US outland applicants' thread :)

[computergeek]

Does everyone's status show that Immigration rec'd your app when the package was originally rec'd to do the Sponsorship stage? I know they rec'd our package Sept 24th, but the Sponsorship wasn't approved until Nov 2nd.

Does the 10 months of wait begin as of Sept or November??

November. The time is from the time it is received by the visa office.

 

[cempjwi]

I didn't know that FBI checks expire. I thought that unlike the medicals that expire after one year, the only requirement for the FBI check is that it be received by CIC before it is 90 days old. Where did you find this information?

Apparently the same place you found my agenda.

Criminal checks do not expired as they are good up until the time the check was done - that is, in the past, even before the application is submitted and as old as 90 days per CIC requirement; what I meant by that was that they could be deemed expired (invalid, no longer credible) by CIC beyond the usual processing time. There is more than case where CIC has required to re-do criminal checks and common sense says that their request may be due to lengthy processing times. One could be clean as a whistle, but nothing says to CIC that you will not commit crimes since the time you submitted your application or perhaps during their own criminal check another agency (CSIS, for example) found something on you, they might want to do a re-check to clear on possibly conflicting information. It only takes a few minutes to re-do finger prints and an $18 FBI fee (in the case of US criminal checks). You cannot beat that to save time in case CIC requests a new one.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t112262.0.html
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t72878.0.html;msg1937433#msg1937433
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/useful-information-abt-chc-isb-regarding-previous-cases-t52499.0.html;msg412533#msg412533

Also, although CIC requires criminal checks to not be older than 90 days (which is rather pressing because they can take 40 to 60 days to come back to the requestor) many applicants seem to have submitted applications with slightly older criminal checks and CIC seems to be ok with that. So, what's really set in stone?

 

[computergeek]

I didn't know that FBI checks expire. I thought that unlike the medicals that expire after one year, the only requirement for the FBI check is that it be received by CIC before it is 90 days old. Where did you find this information?

On my first application (FSW) I had to re-do the FBI clearance, even though I'd been in Canada since the time I'd submitted my FSW application. This was because of the one year validity issue. I tried to find an OP citation but I couldn't do so quickly. I'll look again later.

 

[spacedog30]

I didn't get a "tamper-proof" anything from the FBI. I ordered two, just in case something happened to one, and they both arrived folded together in a regular envelope. All it said is "no arrest record."
I paper clipped one to the back of my background form.

 

[brightredscream]

Crap, I didn't know that the FBI check couldn't be older than 90 days, I think ours is :/

Yeah, we got ours back in August, and our package was recieved in Mississauga on December 24th....

 

[OhCanadiana]

I didn't get a "tamper-proof" anything from the FBI. I ordered two, just in case something happened to one, and they both arrived folded together in a regular envelope. All it said is "no arrest record."
I paper clipped one to the back of my background form.

If you got it directly from the FBI and try to photocopy it, you'll see why it's tamper resistant The ones issued by channelers are printed on regular paper.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Crap, I didn't know that the FBI check couldn't be older than 90 days, I think ours is :/

Yeah, we got ours back in August, and our package was recieved in Mississauga on December 24th....

To be safe, I'd start ordering a new one so that if they ask you for the updated one you have it ready to send off (or perhaps already added to your file if they take a long time to request it and you beat them to it).

 

[brightredscream]

We're going to order another on Monday to be safe

 

[spacedog30]

If you got it directly from the FBI and try to photocopy it, you'll see why it's tamper resistant The ones issued by channelers are printed on regular paper.

AH...gotcha. Thanks. I'm going to order a new one this next week, since mine was past the 90 days, too. It also expires in April.
I got mine in six weeks last time, so I hope it only takes that long and we can just send it on to Ottawa just in case.
Hey...at least was one of the cheaper things we needed!

 

[computergeek]

I didn't get a "tamper-proof" anything from the FBI. I ordered two, just in case something happened to one, and they both arrived folded together in a regular envelope. All it said is "no arrest record."
I paper clipped one to the back of my background form.

You didn't try to copy the form or scan it. If you had, you would have found the watermark...

 

[spacedog30]

You didn't try to copy the form or scan it. If you had, you would have found the watermark...

I did not...and I won't with the second one, either.

I've been reading countless posts on this forum for about a year and a half now, and it's been the main source of pertinent and useful information for my wife and I for every part the whole process of just trying to be together. I read that the FBI letters were supposed to be tamper-proof, but nobody ever said HOW. This has been true for lots of specifics, which strikes me as funny since there is SO much help from nice people like you, computergeek, and others. I guess there's so much here it's hard to find some things by just searching.

SO..thank you yet again, and I'll be back with lots more questions, I'm sure. Especially about landing.

 

[computergeek]

SO..thank you yet again, and I'll be back with lots more questions, I'm sure. Especially about landing.

Landing is easy...

 

[cempjwi]

Good news for those waiting for FBI criminal check, we just received ours today Feb 1st. We mailed the fingerprints on Jan 4th. So the turn around was of about 4 to 5 weeks.

 

[Tashannon]

Good news for those waiting for FBI criminal check, we just received ours today Feb 1st. We mailed the fingerprints on Jan 4th. So the turn around was of about 4 to 5 weeks.

I'm kinda worried now, my hubby did his finger print thing in North Carolina but he didn't wait for than half n hr to get the paper it had a seal n stamp on it n he paid $30. N that's a background check. Did he send the wrong thing to immigration?

If it was wrong wouldn't they have sent me or him a letter by now? Our application was revived nov 14 2012. Sponsorship approval dec 17 n file was sent o Ottawa same day..... I'm a bit worried now

 

[OhCanadiana]

I'm kinda worried now, my hubby did his finger print thing in North Carolina but he didn't wait for than half n hr to get the paper it had a seal n stamp on it n he paid $30. N that's a background check. Did he send the wrong thing to immigration?

If it was wrong wouldn't they have sent me or him a letter by now? Our application was revived nov 14 2012. Sponsorship approval dec 17 n file was sent o Ottawa same day..... I'm a bit worried now

Sounds like he may have a state background check instead of an FBI one. Take a look at the instructions at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/north-america/united-states.asp

If he didn't get the FBI background check, submit it soon and once you get it back, mail it in to CPP-O proactively. That way the officer will hopefully have it by the time they review his file (or if they ask you for it beforehand, you can tell them it's on its way).