I think you still have time to process your PCC application. I searched on Google, and TET will start from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2. Start processing your PCC request as soon as possible. I got my PCC 20 days after including a public holiday too. In case you run out of time, gather all evidence that you've applied for it, and send those as proof along with a letter requesting an extension of your deadline. Explain the national holiday coming up in Vietnam and the expected date you can submit the document. You can also call IRCC and ask for advice directly.
Police Certificate - Vietnam Outside Vietnam
- Thread starter jennyk
- Start date
Hi there, I just wanted to give my account of applying for the Vietnamese police certificate from outside of Vietnam at the National Centre of Criminal Records (NCCR) in Hanoi. For reference I’m a foreigner married to a Vietnamese national. This post is probably most relevant for people not actively living in Vietnam anymore. If you’re still registered with local government there seems to be a way to go through them instead.
We first contacted the NCCR through the email provided on the IRCC’s website. We tried several times from different accounts in English and Vietnamese. We also tried to call them during local opening hours, but there was only an answering machine. So personally I think this is a waste of time. I then submitted my PR application without the certificate hoping they may look past this - for me this certificate was 1/5 as I’ve lived in a few different countries.
However on 01/10/24 I received a request from the IRCC to submit the Vietnamese police certificate with a deadline set 2 months later on 01/12/24. We wanted to explore other options before going back to Vietnam, so we decided to travel to the Vietnamese embassy in Ottawa the same week (I think they only open on Fridays).
Just to clarify the embassy doesn’t issue police certificates - they basically just give you the right forms and instructions and then certify it. Also, our forms were only in Vietnamese, so I’d strongly advise to get support if you’re not fluent or used to filling out their forms. You’ll also have to give information on any address ever lived at from birth. You can also request to be sent a scan by email upfront. After I completed the forms, the embassy kept them for certification to be sent by mail within 2 weeks.(This cost us around CAD $186).
On 15/10/24 we received the certified forms by post and made another attempt to contact the NCCR in Hanoi to inquire about the fees (for issuing the police certificate), as advised by the embassy, but again no answer.
So we sent off the application on 18/10/24 via registered mail through Canada Post (there probably are faster ways though
) - cost was around CAD $36.
Through their tracking we could see it arriving on 13/11/24, so about 3 weeks later.
On 22/11/24 we received a reply from the NCCR informing us we needed to send a scan of my passport (we took that literally and scanned the full 32 pages.) and a fee of 200,000 VND for the certificate and ~1,600,000 VND for shipping. We emailed payment confirmation and scan 2 days later.
On 22/12/24 we received the certificate by email first and were asked to confirm the details. The certificate was then sent by post a few days later. Needless to say we couldn’t make the original deadline set by IRCC, so before it expired we had submitted an explanation of the steps and added the response by NCCR to ask for an extension. We were given time until the end of January 2025 (I’m guessing they were more lenient with us here because of the postal strike).
I hope this will help someone navigate the difficulties of applying from Canada. It absolutely can be done, but my advice would be to start early and assume it’ll take 3 months to get everything done. Good luck!
We first contacted the NCCR through the email provided on the IRCC’s website. We tried several times from different accounts in English and Vietnamese. We also tried to call them during local opening hours, but there was only an answering machine. So personally I think this is a waste of time. I then submitted my PR application without the certificate hoping they may look past this - for me this certificate was 1/5 as I’ve lived in a few different countries.
However on 01/10/24 I received a request from the IRCC to submit the Vietnamese police certificate with a deadline set 2 months later on 01/12/24. We wanted to explore other options before going back to Vietnam, so we decided to travel to the Vietnamese embassy in Ottawa the same week (I think they only open on Fridays).
Just to clarify the embassy doesn’t issue police certificates - they basically just give you the right forms and instructions and then certify it. Also, our forms were only in Vietnamese, so I’d strongly advise to get support if you’re not fluent or used to filling out their forms. You’ll also have to give information on any address ever lived at from birth. You can also request to be sent a scan by email upfront. After I completed the forms, the embassy kept them for certification to be sent by mail within 2 weeks.(This cost us around CAD $186).
On 15/10/24 we received the certified forms by post and made another attempt to contact the NCCR in Hanoi to inquire about the fees (for issuing the police certificate), as advised by the embassy, but again no answer.
So we sent off the application on 18/10/24 via registered mail through Canada Post (there probably are faster ways though
) - cost was around CAD $36. Through their tracking we could see it arriving on 13/11/24, so about 3 weeks later.
On 22/11/24 we received a reply from the NCCR informing us we needed to send a scan of my passport (we took that literally and scanned the full 32 pages.) and a fee of 200,000 VND for the certificate and ~1,600,000 VND for shipping. We emailed payment confirmation and scan 2 days later.
On 22/12/24 we received the certificate by email first and were asked to confirm the details. The certificate was then sent by post a few days later. Needless to say we couldn’t make the original deadline set by IRCC, so before it expired we had submitted an explanation of the steps and added the response by NCCR to ask for an extension. We were given time until the end of January 2025 (I’m guessing they were more lenient with us here because of the postal strike).
I hope this will help someone navigate the difficulties of applying from Canada. It absolutely can be done, but my advice would be to start early and assume it’ll take 3 months to get everything done. Good luck!
Carmen,Hi there, I just wanted to give my account of applying for the Vietnamese police certificate from outside of Vietnam at the National Centre of Criminal Records (NCCR) in Hanoi. For reference I’m a foreigner married to a Vietnamese national. This post is probably most relevant for people not actively living in Vietnam anymore. If you’re still registered with local government there seems to be a way to go through them instead.
We first contacted the NCCR through the email provided on the IRCC’s website. We tried several times from different accounts in English and Vietnamese. We also tried to call them during local opening hours, but there was only an answering machine. So personally I think this is a waste of time. I then submitted my PR application without the certificate hoping they may look past this - for me this certificate was 1/5 as I’ve lived in a few different countries.
However on 01/10/24 I received a request from the IRCC to submit the Vietnamese police certificate with a deadline set 2 months later on 01/12/24. We wanted to explore other options before going back to Vietnam, so we decided to travel to the Vietnamese embassy in Ottawa the same week (I think they only open on Fridays).
Just to clarify the embassy doesn’t issue police certificates - they basically just give you the right forms and instructions and then certify it. Also, our forms were only in Vietnamese, so I’d strongly advise to get support if you’re not fluent or used to filling out their forms. You’ll also have to give information on any address ever lived at from birth. You can also request to be sent a scan by email upfront. After I completed the forms, the embassy kept them for certification to be sent by mail within 2 weeks.(This cost us around CAD $186).
On 15/10/24 we received the certified forms by post and made another attempt to contact the NCCR in Hanoi to inquire about the fees (for issuing the police certificate), as advised by the embassy, but again no answer.
So we sent off the application on 18/10/24 via registered mail through Canada Post (there probably are faster ways though
Through their tracking we could see it arriving on 13/11/24, so about 3 weeks later.
On 22/11/24 we received a reply from the NCCR informing us we needed to send a scan of my passport (we took that literally and scanned the full 32 pages.) and a fee of 200,000 VND for the certificate and ~1,600,000 VND for shipping. We emailed payment confirmation and scan 2 days later.
On 22/12/24 we received the certificate by email first and were asked to confirm the details. The certificate was then sent by post a few days later. Needless to say we couldn’t make the original deadline set by IRCC, so before it expired we had submitted an explanation of the steps and added the response by NCCR to ask for an extension. We were given time until the end of January 2025 (I’m guessing they were more lenient with us here because of the postal strike).
I hope this will help someone navigate the difficulties of applying from Canada. It absolutely can be done, but my advice would be to start early and assume it’ll take 3 months to get everything done. Good luck!
Thanks for the detailed instructions, I am in a similar situation looking to get my wife's Criminal record #2 while still in the states without having to go back home. I have a question to be clear since I have an appointment with my embassy next week to get some forms certified and scanned.
I would need the form requesting, my spouses passport all 32 pages I see.
The address you sent it to NCCR was it:
9 Tran Vi Street, Mai Dinh ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi,
Or did the embassy handle mailing it for you. Looking to get all the information iron out to expedite next week.
Thank you for any further information you can provide to try to save myself months of waiting.
Hi there, I don't know what the process is in the US, but we both went to the embassy and filled the forms out there (I'm just mentioning it because it sounded as if you were going by yourself. If it's for your wife she should go with and be prepared to fill everything out there). The embassy then kept the forms to certify it and then sent it by post back to us. We then sent the forms to the NCCR (the embassy will tell you what to send initially and also where to send it to). We send the forms to the NCCR and yes the address looks correct. The NCCR then will contact you by email (which you give in the forms) to request the passport scan and payment. The email it was sent from was different from the one quoted everywhere - a gmail address btw so just look out it's not going into spam (We scanned all 32 pages because we wanted to make sure - I can't tell you if it's needed though, maybe it's just the used pages + 1 page extra to show it's empty). Again, check with the official at the embassy if possible.
Let me know if there are any more questions - happy to help !
Oh yes my wife would be going to the consulate with me. They mainly just stamp and certify our forms. When i asked them about the process they were not very helpful the last time I showed up(NY VN consulate)just very difficult to get an appointment. They don't hold on to documents to certify for a 2 week period but just hand them back same day once throughly checked. I will probably just go try mailing like you did, or mail a copy of the passport to see if that would aid in the process. The embassy did get back to me from hcmc that the #2 is required not the #1. Thanks again i will try the route you took in attempt to get her record prior to leaving for Vietnam.Hi there, I don't know what the process is in the US, but we both went to the embassy and filled the forms out there (I'm just mentioning it because it sounded as if you were going by yourself. If it's for your wife she should go with and be prepared to fill everything out there). The embassy then kept the forms to certify it and then sent it by post back to us. We then sent the forms to the NCCR (the embassy will tell you what to send initially and also where to send it to). We send the forms to the NCCR and yes the address looks correct. The NCCR then will contact you by email (which you give in the forms) to request the passport scan and payment. The email it was sent from was different from the one quoted everywhere - a gmail address btw so just look out it's not going into spam (We scanned all 32 pages because we wanted to make sure - I can't tell you if it's needed though, maybe it's just the used pages + 1 page extra to show it's empty). Again, check with the official at the embassy if possible.
Let me know if there are any more questions - happy to help !
Yes, it should be Form 2, not 1 (I think #1 is only inland). Ok, then it looks that the process in NY/US is different from Ottawa/Canada. Btw, make sure you send the documents by registered mail, so they have to sign on receiving it/for online tracking. We actually did send a simple (certified?) copy of my passport that the embassy gave us, but it was just the data page, so unless you get other information from your embassy I would include at least that. On the instruction page they gave us at the embassy, it actually said we needed to send the following to the NCCR:
1) Application of Criminal Record Certificate No.2 (Form 03/2024/TT-LLTP)
2) A certified copy of the applicant's current passport, and any previous passports used in Vietnam.
But the embassy official wasn't too concerned about a copy of the whole passport if I remember correctly.
I checked again what address we were given from the embassy here and it's:
Trung Tâm Lý Lịch Tư Pháp Quốc Gia
Bộ Tư pháp Việt Nam
Tầng 6 - Nhà A - Học viện Tư pháp-
9 P. Trần Vỹ, Ph. Mai Dịch
Q. Cầu Giấy, TP. Hà Nội
VIETNAM
Anyway, all the best for your application!