FBI Clearance- FYI - don't go through third-party channeler

[CanadianWife13]

Hi all,

Just wanted to post this as it might help some of you out there. My husband and I got his FBI Clearance letter from what is called a "third-party" channeler to expedite the process. At the time we didn't know that this is what they are called. We paid a little extra money to expedite the process and within a few days we received the letter directly from the FBI. We were so happy. Unfortunately we just found out from CIC that even though we got the FBI clearance letter they won't accept it and we have to apply for another one directly from the FBI. We didn't know and now this will hold us up so I am hoping to help some of you out there that might make the same mistake as us.

Below I cut and paste what the CIC wrote to us:

The FBI Clearance that you have provided has been issued by a
third-party channeler. Citizenship and Immigration Canada does not
accept FBI clearances issued by channelers. Please apply for FBI
Clearance directly to the FBI:

 

[mikeymyke]

Sorry to hear what happened to you, but FYI, the instructions regarding police checks clearly state on the CIC website, that channelers are not accepted.

 

[Ponga]

Sorry to hear what happened to you, but FYI, the instructions regarding police checks clearly state on the CIC website, that channelers are not accepted.

Where exactly on the CIC website is this `clearly' stated?

It's not mentioned here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/north-america/united-states.asp

Fortunately, I avoided this mistake after digging through threads here months ago!

 

[mikeymyke]

Ah never mind, it's been a long time since I did the FBI thing. I was pretty sure I read somewhere that said channelers were not permitted. Maybe I subconsciously browsed through the forums, and stumbled upon "channeler not accepted" and just had it ingrained in my mind that it wasn't allowed.

Sorry!

They're definitely wrong about the 16-18 weeks processing time though, its around 6 weeks. I think they should've indicated that on the instructions because it's pretty frustrating waiting another 6 weeks for it.

 

[Ponga]

LOL! I know the feeling. I've found MANY things here that I thought were found on CIC's website, but...they were not. Sad, actually, that this community is often more helpful than CIC...and it's their process!!!!

 

[screech339]

I too did remember reading something about CIC not accepting channelers either. Have to try to find where that is.

 

[mikeymyke]

LOL! I know the feeling. I've found MANY things here that I thought were found on CIC's website, but...they were not. Sad, actually, that this community is often more helpful than CIC...and it's their process!!!!

Isn't that sad? And I can't find anywhere on CIC that says you can't use staplers, but apparently I must've "subconsciously" knew that you couldn't use staplers because of this helpful forum