Hi everyone for being such a tardy responder... work is crazy (seems like a recurring theme) and I haven't had a chance to post.
For Brit, they didn't actually send us the form, they said they sent us the form but since we had submitted an inquiry 2 months after our interview, they guessed that we didn't get the request so in the response to the inquiry, they said to send the fingerprints but didn't provide a form OR say what they were for... based on the research that I've done here, we are assuming they were for RCMP clearance since hubby did live here for a while.
BlessedOne and all asking about the digital fingerprints... it is a fairly straightforward process but is a bit more expensive... provide POS with whatever they ask for (RCMP fingerprint form, for example) but the digital background check would be supplemental to what they have requested.
Basically, there are authorized agencies here in Canada (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/rtid-itr/vulner-eng.htm) that are authorized by the RCMP to digitize paper fingerprints from outside of Canada and submit them electronically to the RCMP. The process to do this is more or less as follows (keep in mind each agency will be slightly different):
- the agency will provide you with a fingerprint form for you to courier down to your spouse, along with a list of the required information that will need to accompany the fingerprint form.
- From there, your spouse will obtain their fingerprints from the authorities in their home country on the form the agency provided, along with all of the required information. There should also be a consent form for the RCMP to be able to release the background checks to you upon completion.
- Your spouse will then courier the required forms back to you in Canada and you will take them to the agency office to have them digitized and submitted electronically to the RCMP for clearance.
- If your spouse has never been fingerprinted, then you should receive the results within a week; if they have been fingerprinted but have no criminal record, this could take closer to 6 weeks, and if they have been fingerprinted with a record, then it will take longer, perhaps 2-3 months (keep in mind this is just their targets, and could be faster). No matter what, even in the worse case scenario, the digital process is faster... the paper way can take 12 weeks or so I've heard... but I can't confirm that.
- the RCMP results will be mailed to you if the consent form was completed.
- then you would courier the unopened results down to POS with a cover letter with all of your file information stating that this is a completed RCMP background check for your spouse.
I think I covered everything but if you have any questions, just let me know and I will do my best to be much faster in responding.
As for an update on us, no update :s... they rec'd our completed RCMP check for my hubby (I also included a copy of the RPRF, which I paid about a month and half ago... they didn't request this but we hadn't paid it up front, so I wanted to get this out of the way in hopes they would soon be asking for it) two weeks ago and I submitted an inquiry last week to find out what the next steps are... really looking forward to winding this up... we have been apart for way too long and are way too strapped for cash for another visit at the moment. So really praying we are on the tail end of things.
