Is FBI Report Good Enough for Police Certificate?

Express Entry
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Hi Everyone,

This may be a dumb question but I’m getting very confused here. Is the FBI criminal history report good enough for EE or do we need that PLUS a Police Certificate from local police department?

Thanks!

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The FBI ID History report is the only one that is needed for Express Entry. Also some good news here, traditionally this was a slow offline process but now its electronic and quite fast. More details on the linked thread.

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You need a police clearance from EVERY country where you have lived for more than 6 months. For e.g., for me it is India (PCC from consulate/local police stations) and USA (FBI clearance).

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Thank you for the clearification!

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Thanks Anshul. I understand that part but my confusion was if we need to get the report from both FBI and local police department. clarified that we only need the one from FBI.

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I think I might have misunderstood your question. @avj is correct when he says you need a police clearance from every place you’ve lived for more than 6 months. When you said “local” I imagined you meant the US.

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Hello
Me and my husband might travel to India in November. We are applying for FBI PCC online in a day or two. Hopefully, we will receive it soon. In this case, do we need to get a new PCC from FBI once we return from India in December?

Also, given the fast processing of PCC through the online mode, is it advisable to get the PCC as early as now? (We have not created our EE profile yet).

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You need a police certificate from every country you have lived in for more than 6 months in the last 10 years.

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Validity of FBI PCC is 1 year so if you plan on submitting it within a few months, you can get it now. It would however be advisable to get it closer to your ITA. You don’t need to get the PCC done again after a trip outside the US.

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So, I applied for FBI EDO last week and sent in my fingerprints by post on Friday. Believe it or not, Monday, that is yesterday, the FBI Report was in my Inbox!

I have been living in the US now for 12 years and visit my country of citizenship (India) only on vacation.

The question I have - and it is because of the language of the Report which says “This does not preclude further criminal history at the state or local level” - is:

Do I need any other certificate from my local police station in San Francisco or the State of California or is the FBI Report all that is required?

I am aware that this question was answered at the beginning of this thread, but just want to make sure that there is no misunderstanding on my part.

Thanks

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You just need the FBI report.

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Sorry, I have one more question. As mentioned earlier, I have been living in the US now for 12 years and visit my country of citizenship (India) only on vacation.

This question perhaps belongs in a different thread and it has to do with the need for getting a PCC other than from FBI, since I have not lived in any country other than USA for “6 months or more in a row”.

The EE website says you need a PCC for "every country you (or a family member) stayed in during the last 10 years for 6 months or more in a row

Though, people on some threads have been saying that if you live somewhere for 2 months and then go back after some time for 4 months, you have to submit a PCC for that country. I am not sure if that is the correct interpretation. My interpretation of those words “6 months or more IN A ROW” is living without a break or at a stretch.

In my case, I have visited India a total of 225 days over the last 10 years and NEVER more than 30 days at a stretch in a single visit.

My question is “Do I need a PCC from India?” under such circumstances.

Similarly, I was in Germany for a total of 138 days over a 183 day (precisely 6 months) period with no single stretch exceeding 80 days.

In fact, in those 6 months, I was in Germany for exactly

  1. 27 days (went out for 3 days)
  2. 26 days (out again for 2 days)
  3. 5 days (out for 2 days)
  4. 3 days (out for 38 days) and finally again in Germany for
  5. 77 days.

Would this qualify for “6 months or more in a row” criteria requiring me to get a PCC from Germany?

Any help and clarification would be really helpful.

Thanks

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Since it mentions 6 months in a row, you most likely would not need to provide PCC for the other countries. It would however be a good idea to check the wait times and procedures for Indian and German PCCs close to where you stay just in case CIC asks you to provide these after you receive your ITA.

Check Example C on this page:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/apply-permanent-residence/police-certificates.html

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What is the problem in getting PCC from India and Germany if it is equal to 6 months or more total in each?
When you are spending so much money then spend little more to be safe… and i assume you have sufficient time to get the PCCs… Not sure if you already got ITA… if yes then you have 60 days from ITA… if not then if you have good score then you can get ITA in any draw after waiting for some days or weeks…

as it clearly says although application form does not ask pcc but later officer can ask a pcc in such a case… and to avoid delays that page shared above says to submit such PCCs even with application…

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These days getting PCC from SF embassy is taking a month or so (according to atleast one person on this forum and another one I know personally). Which means out of 60 days the passport is already not in your possession for 30 days. If another country needs your passport for as long, this means essentially you have to do everything else without the passport. What if you needed to re-scan and upload a page of it? I think @earthyfool 's question is valid.

Based on what I have read, CIC/IRCC officers rarely ask for PCC for places you have not lived for 6 months in a row. If you have lived somewhere for more than 6 months you are supposed to submit one for that place anyway. However, the only way IRCC officers can determine that is based on your travel history that you have to add. We don’t know what they see on their end but the system may flag an applicant who’s lived somewhere for more than, say 5 months, and not submitted PCC, in which case they may contant you.

That being said, I would start looking at Germany-specific procedure for getting their PCC. A quick google search gave me: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/medical-police/police-certificates/how/germany.html
Apparently you don’t have to submit passport so I would go ahead and get it done. In fact, if you do get it I would just submit it anyway in LoE.

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Hi Anshul, Quick question. I went Personally to SF Embassy. They just saw my originals and gave it back - They did not take it, all they took was copies of all the originals. Is this correct or did I miss anything?

Thank you,

Best regards,
Kapil Chandra

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They need originals just for verifying copies. For people who don’t want their passport stuck at the embassy I would recommend going personally to your closest embassy.

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By taking originals they notarize your photocopies on the spot thus the green pen sign on the copies.

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Atlanta Consulate said that if doesn’t matter whether you go in person or mail them the documents, they will keep the passport with them.

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Oh ok, I didn’t know that. Doesn’t make sense though.