Any advice on obtaining police check from Panama?

[clue12]

Wondering if anyone here has had to obtain a police check from Panama (as a foreigner outside of the country) as a part of their application, and if so, if there might be a recommendation for an affordable lawyer or service to use to get it done?

I stayed in Panama for one year in 2012, so I was uncertain if I even needed to obtain the police check from there, as the checklist only explicitly asks for current country of residence/where I've lived most of my life, but my lawyer and other sources have advised that I should get a police check for any country in which I lived longer than 6 months. Based on this, I reached out to a lawyer in Panama who offers the service of obtaining a police check there and was told the cost would be $350USD + courier costs, which is quite a lot to pay for something that may or may not actually be required as part of the application!!

The lawyer I spoke with also suggested that I could send the application in with just my FBI check for now and a note that either it will take longer to get the Panama check or that it will just be impossible to get the check due to COVID, etc. Has anyone ever done this with some success (ie, any chance they would just let it slide due to the challenges of getting it done)?

I know it's a bit of a long shot, but any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[scylla]

Wondering if anyone here has had to obtain a police check from Panama (as a foreigner outside of the country) as a part of their application, and if so, if there might be a recommendation for an affordable lawyer or service to use to get it done?

I stayed in Panama for one year in 2012, so I was uncertain if I even needed to obtain the police check from there, as the checklist only explicitly asks for current country of residence/where I've lived most of my life, but my lawyer and other sources have advised that I should get a police check for any country in which I lived longer than 6 months. Based on this, I reached out to a lawyer in Panama who offers the service of obtaining a police check there and was told the cost would be $350USD + courier costs, which is quite a lot to pay for something that may or may not actually be required as part of the application!!

The lawyer I spoke with also suggested that I could send the application in with just my FBI check for now and a note that either it will take longer to get the Panama check or that it will just be impossible to get the check due to COVID, etc. Has anyone ever done this with some success (ie, any chance they would just let it slide due to the challenges of getting it done)?

I know it's a bit of a long shot, but any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I can't comment on Panama specifically or COVID-19 circumstances.

I was able to get IRCC to give my husband an exemption on one of his PCCs. However it was literally impossible to obtain this PCC (not just difficult). Based on what we've seen here, if the PCC is required, they will only give you a pass if it's actually impossible to obtain. (We provided proof it was impossible to obtain along with the application package.) If COVID is delaying things, then I think they will simply hold your application processing (i.e. not finalize) until you provide the PCC. That's of course assuming it is in fact required.

What have you applied for? I'm not clear on this from your post (sorry if I missed this info).

 

[clue12]

@scylla Thanks so much for the response!! We're applying for inland spousal sponsorship + OWP (I'm an American citizen and my husband is a Canadian citizen). Haven't submitted yet, but most of our documents are gathered except for this one issue. Just trying to decide if we should 1. spend this much money to proactively get the check done and submit it with the application, 2. submit now with just my FBI check and a note that the Panama check will be coming later, or 3. submit with just the FBI check and then only get the Panama check done if they later ask for it.

I've seen extremely conflicting advice, considering the application checklist only says under Police Certificates "The country where you (or they) currently live, if you have lived there for six months or more; and The country where you (or they) have lived most of your (their) life since the age of 18." For me, this would only be the US, and I don't see anything else that explicitly asks for a police certificate for EVERY country where I've lived longer than 6 months. But a couple of different lawyers and many different threads I've read here suggest that it is in fact required.

In any case, really appreciate your input, and maybe this will also be helpful to someone else under similar circumstances!

 

[scylla]

@scylla Thanks so much for the response!! We're applying for inland spousal sponsorship + OWP (I'm an American citizen and my husband is a Canadian citizen). Haven't submitted yet, but most of our documents are gathered except for this one issue. Just trying to decide if we should 1. spend this much money to proactively get the check done and submit it with the application, 2. submit now with just my FBI check and a note that the Panama check will be coming later, or 3. submit with just the FBI check and then only get the Panama check done if they later ask for it.

I've seen extremely conflicting advice, considering the application checklist only says under Police Certificates "The country where you (or they) currently live, if you have lived there for six months or more; and The country where you (or they) have lived most of your (their) life since the age of 18." For me, this would only be the US, and I don't see anything else that explicitly asks for a police certificate for EVERY country where I've lived longer than 6 months. But a couple of different lawyers and many different threads I've read here suggest that it is in fact required.

In any case, really appreciate your input, and maybe this will also be helpful to someone else under similar circumstances!

Post in the family sponsorship section of the forum in that case.