Urgent: New police certificate requirement!!!

[Mary Moore 3]

Our lawyer called us today to inform us that, effective September 10, all visa applicants in Montreal must submit a fingerprint-based Privacy Act Police Certificate. My husband’s interview is scheduled for September 18, so he’s scrambling to get this document ASAP. Is anyone else aware of this new requirement? NVC doesn’t even seem to know about it. If you have an upcoming interview, please look into this:

https://travel.state.gov

[SKB2017 95]

49 minutes ago, Mary Moore said:

Our lawyer called us today to inform us that, effective September 10, all visa applicants in Montreal must submit a fingerprint-based Privacy Act Police Certificate. My husband’s interview is scheduled for September 18, so he’s scrambling to get this document ASAP. Is anyone else aware of this new requirement? NVC doesn’t even seem to know about it. If you have an upcoming interview, please look into this:

https://travel.state.gov

That link doesn't lead to anything specific about the fingerprint certificate, just takes you to the site itself.  Where did you see this info?

[Mary Moore 3]

15 minutes ago, SKB2017 said:

That link doesn't lead to anything specific about the fingerprint certificate, just takes you to the site itself.  Where did you see this info?

Sorry -try this link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Canada.html

[SKB2017 95]

Well #######

[darth vader 131]

2 hours ago, Mary Moore said:

Our lawyer called us today to inform us that, effective September 10, all visa applicants in Montreal must submit a fingerprint-based Privacy Act Police Certificate. My husband’s interview is scheduled for September 18, so he’s scrambling to get this document ASAP. Is anyone else aware of this new requirement? NVC doesn’t even seem to know about it. If you have an upcoming interview, please look into this:

https://travel.state.gov

I would encourage you to email the consulate and ask if this applied to folks who will submit the police certificate to NVC before 10 September AND/OR to the people who will interview before 10 September?

It will be a great help for the rest of us. I am going to be calling NVC tomorrow, and see if they give a meaningful answer.

[Mary Moore 3]

11 minutes ago, darth vader said:

I would encourage you to email the consulate and ask if this applied to folks who will submit the police certificate to NVC before 10 September AND/OR to the people who will interview before 10 September?

It will be a great help for the rest of us. I am going to be calling NVC tomorrow, and see if they give a meaningful answer.

Please let me know what NVC says. Our lawyer called them today and they knew nothing about it. Doesn’t make sense to give 4 working days’ notice and expect people to be able to provide it at their interviews over the next couple of weeks when it takes 7-10 working days to receive the certificate. 

[SKB2017 95]

My husband and I emailed our lawyer and asked about this.  He had some interesting information.   (I uploaded all docs and completed my DS-260 on August 24, 2018)

 

 

"It appears this is a change made effective September 10, so it was not in effect when SKB gathered her documents.

Sometimes these changes are prospective, and sometimes they are retroactive.

If the fingerprint type will be required for you, NVC should notify you since it is still reviewing your docs.  

If SKB goes ahead and applies for a new one now, the risk she runs is that her interview will be set out further than the validity of the document.  So I would wait for notification from NVC and/or Montreal. If NVC says SKB is "DQ" (documentarily qualified), then it will set an interview with Montreal, and if at that point Montreal wants a new police certificate, we'll deal with it then."

[TGP 47]

I recieved the same notice from my Lawyer yesterday, in fact, I think we may have the same Lawyer.

 

I was able to get the fingerprints taken this morning, and background check submitted.

 

I used: https://www.commissionaires.ca/en/national/home

 

1) Make the request under the "Privacy Act"

2) You want a "non-certified criminal information check"

3) You want the check to include the entire RCMP repository.

 

They will scan your fingerprints, and take your picture, just like the background check I had done a number of months ago.

 

The good news is, because the request is being made under the privacy act, there was no fee charged (at least no fee with the "commissionaires")

 

My documents qualified before being sent to Montreal and I've registered my interview with the Embassy. The Embassy has not contacted me

and informed me that I should bring this new background check with me to the interview. You would think that they would provide people, with upcomming interviews, notice of the need to obtain this new certificate. I've started the process just in case it is needed. If the background check doesn't arrive in time, I have the reciept that it has been requested.

[Mary Moore 3]

3 hours ago, TGP said:

I recieved the same notice from my Lawyer yesterday, in fact, I think we may have the same Lawyer.

 

I was able to get the fingerprints taken this morning, and background check submitted.

 

I used: https://www.commissionaires.ca/en/national/home

 

1) Make the request under the "Privacy Act"

2) You want a "non-certified criminal information check"

3) You want the check to include the entire RCMP repository.

 

They will scan your fingerprints, and take your picture, just like the background check I had done a number of months ago.

 

The good news is, because the request is being made under the privacy act, there was no fee charged (at least no fee with the "commissionaires")

 

My documents qualified before being sent to Montreal and I've registered my interview with the Embassy. The Embassy has not contacted me

and informed me that I should bring this new background check with me to the interview. You would think that they would provide people, with upcomming interviews, notice of the need to obtain this new certificate. I've started the process just in case it is needed. If the background check doesn't arrive in time, I have the reciept that it has been requested.

Yes, we must have the same lawyer. Good idea re: the receipt. Seems that we would get some notification if indeed it was required, but better to err on the side of caution.

[R.Q. 14]

Thank you for posting this. I have no idea this changed, so I only have the regular Toronto Police Service certificate searched with name and birthdate. Going to Commissionaires first thing tomorrow but my interview is on Sep 19th. Please update us on your status when you can.

[Mary Moore 3]

1 hour ago, Mary Moore said:

Yes, we must have the same lawyer. Good idea re: the receipt. Seems that we would get some notification if indeed it was required, but better to err on the side of caution.

TGP, which commissioner’s did you go to? The one in downtown Halifax doesn’t understand request or how to fill out form.

[TGP 47]

32 minutes ago, Mary Moore said:

TGP, which commissioner’s did you go to? The one in downtown Halifax doesn’t understand request or how to fill out form.

I'm currently in Shediac N.B. I dealt with the Commissioner's office at 272 St. George Blvd in Moncton. The officer I dealt with was named Terry Babin. I had forwarded him a copy of the email from my lawyer, explaining what to request. He called me back 5 mins later, and knew exactly how to make the request. He had a guide and was able to cross reference "privacy act" and "non-certified criminal information check"

[TGP 47]

52 minutes ago, R.Q. said:

Thank you for posting this. I have no idea this changed, so I only have the regular Toronto Police Service certificate searched with name and birthdate. Going to Commissionaires first thing tomorrow but my interview is on Sep 19th. Please update us on your status when you can.

You didn't need to get a RCMP background check, with a fingerprint scan, and photo taken?

[R.Q. 14]

10 minutes ago, TGP said:

You didn't need to get a RCMP background check, with a fingerprint scan, and photo taken?

No. I have the regular police certificate that searches the RCMP repository using name and birthdate.

 

I just called the MTL Consulate and was redirected to the travel.state.gov website. They couldn’t help with my question on the police certificate.

Edited September 5, 2018 by R.Q.

[TGP 47]

1 minute ago, R.Q. said:

No. I have the regular police certificate that searches the RCMP repository using name and birthdate.

Well, that's good.

 

I'm taking heart in SKB2017's post regarding clarification from their Lawyer. If this change did apply to people with qualified documents, and already

scheduled interview dates, surely the Embassy would of contacted us to inform us of this change. I think my Lawyer may have over reacted, but none the less, i did start the process just incase.