FBI Clearance in US

[anjay]

venkanat,

if your fbi request has only been with cjis for 4 weeks, then expect another 4 weeks before they can give you a date of when they will be mailing it out, if they are able to give you a date then that means it has already been mailed out, they rcvd my request 11-16, I was told that the mailing date would be 1-15, btu i rcvd the cert before that, I paid by credit card and wrote in red expedited, but it still took them 8 weeks to process.

 

[mtlguy]

Just spoke to Amy from FBI customer service dept. She said that our clearence letters should be mailed no later than March 1st 2010 :-*

Nice to have a good news in the morning

Once again, my application was recd by FBi on Nov 23rd 2009.

Just called my Bank and found out that the Money Orders were cashed on 19th feb 2010. The FBI letters should be on its way ;D

 

[garian4u]

mtlguy, I have a strong hunch that you will get your PCC by tomorrow or Saturday.

 

[jang]

Do any of you recommend sending the application to Buffalo without the PCC and FBI? It is taking a long time. I recalling reading some of the posts where they say that they have included a letter explaining the long lead time and that it will be sent to Buffalo as soon as they receive it.

What will be the implication / risk in doing such way?

 

[mtlguy]

mtlguy, I have a strong hunch that you will get your PCC by tomorrow or Saturday.

That would be the start of a good weekend

I'll post a msg as soon as i get the docs.

 

[laxmikanthms]

FBI Customer Service clearly told me today that it will take 13 weeks to respond to any application and even if you have mentioned the urgent requirement date its not going to be considered.

FBI has become slow all of a sudden.

 

[mtlguy]

FBI Customer Service clearly told me today that it will take 13 weeks to respond to any application and even if you have mentioned the urgent requirement date its not going to be considered.

FBI has become slow all of a sudden.

I think its not the FBI slowing down the process...i believe its the volume of applications they have received in the recent past. I am aware of several people in the US applying for the PNP or FSW as a back up in case the green card does not work out or if they were to lose their job in between the process...America's loss is Canada's gain.

 

[garian4u]

That is correct, laxmikanthms. In fact now they have updated their website also to say the same: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm
Notable is they have always been late in updating their website about timelines. So, when they were saying 6-8 weeks, it had actually grown to 10 weeks for normal and 6 weeks for expedited. Similarly when they posted 10 weeks, it was actually 13 for normal and 8 for expedited. Now that they have posted 13 weeks, my presumption is normal would be 16-17 weeks and expedited would be 10 weeks. However, more important than that is now the mode of payment. If people are applying from the US and use a Cashier's Check from a bank like Bank of America, you would know that it says "Void after 90 days". Even if you send the check immediately after getting it issued, it would still be 91 days (13 weeks) to processing, which means it can easily expire before FBI picks up your case. Wonder, what backup plan FBI CJIS has for such circumstances.

 

[ersum_max]

garian4u, I have imagined the situation mentioned by you, that's why I sent my payment through Credit card form.

but the mistake i have done is not sending mail by any sort of tracking/Acknowledgment, and now when I called FBI yesterday they said it's not yet in process and not in position to tell whether they have received it or not.

I mailed my application on 30 Dec 2009 (Approx 8 week)

Regards,
Max :-X

 

[isysy]

Me and my wife will start our quest for FBI clearance early next week. What I've gathered so far are the following information and ideas : (and please anybody here, correct me if I'm wrong...)

- I have an e-mail from Visa office (Manila) just today that my medical and RPRF was sent last tuesday.

- In that e-mail, they also advised me to get FBI and Japan police certificate for my spouse with-in 60 days of the e-mail. Our local mailing post in our province usually takes 2-3 weeks and this will kill the 60 days deadline for sure, not to mention the long delays in FBI.

My wife went to the US for around 5 months and ~3 weeks on two different occassions, but last year she went there for the third time for only 3 weeks. She's only has a tourist visa and never worked there. I wonder why Manila Visa office required my spouse to get an FBI. I'll try to convince them thru e-mail in hopes that they will consider that she just went there as a tourist and that they *may*, God willing, waive this requirement. She studied in Japan for 2 years, so I know we have to get that Japan police certificate.

- Otherwise, we will send the FBI application through my sister in Maryland. We'll send it to her via FedEx
Q: even without the letter from Canadian Visa office? will that work?

- We'll label it as expedited - end of March 2010. I don't care if they say 10-13 weeks, its just a note in the envelope anyways.
Q: what do you think?

- We will also sign up for a FedEx and include a self-addressed FedEx enveloped inside of the package and add up a request letter to send the clearance it via our FedEx account which will ship it directly to our location.
Q: will this work?

- We'll use an american based Money order (I'll ask my sister to get one) -
Q: Will that work as well?,
Q: will this expedite things?
Q: What money order services in the US do you advise?

- My sister will send it to FBI office via FedEx, from MD to VA (which in theory, is just two to three hours drive from her place)
Q: Will this be okay? would it be alright if the response address on another country?

- High hopes that the delay in FBI clearance is just due to the recent snow storms. According to my good friend who runs a business in VA - most federal offices were closed due to the snow storms. Since the snow will stable in the next few weeks, then probably they will expedite the back log.

Q: Do you think we should contact the FBI CSA in advance to get real answers?

 

[garian4u]

isysy, Very valid questions. Looks like you have done a thorough analysis.
1. Even I am stumped by the fact that Manila asked for FBI cert of your spouse. Normally the requirement is that you need to produce a PCC of any country where you have stayed for more than 6 months (worked or not doesn't matter). You probably had mentioned in your application somewhere about these stays and visits and that is why Manila CHC is now asking for FBI PCC. Normally, when people just visit some country as that is temporary, they don't mention those visits in the application. But, now that they have asked, you should first make all earnest attempts to first obtain them and then keep an explanation ready, if you can't. The first roadblock that you will hit is the FBI requires a Social Security Number (SSN) as 1 of the fields to pull up your records. Since, you mention that your spouse never worked in the US, I presume she won't have one. I haven't researched enough to know if FBI can issue a PCC without your SSN
2. You don't need a letter from Canadian visa office to request a PCC from the FBI. You can just mention that you require it for personal review. But, if the SSN issue becomes a show-stopper, then I guess a letter from the Canadian visa office may be required to get FBI going.
3. You do not have an option other than labelling it as "expedited" Avoid credit card as the mode of payment, since exzpedited services are not available in that mode. Ask your sister to get a Money Order or Cashier's check or Banker's Check issued from any Bank or Post Office which is valid for more than 3 months (possibly 6 months). There is no preference of the issuer. Anyone will work. Bank of America issues CC which are valid for 90 days, so you can try others if they give higher validity. An American money order / draft will not expedite things but will just make things easier for you.
4. You can provide response address of any country, it doesn't matter, as long as you sign and fill the Cover Letter stating the same.
5. I have heard of people signing up for FedEx account and sending self-addressed FedEx envelopes as return mailers. But, I haven't heard till now that FBI ever sent back letters through FedEx, they just use regular mail. But, I believe you must use this option so that you extend your chances. If FBI uses it, you will only stand to gain.
6. The dealy in FBI clearances is not due to recent snow storms. They have been overwhelmed by the number of applications in the last 4-5 months.
7. I believe you should not wait till next week to send in your FBI PCC requests and must do so immediately and put an expedite date of mid-March. The dates do not matter as they will not pick up your application before 6-8 weeks, but an earlier date will only show more urgency.
9. FBI cSA will not give you any real answers, as they are very mechanized people and have knowledge of timelines only what is mentioned in the websites and will keep repeating that to you. Only in the final stages, when the payment is encashed, are they able to tell any real status, and that is in the final 1-2 weeks.

 

[bkk]

As per my exprience, FBI Customer care people don't know what is happening to our status unless it is in last week like 9-10/13 weeks. My request is past 8 weeks and they are replying me saying" please allow us couple of weeks more". yesterday i got an email reply from FBI sayin, now the timeline is extended to 13 weeks to get response on our request. I was expecting this March to receive the letter but now i think they will not send until mid of April as per they answered my email. they broke my heart

 

[Forexer]

Guys,

What do you mean by expedite processing? Do you mean to put required date/reason on the cover letter & envelope? Thanks

 

[arsn21]

yes!

Guys,

What do you mean by expedite processing? Do you mean to put required date/reason on the cover letter & envelope? Thanks

 

[Forexer]

yes!

Thanks for the response. Do you know the average processing time after submitting your docs to CIC? I just got my AOR recently.