Ciminal Background Check Required?

[Derreck 0]

Greetings VJ,

I will be filing for a CR-1 visa for my wife in Korea. We plan on doing the DCF route but this question more pertains to the CR-1 visa so I thought it might belong here. Please let me know if it doesn't.

My wife lived abroad in Canada for 1 year. During her stay, she was arrested but never served jail time. She did community service and that was the end of the entire ordeal.

My question is, does she need a criminal background check to file for the visa? I tried searching but didn't really get a clear answer.

The checklist mentions criminal background checks but I was unsure if she needed one from Korea or Canada or both.

I figured we should get it just in case, but it can take some time to get so if we don't need it that would speed things up.

Thanks for any advice you might all have.

[Penguin_ie 6,005]

She will need one from both countries, and any other country she lives in for longer than a year, even of nothing occured there.

[Derreck 0]

She will need one from both countries, and any other country she lives in for longer than a year, even of nothing occured there.

Thanks for the clear and quick answer. Hopefully this is of help to someone else!

[pushbrk 14,250]

Thanks for the clear and quick answer. Hopefully this is of help to someone else!

Unfortunately, the answer was not complete. Yes, your wife will need a police report from any country she's lived in for a year, (sometimes just six months) since she turned 16, but it is not sent in as part of the petition filing. It is provided later, after the petition is approved, during the actual visa application process. I would order the police report now though. Here are the instructions for those now living outside Canada. Below those, I pasted the ones for South Korea.

• Outside Canada: Applicants who are not physically present in Canada must obtain a Certified Criminal Record Check by sending a duplicate set of fingerprints (taken by a local police force) to the RCMP. Fingerprint submissions must include the following:
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.
  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.

  [*]

  • rolled and flat impressions of all ten fingers taken with black ink (may use a standard FD-258 FBI fingerprint card)
  • full name, date of birth, and sex of the applicant
  • the name and address of the police agency taking the fingerprints
  • the signature of the official taking the fingerprints
  • the reason for the fingerprint submission (U.S. visa)
  • the processing fee of CAD 25.00 or USD 18.00, payable to the "Receiver General for Canada" by certified check or money order.

  Fingerprint submissions should be sent to: RCMP, Civil Fingerprint Screening Services, P.O. Box 8885, Ottawa, ON, K1G 3M8. Additional information is available online.

Police Records

Korean National Police Certificate (Crime-Investigation History Report: Bomjoi-Soosa Kyongreok Johoi Hoiboseo) is available to visa applicants of any nationality who are physically present in South Korea. The new KNPC now includes all serious crimes since 1945, regardless of expungement benefits under Korean law, and misdemeanors for five years, according to the Individual Information Protection Law of March 2003.

Applicants presently in Korea: Foreign nationals, regardless of visa status, and Korean citizens must apply in person at any local police station. The KNP checks non-Koreans according to the requestor's Korean alien registration card or passport. Korean citizens must show a Korean identity card with the Korean citizen's unique, lifetime Korean identification number, which is found on Korean national identity cards and Korean passports adjacent to the applicant's name. KNP processing is no fee and takes less than one hour. The new KNPC bears a red ink half inch square stamp on the bottom containing the Korean characters for National Police. It is issued in Korean only and applicants must attach a complete English translation, certified as true and correct by anyone competent in Korean and English, for the visa interview. A simple computer printout of criminal records is issued with the Korean annotation for information only, has no red ink stamp and is not a KNPC for visa purposes.

Applicants outside of Korea: Unavailable.