Is police clearance necessary for the beneficiary from USA local police office, if he/she's lived there before?

[Chris Me lil D 17]

Hi dear VJ friends,

I just wanted to ask has anyone of the beneficiaries been in the USA before marriage, living over there, etc?

We're in the stage now right before getting a NVC number assigned, and I'm getting all my docs ready to mail them to my husband in USA. I've been reading different things on the net about police clearances, and I'd like to know if I should get a police clearance from USA local police office at the town where I used to live in the past few years before I got back to my country. If yes, does anyone know how I could do that???

Thank you, any advice would be a great help,

Ani

[blue123 0]

Hi dear VJ friends,

I just wanted to ask has anyone of the beneficiaries been in the USA before marriage, living over there, etc?

We're in the stage now right before getting a NVC number assigned, and I'm getting all my docs ready to mail them to my husband in USA. I've been reading different things on the net about police clearances, and I'd like to know if I should get a police clearance from USA local police office at the town where I used to live in the past few years before I got back to my country. If yes, does anyone know how I could do that???

Thank you, any advice would be a great help,

Ani

no you don't need one, they do that in when they do checks as part of your application.

[Chris Me lil D 17]

no you don't need one, they do that in when they do checks as part of your application.

I'm afraid we might get an RFE because of not having one...

[Tim & Jasmine 0]

Hi dear VJ friends,

I just wanted to ask has anyone of the beneficiaries been in the USA before marriage, living over there, etc?

We're in the stage now right before getting a NVC number assigned, and I'm getting all my docs ready to mail them to my husband in USA. I've been reading different things on the net about police clearances, and I'd like to know if I should get a police clearance from USA local police office at the town where I used to live in the past few years before I got back to my country. If yes, does anyone know how I could do that???

Thank you, any advice would be a great help,

Ani

Hi!

I just finished collecting police backgound checks for my wife. Some of them I got from official government website and the rest they had to mail. Most of them had fees and different types of backgound check. Some states like Colorado will issue it electronically (secured PDF) and nothing physically will be mailed. In the following link you will find some guidelines regarding whether or not you need police certificate depending on your stay. http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3195.html

My wife has not lived in Chile more than 1 year and according to the guideline she wouldn't need it from Chilean authority. But NVC filed missing information on our case saying she will need Chilean police certificate.

Good luck

[YuAndDan 153]

Police certs from USA are NOT needed.

FBI Name checks done by USCIS handles this.

Note: Present and former residents of the United States should NOT obtain any police certificates covering their residence in the U.S.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...195.html#police

[Arthur Roberta 1]

YuandDan are absolutely correct. No Police Clearance Certificates are required for periods spent in the USA.

Best wishes with your petition

Arthur and Roberta

[Tim & Jasmine 0]

Police certs from USA are NOT needed.

FBI Name checks done by USCIS handles this.

Note: Present and former residents of the United States should NOT obtain any police certificates covering their residence in the U.S.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...195.html#police

Its true if the beneficiary was previously resident. In our case my wife was non-resident and therefore they needed it.

[Chris Me lil D 17]

Police certs from USA are NOT needed.

FBI Name checks done by USCIS handles this.

Note: Present and former residents of the United States should NOT obtain any police certificates covering their residence in the U.S.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...195.html#police

Its true if the beneficiary was previously resident. In our case my wife was non-resident and therefore they needed it.

What is considered to be a resident (I apologize if the question is stupid, my husband is not home yet to ask him) ? I think I was a resident - went on H2B, then tourist visa for 1 year, then F1 when in college. Totally, 3.5 years of living in US. I had my mailing address, SSN, paid taxes, insurance, car loan, credit cards... Now I'm confused!

[Tim & Jasmine 0]

Police certs from USA are NOT needed.

FBI Name checks done by USCIS handles this.

Note: Present and former residents of the United States should NOT obtain any police certificates covering their residence in the U.S.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/in...195.html#police

Its true if the beneficiary was previously resident. In our case my wife was non-resident and therefore they needed it.

What is considered to be a resident (I apologize if the question is stupid, my husband is not home yet to ask him) ? I think I was a resident - went on H2B, then tourist visa for 1 year, then F1 when in college. Totally, 3.5 years of living in US. I had my mailing address, SSN, paid taxes, insurance, car loan, credit cards... Now I'm confused!

Hi!

First of all I don't want to mislead you in any way. My wife was on J1 and F1 visa when she lived in states for 7 years now she lives in Chile. She was certainly considered as non-resident because she had non-immigrant visa. She also paid taxes, filed returns etc. I believe H2B is also non-resident visa. I would only guess if you are currently living in US and adjusting your status then they may not ask. But if you are overseas they may ask for it. If you wanna be sure write an email to NVC or just call US embassy close to you (if you are overseas). In our case, we wanted to be certain and we got police certificates from 4 states and never went wrong with that. NVC didn't mention any error on our DS230 except one question. I guees it was sufficient as far as police certificates were concerned.

Good luck!

I'd really hope yuo get your question answered.

[b1978 0]

Would my wife have to get a police certificate. We are applying for a immigrant CR-1 visa. She has visited on a Visitor Visa (B-2) in the USA in 2006 for 8 months, and is present now for 6 months. The total is over 12 months, would that matter?

[Chris Me lil D 17]

Thank you all for your answers. I understand now I wasn't a resident as I never had an immigrant visa issued before. I just want to ask how I could obtain a police clearance from a local US police dept. when I'm overseas?

[Tim & Jasmine 0]

Thank you all for your answers. I understand now I wasn't a resident as I never had an immigrant visa issued before. I just want to ask how I could obtain a police clearance from a local US police dept. when I'm overseas?

As far as getting police certificate from different states you should look into State's official website and then find Department of Publice Safety (maybe be named differently in different states). Some of them have release form and payment information. They will mail originals to address within US or Canada and some of them might be able to fax (so you can include the copy in your DS230). However with faxing you would still need to obtain originals for your interview at the embassy. If your spouse is in US you can have them sent to him (I requested all the certificates behalf of my wife and then express mailed them to my wife). But before doing all this it might be good idea to ask NVC of embassy in Sofia.

[YuAndDan 153]

Would my wife have to get a police certificate. We are applying for a immigrant CR-1 visa. She has visited on a Visitor Visa (B-2) in the USA in 2006 for 8 months, and is present now for 6 months. The total is over 12 months, would that matter?

Thank you all for your answers. I understand now I wasn't a resident as I never had an immigrant visa issued before. I just want to ask how I could obtain a police clearance from a local US police dept. when I'm overseas?

Again you CANNOT and DO NOT need to get a police cert from the USA, it is NOT available.

NVC will NOT request or require one from the USA. You will NOT get an RFE for one.

[Tim & Jasmine 0]

Would my wife have to get a police certificate. We are applying for a immigrant CR-1 visa. She has visited on a Visitor Visa (B-2) in the USA in 2006 for 8 months, and is present now for 6 months. The total is over 12 months, would that matter?

Thank you all for your answers. I understand now I wasn't a resident as I never had an immigrant visa issued before. I just want to ask how I could obtain a police clearance from a local US police dept. when I'm overseas?

Again you CANNOT and DO NOT need to get a police cert from the USA, it is NOT available.

NVC will NOT request or require one from the USA. You will NOT get an RFE for one.

Hi everyone.

Today I called US embassy and confirmed that you do not need background check from US. Even if you were on non-immigrant visa in the US. They have not defined word "present and former resident" clearly and that makes people really confused.

Tim

[Chris Me lil D 17]

Would my wife have to get a police certificate. We are applying for a immigrant CR-1 visa. She has visited on a Visitor Visa (B-2) in the USA in 2006 for 8 months, and is present now for 6 months. The total is over 12 months, would that matter?

Thank you all for your answers. I understand now I wasn't a resident as I never had an immigrant visa issued before. I just want to ask how I could obtain a police clearance from a local US police dept. when I'm overseas?

Again you CANNOT and DO NOT need to get a police cert from the USA, it is NOT available.

NVC will NOT request or require one from the USA. You will NOT get an RFE for one.

Thank you YuAndDan,

I was just talking last night with my hubby about it, we decided we won't send a US one, unless we get an RFE.

:ot:

Does anyone know if we could get an RFE if I was working in US while on other type of visa not-working one though? Basically, I'm saying B1 and F1 visas, with no employment authorization?

Tim & Jasmine, may be you'd know and could answer me? Thanks a lot

Edited May 7, 2009 by Chris and Ani