What can you do if you can't get the criminal records from another country?

[BlackCats 0]

Complicated situation, I'm living in Colombia where I'm doing the whole process, the only thing left to do is the interview. According to the instructions, if I have lived in any other country after 16 years old for more than 6 months I am required to bring a record from that country as well. The problem is I used to live in Venezuela in that time. The only way to get a record from Venezuela no matter where you live is through a dedicate website, and currently they have said website locked to prevent anyone from getting any papers, which is intentional on the government's part. There is no way at all for me to get this record even though I have never committed any crimes or been arrested, even if I were to ask someone in Venezuela to get it for me they would be told to wait for the website to open again as no police station can or will do that, and this website has been locked for at least weeks as far as I am aware. I was trying to see if I could contact the US embassy here in Colombia for help, but they make it very difficult to contact them, the only email available as far as I know for visa cases told me they can't help and to go to the embassy website, and the website only has a google form to navigate for more specific questions, but has nothing for this kind of situation and they outright refuse case by case questions. I'm already trying to contact the Venezuelan consulate nearby just in case, but it's very possible they can't do anything about this either, so what else can I do in this situation? And how will it impact my interview and visa approval? I was trying to look this up and it seems that you can get a notarized letter explaining in detail why certain papers can't be obtained, is that true and still applying currently?

[appleblossom 2,694]

2 minutes ago, BlackCats said:

Complicated situation, I'm living in Colombia where I'm doing the whole process, the only thing left to do is the interview. According to the instructions, if I have lived in any other country after 16 years old for more than 6 months I am required to bring a record from that country as well. The problem is I used to live in Venezuela in that time. The only way to get a record from Venezuela no matter where you live is through a dedicate website, and currently they have said website locked to prevent anyone from getting any papers, which is intentional on the government's part. There is no way at all for me to get this record even though I have never committed any crimes or been arrested, even if I were to ask someone in Venezuela to get it for me they would be told to wait for the website to open again as no police station can or will do that, and this website has been locked for at least weeks as far as I am aware. I was trying to see if I could contact the US embassy here in Colombia for help, but they make it very difficult to contact them, the only email available as far as I know for visa cases told me they can't help and to go to the embassy website, and the website only has a google form to navigate for more specific questions, but has nothing for this kind of situation and they outright refuse case by case questions. I'm already trying to contact the Venezuelan consulate nearby just in case, but it's very possible they can't do anything about this either, so what else can I do in this situation? And how will it impact my interview and visa approval? I was trying to look this up and it seems that you can get a notarized letter explaining in detail why certain papers can't be obtained, is that true and still applying currently?

 

As per the country specific guidelines - "Non-Venezuelans who are not residents of Venezuela (do not possess a national identity card) are unable to request police certificates at this time.  Applicants falling into this category should be prepared to show their current visa or explanation of non-resident status at the time of the visa interview." So you'll just explain at the interview. 

 

 

[BlackCats 0]

8 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

 

As per the country specific guidelines - "Non-Venezuelans who are not residents of Venezuela (do not possess a national identity card) are unable to request police certificates at this time.  Applicants falling into this category should be prepared to show their current visa or explanation of non-resident status at the time of the visa interview." So you'll just explain at the interview. 

 

 

Thing is, my mother's side of the family is Venezuelan, at the time of living there I did have a national ID, I don't know whether or not it's expired but I did have it at one point, and the website is still not available to request these records even in that case, it's completely inaccessible right now and it's been for at least a few weeks as far as I'm aware.

[appleblossom 2,694]

39 minutes ago, BlackCats said:

Thing is, my mother's side of the family is Venezuelan, at the time of living there I did have a national ID, I don't know whether or not it's expired but I did have it at one point, and the website is still not available to request these records even in that case, it's completely inaccessible right now and it's been for at least a few weeks as far as I'm aware.

 

Ah, I see. If it's inaccessible I'd just take evidence of that.