police checks

[Jannette 1]

Hi am in a bit of a panic here. Have sent request and finger prints to AFP and they told me it could take 4 months to process!!! yikes... I would run out of time. Can anyone give me some idea how long it really takes?? Also I lived in thailand for many years before being transfered to the US on an R2 visa. Police checks would have been done at that time. I have not returned to thailand at all and the Sydney consulated indicated i wouldn need an other police check. but after numerous emails I cant seem to get them to confirm this is the case. Please can anyone help calm my nerves??? thanks

[jajaju 33]

What takes 4 months?? Yes, no matter when/how long ago you lived in thailand, you need a police check. The rule is, police check for anywhere you lived for more than 6 months after the age of 16. There are agencies online where you can pay someone to assist you and go get your check. At least I know this is the case for getting a chinese police check when you're not physically there.

Good luck.

[Jannette 1]

thanks for that, feel like I havent slept for a week. Spent today at the Thai Embassy in Sydney and they were brilliant! although they also were confused about the paperwork surrounding the Thai police check. They did give me the online site of an agency that will do it for me but they require all paper work scanned and emailed. Thats fine but NSW Police will not release any fingerprints, they have to send them in hard copy directly to the agent. So sending in two ways, the documents they want scanned, and the fingerprints sent from the Police. NZ police check took about 2 days, still waiting on the Australian one though they have now said about 4 weeks. thanks for your help. Have the health check next week, that should be fun (!) then just waiting for these to documents. will keep you all posted.... almost there, just got to keep breathing...!!