Criminal record check, stupid question or stupid wife (jk honey)

[Norris]

Hi all,

I'm trying to sponsor my wife to become PR. She is a Hong Kong Citizen but she has worked in Japan for almost 2 years from 2012 to 2014 but never have stayed in Japan for more than 4 months consecutively. While her work required her to stay in Japan, she always had business trips outside of Japan which required her to leave Japan once every 3-4 months.

Looking at the IMM0008 form, line 12 states: "During the past 5 years have you lived in any country other than your country of citizenship or your current country of residence for more than 6 months?

To my understanding, it simply means anyone who has lived in a certain country other than your country of citizenship for more than 6 months has to get a crim check.

But my wife is having this debate with me to her understanding (I blame her for her pre-school-level English), it doesn't affect her because she hasn't lived in Japan consecutively for more than 6 months.

I do think I'm right, meaning anyone who has lived outside of their "home" for 6 months has to get crim check, but I can never be too sure. So the million dollar question, am I right or am I mistaken?


Best,
Norris

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi

Surely you must know by now that the wife is ALWAYS right .

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/intro.asp

Who needs a police certificate?

In general, you and all the people in your family who are 18 or older need to get a police certificate. You must get one from each country or territory where you have lived for six or more months in a row since the age of 18.

That said, though she technically doesn't require it, given that she essentially lived in Japan for 2 years with short breaks outside, there is a good chance that CIC will request it anyways. It is up to you guys if you want to go ahead and get it now just in case or wait and see if CIC asks for it.

 

[wowsers]

Hi all,

I'm trying to sponsor my wife to become PR. She is a Hong Kong Citizen but she has worked in Japan for almost 2 years from 2012 to 2014 but never have stayed in Japan for more than 4 months consecutively. While her work required her to stay in Japan, she always had business trips outside of Japan which required her to leave Japan once every 3-4 months.

Looking at the IMM0008 form, line 12 states: "During the past 5 years have you lived in any country other than your country of citizenship or your current country of residence for more than 6 months?

To my understanding, it simply means anyone who has lived in a certain country other than your country of citizenship for more than 6 months has to get a crim check.

But my wife is having this debate with me to her understanding (I blame her for her pre-school-level English), it doesn't affect her because she hasn't lived in Japan consecutively for more than 6 months.

I do think I'm right, meaning anyone who has lived outside of their "home" for 6 months has to get crim check, but I can never be too sure. So the million dollar question, am I right or am I mistaken?


Best,
Norris

I think both of you are mistaken. CIC's requirement has nothing to do with living outside your country of origin for more than 6 months. If for example your wife had lived in a variety of different countries for 2 years, all of them for 6 months or less, the requirement would not apply to her. So I think your construction is wrong. However in my opinion your wife is also wrong. I would not expect CIC to agree that your wife has been living in Japan for 6 months or less simply because she is out of the country every 4 months or so. She has worked in Japan for 2 years and will surely have had a home in Japan for all that time even if she left for trips abroad every 4 months or so? The verb is 'lived in', and one lives in a place even if one is away for a short while: you are still living in a place even if you are out shopping or away staying in a hotel for the weekend. The test is a mixture of fact and intention. I think you should assume that she has been living in Japan for 2 years and therefore needs a police certificate. The alternative is to risk a hitch in your application: either a return of the application or a delay during the time it is under consideration until you put right the omission.

 

[scylla]

Based on other posts we've seen here - CIC will expect your wife to provide a PCC for Japan. Yes - she hasn't geen there for six months straight. But she has spent the better part of 2 years there. I would get this PCC in advance rather than waiting for CIC to ask.

 

[Rob_TO]

"Living" in a country for 2 years does not necessarily mean you spent every possible day physically in that country. You can easily leave a country for a business trip or other reason, yet still be "living" in that country.

i.e. if you spent 4 months physically in Japan living in a home there, went on a 1 week business trip, and then returned back to your home in Japan for another 2 months... that would equal 6 months of "living" there.