Police Check

[lovemycanadian]

My husband and I waited 5 months to submit our application, because we were waiting for my police check from the FBI. We finally got it in the mail 3 days ago and submitted our application yesterday. My worry now is that if the police check expires in 3 months, do I have to file for another one just in case mine expires before they get to my application? I would be really mad if that was the case, because we waited for so long for that police check.

 

[tink23]

As long as the police check is received by CIc within 3 months of it being issued, then you are fine! So if your police check and application that u sent 3 days ago wasn't 3 months old or longer, then u are ok!

 

[lovemycanadian]

As long as the police check is received by CIc within 3 months of it being issued, then you are fine! So if your police check and application that u sent 3 days ago wasn't 3 months old or longer, then u are ok!

Thank you. This makes me feel a lot better!

 

[Taddy]

I'm glad I came across this thread; mine's out of date already

 

[OntarioBound]

As long as the police check is received by CIc within 3 months of it being issued, then you are fine! So if your police check and application that u sent 3 days ago wasn't 3 months old or longer, then u are ok!

This doesn't sound right to me, but I am no expert. The CIC police information on their website says
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/intro.asp
The certificate must be issued no more than three months before you apply.

It doesn't say anything about any police check expiring in any length of time.

Am I missing something here? From what I can tell, if you submitted your application and CIC has received it (most likely within the next few days) and as long as the police check isn't more than 3 months old by then, it is OK.

 

[tink23]

This doesn't sound right to me, but I am no expert. The CIC police information on their website says
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/intro.asp
The certificate must be issued no more than three months before you apply.

It doesn't say anything about any police check expiring in any length of time.

Am I missing something here? From what I can tell, if you submitted your application and CIC has received it (most likely within the next few days) and as long as the police check isn't more than 3 months old by then, it is OK.

That is exactly what I said, so I'm not sure what u don't understand here.

As long as the police check is received by CIc within 3 months of it being issued, then you are fine! So if your police check and application that u sent 3 days ago wasn't 3 months old or longer, then u are ok!

 

[clwillia]

I have a question in this vein as well:

My husband and I received our police records check about 1 month after our application was submitted (it is a difficult country to get record checks from). We now have the certificate, but have not yet received SA. We have been holding on to the certificate until CIC requests it.

Can we actually send the first Police record check? It is now 5 months old, but it is dated to within three months of our application. We even included in our application the proof of payment for the check and a note saying that we've applied, but we didn't get it in time to send in.

When I called to find out, the CIC agent told us we would have to wait for them to ask for the police check and THEN apply for the certificate and send it in (hello another 4 month delay for a stupid sheet of paper I already have). I don't totally believe the CIC call center's answer since she was a bit of a jerk and wasn't really listening to my question (most people I've spoken to have been curt, but not rude like this person).

Ideally, we do not want to go through the process again which involves a 4 hour bus ride to another country and then chasing couriers and the Police department for weeks. :/

I hope this makes sense.... and thanks for any information you may have!

 

[tink23]

If the police check is already 5 months old, you unfortunately will need a new one. Even if it is dated to 3 months like u said, when it reaches cic it will still be too old as it is supposed to be received by cic before it is 3 months old.... I don't see any other option than obtaining a new police check.

 

[OntarioBound]

If the police check is already 5 months old, you unfortunately will need a new one. Even if it is dated to 3 months like u said, when it reaches cic it will still be too old as it is supposed to be received by cic before it is 3 months old.... I don't see any other option than obtaining a new police check.

Hello

What if they couldn't open the application for over three months to get to the AOR stage (currently it is taking 84 days to get to AOR on average and a lot of us have submitted the application without the police check since the FBI check is taking 14-16 weeks)? They would have to ask a lot of people for the second police check? What I read on the CIC site was "The certificate must be issued no more than three months before you apply." And I took it that your police check needs to less than 3 months old when the application is submitted. You could be right but I would like to know if people have gotten a second police request in this kind of cases. The way CIC is taking longer to get to AOR I think other people want to know also.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

What if they couldn't open the application for over three months to get to the AOR stage (currently it is taking 84 days to get to AOR on average and a lot of us have submitted the application without the police check since the FBI check is taking 14-16 weeks)?

As tink said above, I'm not really sure what you don't understand; you're quoting the correct information but then second-guessing it.

If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED IT, it is still valid, even if it's already more than 3 months old when CIC actually looks at it.

 

[OntarioBound]

As tink said above, I'm not really sure what you don't understand; you're quoting the correct information but then second-guessing it.

If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED THE APP, it is still valid, even if it's already more than 3 months old when CIC actually looks at it.

Canuck,

Thank you for your response. I must be misunderstanding something here. When you say "If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED THE APP", you mean "RECEIVED THE APP INCLUDING POLICE CHECK?" If so, what you say matches what tink says. Lots of us indeed already submitted the application and CIC received our apps, but the submission didn't include the police check since the police check is taking 14-16 weeks. In my mind, CIC has already received the app (despite that police check is not there), but in your mind, they haven't yet received the application until the police check is received? If so it totally matches what tink is saying.

 

[tink23]

Canuck,

Thank you for your response. I must be misunderstanding something here. When you say "If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED THE APP", you mean "RECEIVED THE APP INCLUDING POLICE CHECK?" If so, what you say matches what tink says. Lots of us indeed already submitted the application and CIC received our apps, but the submission didn't include the police check since the police check is taking 14-16 weeks. In my mind, CIC has already received the app (despite that police check is not there), but in your mind, they haven't yet received the application until the police check is received? If so it totally matches what tink is saying.

Whether you sent the rest of the application with or without he police check doesn't matter. What matters is how old the police check is when it comes into CIC's possession. If the police check is in CIc hands with the application when the police check is dated older than three months from when it was issued, it is invalid. If the application was sent ahead and then a couple months later CIC receives the police check in its own little envelope, and the police check is older than 3 months, it is invalid.

Your police check is invalid. You need to get a new one.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you for your response. I must be misunderstanding something here. When you say "If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED THE APP", you mean "RECEIVED THE APP INCLUDING POLICE CHECK?"

Yes, that is what I meant. I've clarified my post.

 

[LaLa320]

Canuck,

Thank you for your response. I must be misunderstanding something here. When you say "If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED THE APP", you mean "RECEIVED THE APP INCLUDING POLICE CHECK?" If so, what you say matches what tink says. Lots of us indeed already submitted the application and CIC received our apps, but the submission didn't include the police check since the police check is taking 14-16 weeks. In my mind, CIC has already received the app (despite that police check is not there), but in your mind, they haven't yet received the application until the police check is received? If so it totally matches what tink is saying.

Canuck,

Thank you for your response. I must be misunderstanding something here. When you say "If the PCC was issued less than 3 months before CIC RECEIVED THE APP", you mean "RECEIVED THE APP INCLUDING POLICE CHECK?" If so, what you say matches what tink says. Lots of us indeed already submitted the application and CIC received our apps, but the submission didn't include the police check since the police check is taking 14-16 weeks. In my mind, CIC has already received the app (despite that police check is not there), but in your mind, they haven't yet received the application until the police check is received? If so it totally matches what tink is saying.

I don't know how much more clear Tink23 and Canuck_in_UK can be about this. What they said is correct. But let me see if I can break it down for you with an example:

-I did my PCC (Police Clearance Check) on September 15, 2014. (This would make it invalid/expired on December 16, 2014)
-I submitted my application along with my PCC to CIC-Mississauga on October 10, 2014
-CIC-Mississauga received my application with my PCC on October 15, 2014 (exactly one month after I did my PCC)
-The day CIC-Mississauga received my application (along with my PCC) a stamp with the date they received my application (October 15, 2014) is put on my application (This makes my PCC still valid because CIC received it before it expired)
-It is now March and my application is in process (almost 6 months after I did my PCC)
-In theory my PCC is expired since it had been over 3 months since I did it, but because CIC received it before the 3 month expiry limit (before December 16, 2014) my PCC is considered VALID (because they received on October 15, 2014).


Now my friend

-She did her PCC (Police Clearance Check) on June 1, 2014. (This would make it invalid/expired on September 2, 2014)
-She submitted her application along with her PCC to CIC-Mississauga on October 25, 2014
-CIC-Mississauga received her application with her PCC on October 27, 2014 (almost 5 months after she did her PCC)
-The day CIC-Mississauga received her application (along with hery PCC) a stamp with the date they received her application (October 27, 2014) was put on her application (This made her PCC INVALID because CIC received it AFTER it expired)
-It is now March and her application is in process (almost 9 months after she did her PCC)
-She was asked by CIC to resubmit a new PCC on Dec. 18 within 60 days, because the one she sent was expired when they received it.
-She did another one on Dec. 19, 2014 and CIC received it on Jan. 13, 2015.
-The stamped it on Jan. 13 as received and valid. Her application is still in process, but if they don't look at her application for another 3 months her PCC will now be considered valid because they received it before the 3 month expiry.


So it doesn't matter how long CIC takes to look at your PCC (it could be 6 months from now). As long as CIC receives it before the expiry date it's all good.

Also you can submit your application before you submit your PCC. CIC will not add that time to the time you actually submit your PCC. They will continue to process your application and then ask you to submit PCC when they come to that stage.

I hope this clears up your confusion.

 

[clwillia]

Yes this is the frustrating part, we receive the PCC just two weeks after submitting the application. I contacted them to see if I could send it along and they refused to accept it because they hadn't opened my application yet.

Grr. so it looks like we are off to Dublin again and another $200 sunk into something we've already done.

Thank to everyone for their clarifications, it is a little hazy in that it says it must be within three months of your application, not within three months of their receipt of the PCC. So I understand where OntarioBound, Lovemy Canadian and I are coming from when we asked for clarification on this.

The salt in the wound is that it took us 3 months for the PCC to be available, we had to call them daily with a courier before they would release the form even once it was done. They only release 10 PCCs a day or something moronic like that.