khtom

Hi All, to follow up on the above, we have sent my husband's IV to NVC with only one police certificate (from France) as we believed it would not be possible to get the documents for all of the other countries my husband has lived in since he was 16 (see list above). Today we received a letter from the NVC stating that my husband's police certificate from Cameroon was missing, and that we needed to send it to NVC ASAP.

I called the NVC and recited the State Dept guidance on reciprocity with Cameroon to the woman I spoke with. I explained that he does not live in Cameroon, and does not have any friends or relatives there who could obtain the police certificate on his behalf. The woman responded with the same statement, and then said, "well, he's in Amsterdam, so he should go to the Cameroonian embassy and ask them." I don't really understand why they are making us go through this, as I thought our justifications for not obtaining a Cameroonian police certificate were pretty clear.

So, my question is, has anyone else had a similar experience in relation to Cameroonian police certificates? Has anyone else had luck speaking with the Cameroonian embassy in their country and obtaining any NVC acceptable documents from them?

Thanks!

What you are going to want to do is contact the French consulate he'll interview at and see, many times the consulates understand restrictions on police certs.

Good luck

He is actually a resident in the Netherlands now, so we are expecting his consular interview to take place in Amsterdam, not France. Point noted on just calling and getting an answer from there. Thank you!

Thank you both for the replies. I've also just realized my husband had diplomatic immunity during the years in Cameroon and Kuwait. Does anyone have any previous experience with presenting proof of diplomatic immunity in place of police certificates? He did not have diplomatic immunity in UAE and Afghanistan, but it seems it won't be possible to get police certificates from those countries since he is no longer in those locations.

Thanks!

khtom

Hi Everyone,

We submitted the I-130 petition for my husband on September 9th, 2011, and received the NOA1 September 14. We are now in the process of preparing further documentation, including police certificates.

Our case is a bit complicated: my husband is a French citizen, born in France, currently living in the Netherlands. His father is a diplomat, so he grew up all over the world and has now been living all over the world as an adult. Since he was 16, he's lived in the following places for more than 12 months: Cameroon, Kuwait, UAE, and Afghanistan. In researching the police certificates for these particular countries on the State Department website, it looks like getting any police certificates will be difficult:

1. In Cameroon, someone needs to apply on your behalf for the certificate, you cannot request it yourself if you are out of the country. Is this really the only option? Does anyone have experience getting a police certificate from a Cameroonian embassy abroad?

2. Kuwait - According to State Department: "Available only to those residing in Kuwait; certificates are not available for applicants applying outside Kuwait."

3. UAE - Not possible to obtain a police certificate if the person is not physically present in UAE. Does anyone know if it would be possible to get the police certificate from a UAE embassy? The State Department website says: "Not available by mail. Post recommends that consular officers waive the general requirement to obtain police certificates unless the applicant lives in the UAE."

4. Afghanistan - According to the State Department, police certificates from Afghanistan "may be available but are not reliable."

So, I guess my main question is, if someone has been living outside of their home country for most of their adult life, yet is potentially unable to provide police certificates for most, if not all of those countries in which they've lived, do you see this as being a major problem for the NVC? We do already have his French police certificate, but that may be the only certificate we'll get.

Thank you in advance VJers, we couldn't do this without you!

khtom

Hi everyone who may have made the same mistake I did by sending priority mail to the physical Chicago lockbox address instead of the PO Box:

It will be ok. I got notification from USCIS two days after USPS delivery that my I-130 petition has been received. Phew!

it may take a day or two longer to process but your fine

Ok, great, thank you for calming me down! Fingers crossed!

Hi Everyone,

I finally got my husband's I-130 in the mail yesterday, and mistakenly sent it priority USPS (with tracking number/delivery confirmation) to the express address, rather than the USPS PO box. Do you think this will be a problem? I really hope it all ends up in the same place and doesn't get returned!

Thank you to anyone else who has any insight on this.

khtom