Police Certificate - Are fingerprints necassary?

[Sevenartists 2]

I just have one question, one question that may or may not cause my head to explode. In regards to the police certificate to get from Australia to the US, are fingerprints necassary? I've been looking through the paperwork I have and I don't see anything about fingerprints, mainly just about criminal history. I need to know if fingerprints are necassary or not.

[ollie 47]

Fingerprints aren't required as part of your police certificate......they will be taken at POE if your visa gets approved.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Fingerprints aren't required as part of your police certificate......they will be taken at POE if your visa gets approved.

Police certificates are issued by authorities in individual countries and can require whatever they want to issue them. It is not part of USCIS or DOS that does this. The correct answer is specific to each country or even localities in countries.

I would ask this in the regional forum for Australia

Edited March 12, 2012 by Gary and Alla

[Lainie B 465]

I just have one question, one question that may or may not cause my head to explode. In regards to the police certificate to get from Australia to the US, are fingerprints necassary? I've been looking through the paperwork I have and I don't see anything about fingerprints, mainly just about criminal history. I need to know if fingerprints are necassary or not.

If you are asking whether you need the name only or the name and fingerprint check for the police certificate for the K-1 visa, yes you need the name AND fingerprint check.

[Sevenartists 2]

Well dammit -.- Ok, one more question then. Is it digital fingerprints or the ink fingerprints? Because I can't get the digital ones done until April 30th, and the ink ones until July.

[Lainie B 465]

I think either. Which state are you in? Each state has different procedures.

[Sevenartists 2]

Victoria.

[Lainie B 465]

OK, that's where I'm from.

Check this website:

http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=274

If Melbourne is your closest fingerprints site, then you call the customer service centre 1300 881 596. You will need the national name and fingerprint check. If they try to tell you that you can't get an appointment for months, then keep calling back until you get someone who knows what they are talking about. I was able to choose from several appointments the very next day. Previously I had spoken to a woman who said they couldn't get me an appointment for over a month. When I called back and spoke to a guy he got me in the very next day.

Fill in the online form, print it and bring it with your payment. You can pay by credit or debit card, check or money order. Not sure about cash.

I got mine back in 6 working days.

If you need to go to one of the regional stations, best bet is to call them directly.

[Sevenartists 2]

And it is official. I am boned.

I called them up repeatedly. I was told the same thing by everybody. July 25th, which is no good for me because I need all this done by MAY. So I pretty much went through all this for absolutely nothing.

They recommended calling the Federal Police, which I did. July 17th. Thank you police, you proved to be absolutely worthless.

[Lainie B 465]

Try going into the customer service centre in person without an appointment. Tell them it is urgent. The fingerprinting takes 5 minutes. Or you could take a trip to one of the regional sites.

The first person I spoke to told me to try the federal police too, before I called back and got someone who got me in the next day, he gave me three times in the day to choose from. It really shouldn't take months.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Lainie B

[Travis and Meghan 24]

I know we're from different states, but when i got my fingerprints done i didn't even know i was supposed to make an appointment, lol. I just walked into my local police station and said i needed police check and fingerprints. They were like 'wellll, usually you need an appointment....but we'll do it anyway'. Mine was a regional one too, guess i went in at the right time because they were pretty quiet. Maybe you could try just walking in somewhere if all else fails?

[Sevenartists 2]

Ok, I shall try walking in. Just in case, do you guys have the list for the different places interstate? If I get desperate, I have enough money to get me a ticket over to Adelaide. Plus, I have family in Adelaide I can stay with.

[Lainie B 465]

Not sure if that will work, you need to be a resident in the state.

[Sevenartists 2]

Well, that just means I'm completely screwed. I tried walking in today, no such luck. Icalled up regarding any other stations doing fingerprint checks, and none of them will work due to them only doing people in the local area (I live in point cook so I'm in the melbourne local area). So yeah, no help from them at all.

I think you just got incredibly lucky and someone cancelled. Because they told me to just keep calling until someone cancelled.

My only option now is to call up immigration and let them know the situation. It's rediculous really. Even if I made the appointment as soon as I got NOA2, I probably wouldn't have gotten in in time.

Victoria police suck -.-

[Travis and Meghan 24]

The whole thing is such bulls**t. I seriously don't understand why it takes so long to get an appointment for fingerprints. I hope you can get an appointment soon!