Police Clearance Certificate / Vacation

[Sails941 4]

Greetings fellow Journiers,

 

In 3 days I'm flying to China to seek out the notorious PCC, or at least an official letter of Unobtainable PCC.

 

Background: The fiance (Paula) is Thai, and worked in China from 2007-2010. Her agency unfortunately handled all her paperwork and never gave her a copy of registering with the local police, or a residency permit. All she has is a letter from the employer stating a job well done, a physical certification of good health and passport stamps/visas. As a bonus the employer went out of business a few years ago. We tried using an agency in China to obtain the PCC or a letter of Unobtainable PCC, but for $300 they only produced a letter stating the local police required Paula to come in person and apply for the PCC. So off we go. This Saturday I'm flying from San Francisco, Sunday Paula's flying from Bangkok and we're meeting up in Shanghai before we hop a train to Suzhou. I'll be in China Sept 1 -14.

 

Obtaining these PCCs seem to plaque quite a few couple's so I thought I'd document my expensive attempt, and hopefully help someone in the future. Not a completely selfless act though as I may be asking questions along the way. For example... Can anyone recommend how I can hire a professional interpreter to assist at the notary and police station?

 

Please feel free to ask any questions, or add comments. Perhaps this can lead to a How to Obtain a PCC guild, or something.  

 

Kind regards,

Ken

 

[visafrompa 9]

Think of it from the PSB side.. a random woman comes in and asks for a Police certificate of no crimes.  OK.  Where?  When?  Who?  You have to have SOME documentation to prove that you were there.  What time frames and even what city/village.  

 

Did she have a work visa?  Pay stubs?  Mail?

 

And sadly, your experience may only be for that city.  So even if you do find what you are looking for, it may not work at all in another city.

 

But good luck.  Tickets to China in Sept Oct are DIRT CHEAP.  East coast to PEK is $399!

 

 

[Sails941 4]

13 hours ago, visafrompa said:

Think of it from the PSB side.. a random woman comes in and asks for a Police certificate of no crimes.  OK.  Where?  When?  Who?  You have to have SOME documentation to prove that you were there.  What time frames and even what city/village.  

 

Did she have a work visa?  Pay stubs?  Mail?

 

And sadly, your experience may only be for that city.  So even if you do find what you are looking for, it may not work at all in another city.

 

But good luck.  Tickets to China in Sept Oct are DIRT CHEAP.  East coast to PEK is $399!

 

 

Yeah I know it's going to be an up hill struggle, and interesting.

The Where/When/Who? are all addressed in the letter she received from her employer for a job well done. We have the work visas, but no pay stubs, or mail. This was about 10 years ago.

 

Thanks for your input here, and on my previous post.

 

Ken

 

[Hemutian 68]

On 8/29/2019 at 10:13 PM, visafrompa said:

But good luck.  Tickets to China in Sept Oct are DIRT CHEAP.  East coast to PEK is $399!

As long as you don't try to come during the National Week holiday

[Sails941 4]

On 9/13/2019 at 1:41 AM, Hemutian said:

As long as you don't try to come during the National Week holiday

I left China Friday night ,9/13, and it appeared a holiday was beginning to stew.

[Sails941 4]

Well Mission Accomplished!

 

What a crazy frustrating process this was! This would not have been possible for us without an Amazing interpreter who took the fight to all the police and notaries we had to deal with.

 

We visited 2 different notaries, about 4-5 different police stations and 2 police administrative offices. Many were giving contradicting information (for example the first notary insisted they do not provide the application for the PCC, but the second notary politely provided the application, helped us fill it out, and instructed us to take it to the police station to submit it) to the point that I started taking names and call back numbers and when the stories didn't jibe I'd call the notary who said one thing, and hand the phone to the police officer who was saying something else. 

 

After taking the PCC application to the proper police station we were given this to take back to the notary,

 

 

Returning to the notary all was going well until a supervisor stated we needed individual statements for everytime Paula left and returned to China, not just one stating No Criminal Record from 2007-2009. Our interpreter fought the notary hard on this, and eventually they caved.

 

The notary told us to come back tomorrow afternoon and just sign for the PCC, and then we could pick it up in 2 days.

 

The next afternoon at the notary, now texting our interpreter, we were told we had to go back to the same police station to obtain a Foreigner Residence Registration Form. The notary called the police station to ease the process. Once at the police station they were frustrated, and after putting them on the phone with the notary that just spoke to them, and sent us there, we were sent to another police administrative office. Once there they were super frustrated, so I got the last cop on the phone and had her speak to the lady who sternly gave us the Form.

 

 

We took this back to the Notary, paid 420 yaun and were told to come back in 2 days.

 

Here's what we ended up with.

Woops I've maxxed out the allowable upload data - see the following post...

 

 

 

 

[Sails941 4]

[Sails941 4]

[Sails941 4]

[Sails941 4]

[Sails941 4]

I'm not sure if this info will help anyone get their PCC unless your obtaining it in Suzhou, even then... But if you are, and don't speak fluent mandarin,  I highly recommend Sophie as your interpreter / advocate. 

 

https://interpreterdatabase.com/profile/2524

 

Thanks to those who replied, and even those who've posted in the past on this topic ,as I referenced those old posts to get me started.

 

Cheers!

Ken

 

 

[Hemutian 68]

"Frustrating" is definitely appropriate as the operable word when it comes to the PCC. Good for you for persisting and glad you got it in the end.

My fiancee's story was not quite as crazy as yours, but it did involve setback, rejections, and frustration along the way as well. As with you, it was persistence that got her what she needed in the end.

 

For anyone battling to get this document in the future, it seems, persistence is key. 

[cbro 59]

It is ridiculous they ask for that "temporary residence registration" letter as I remember that being like a carbon copy type of paper that was BLUE in color.  I was supposed to bring it after ever trip in/out of the country to the local PSB and tell them hey I left but I am back now!.  I'm the USC, and lived in Dalian for 5 years.   My wife has a entry/exit permit from Hong Kong but I guess will still need a police clearance from China as we both met in Dalian... I just sent in my i130 but am just looking ahead for anything we can/should get started on now.  thanks for sharing your experience! 

[Hemutian 68]

On 9/25/2019 at 3:04 PM, cbro said:

It is ridiculous they ask for that "temporary residence registration" letter as I remember that being like a carbon copy type of paper that was BLUE in color.  I was supposed to bring it after ever trip in/out of the country to the local PSB and tell them hey I left but I am back now!.  I'm the USC, and lived in Dalian for 5 years.   My wife has a entry/exit permit from Hong Kong but I guess will still need a police clearance from China as we both met in Dalian... I just sent in my i130 but am just looking ahead for anything we can/should get started on now.  thanks for sharing your experience! 

Why do you believe that you need a police clearance from China?

Where do you see anything suggesting that the USC needs a police clearance?

I'm the USC in my application, I lived in China for more than 5 years, and never at any point in the process did I need to get a police clearance covering my time in China (or anywhere else for that matter).

[cbro 59]

5 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

Why do you believe that you need a police clearance from China?

I don't need, but the wife would yeah? I don't think her being there as an HK citizen with that return permit card, exempts her?  My point was more just about expecting someone to hang on to that residence registration?