was slower in coming than we had expected. . . . .).

Still waiting on ours as well. SO gone to visit relatives and hopefully it will be there when he returns.

Wow. Reading all of this makes me glad Stephen ordered his Police Certificate before our NOA2 has even arrived. If they're good for a year, as someone mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, it makes sense to just go ahead and order it after you've received your first NOA.

Oh you bet! We ordered ours a month ago - he checked the dates; supposed to call if we don't have it by June 5 - and just got our NOA2 yesterday. It definitely SHOULD be in hand long before he starts worrying about the interview. I think that was some of the best I got on here - ordering early!

Gosh, I hope Marlon gets his soon but considering the Jamaican postal service add an extra 2 or 3 weeks to that 40 days!

I went to the local police station on the 19th April and my certificate was sent to me last week. Presuming it is the right one (blue bar at top and bottom saying no details of wrongdoings held in the West yorkshire police database or words to that effect?)

The local bobby did say that it would be best to pay with cash as cheques/postal orders add to the time it takes due to clearing etc. So anyone who has not requested one yet might want to consider paying cash.

Thought it might be a bit helpful.

Emma

Update: exactly 40 days, Dan got his police cert today.

That means Marlon should be getting his soon. What date did you order it? (Sorry, I don't feel like doing the math! lol)

Well...27th or 28th of April he says. Of course this was AFTER they gave him the wrong form to fill out and getting it returned with the right form.