Foreign Criminal Background checks

[Pakster84]

Hi everyone!

I'm an American applying for PR through family class sponsorship. I have lived in Thailand and Korea for more than six months, and I have collected my criminal background checks for both of those countries. However, I have a question about my Korean check. Most of the important stuff is translated into English (my name and stating that I have "No records found as of ____date it was checked______"). However, the contact information on the very bottom and a few other info is in Korean. Does anyone think it'll be a problem once I send my application in?? Do you think I have to have those sections professionally translated into English? Also the paper says "Criminal Records Certificate" someone on another website said that it is suppose to say "Criminal History Information Record."
Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bartjones]

You might want to read the last few pages of the Korea thread here http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/sponsoring-my-korean-wife-for-permanent-residency-t137874.0.html. The Korean Police Service only recently started offering those checks in English and some posters over there have been talking about it. It seems the Korean police have changed the name of the search and CIC hasn't quite realized that yet.

Does the search say they searched "Lapsed Records". That's usually the biggest pitfall with Korean criminal background checks.

 

[Pakster84]

Thanks for the link and responding but...
It doesn't say "lapsed record" it just says "NO RECORDS FOUND as of March 5, 2014"
ugh no i'm getting nervous

 

[bartjones]

Thanks for the link and responding but...
It doesn't say "lapsed record" it just says "NO RECORDS FOUND as of March 5, 2014"
ugh no i'm getting nervous

Yeah, I don't think you need to be too concerned. The old Criminal History Information Record used to have a box indicating the scope of what the police had searched. Korea maintains three criminal records databases; "Criminal History", "Investigative Records" and "Lapsed Records". The search result used to show which databases they had checked when they did the search. Apparently the newer search results don't show that anymore.

It may be that the Korean police are now automatically searching all three databases in Canadian immigration cases. As of last year, they wouldn't search "Lapsed Records" unless you specifically asked. As a result, incomplete Criminal History Information Records were a very common occurrence for Korean PR applicants. Maybe that's finally been fixed with the new searches.

It will be interesting to see how the VO in Manila deals with it since, as I said, it wouldn't appear that they are aware yet that the Korean Police Service is now doing things differently.

 

[Pakster84]

Yeah, I don't think you need to be too concerned. The old Criminal History Information Record used to have a box indicating the scope of what the police had searched. Korea maintains three criminal records databases; "Criminal History", "Investigative Records" and "Lapsed Records". The search result used to show which databases they had checked when they did the search. Apparently the newer search results don't show that anymore.

It may be that the Korean police are now automatically searching all three databases in Canadian immigration cases. As of last year, they wouldn't search "Lapsed Records" unless you specifically asked. As a result, incomplete Criminal History Information Records were a very common occurrence for Korean PR applicants. Maybe that's finally been fixed with the new searches.

It will be interesting to see how the VO in Manila deals with it since, as I said, it wouldn't appear that they are aware yet that the Korean Police Service is now doing things differently.

I hope the change is for the better and more efficient. I'm actually in Canada now and i'm sending via outbound to Mississauga. Thanks again for the advice and info!

 

[Alurra71]

Thanks for the link and responding but...
It doesn't say "lapsed record" it just says "NO RECORDS FOUND as of March 5, 2014"
ugh no i'm getting nervous

If March 5 is the date on that record, you might have a problem. You do know these are only good for 90 days. CIC MUST receive the document before the 90 days are up. Just a heads up for you.

 

[Pakster84]

If March 5 is the date on that record, you might have a problem. You do know these are only good for 90 days. CIC MUST receive the document before the 90 days are up. Just a heads up for you.

Yes, but I have read elsewhere that as long as you haven't been in and out of that country after the date stated on the Background check it should be ok. The last time I was in Korea was in January of 2012. I'll also be attaching copies of my Departure/arrival stamps from my passport and a letter explaining the situation (I've been back in N. America for over a year now.