CharlieD10 said:
If CIC wants an RCMP check, they will insitute a request directly to the RCMP themselves. You only need to send police certificates for countries other than Canada.
This is true at the application stage, but during the course of processing it is not unknown for CIC to request a full check, which you personally have to get done as it requires your fingerprints. Because it's only required at their discretion you don't have to get one at the time of making the application.
However if subsequently they request the full check from you then that's more time added on the clock while you order the C-216C form from the RCMP, wait for it to arrive, get your fingerprints inked onto it in your home country (£63 for the Met to do it for me in London), send the inked form to a Commissionaires' office (and pay $200) to digitize, receive the certificate and send to CIC. And that's the short way of doing it. Sending inked (not digitized) fingerprints to the RCMP has a 120 day processing time.
The consensus on another part of this board appears to be that if CIC's first check of RCMP records shows someone with your name then they will demand the full check from you so thay can be satisfied you're two separate people, but nobody really knows for sure. Others think that it's more likely if you have previously lived in Canada. Either way, I don't have a particularly unusual name and have previously lived in Canada, so I must be prepared for the possibility.
Sooooo, rather than risk suffering all that, I have the opportunity to preempt the request and spend an hour and $58 doing it in person in Vancouver at a time when I'll be in the city anyway to attend a family wedding. I have asked for further guidance from the Commissionaires' office - they seem very helpful.
