Road To Canada Forums

I suspect my husband will be asked to provide an RCMP background check in the future, due to the amount of time he has spent in Canada (less than 6 months, but pretty close). On the RCMP website, it describes how to go about obtaining a "Certified Criminal Record Verification" -- Is that another word for RCMP background check? Is this the process we'd need to follow?

If Buffalo receives your application, and does request an RCMP check, I heard that if you get then through an electronic agency, it only takes a few weeks as opposed to few months? Someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong, but I read it in TPSmitty's timeline thread and apparently it was done and received by Buffalo in a few weeks.
So if it were me, I'd say just wait until they ask, and they may not even ask.

If I had to guess I'd say they probably won't ask for fingerprints.

That said, if they do it's potentially a big delay, so if you want to avoid that possibility, you can go ahead and get the RCMP check done, and send it off to Buffalo when it arrives. If they don't need it, it won't hurt that you sent it anyway.

It's this process:

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/crimrec/finger2_e.htm

Mine took a while to come back - 14 weeks.

http://www.roadtocanada.com/forums/showt...php?t=3001

Matthew

matthewc Wrote:If I had to guess I'd say they probably won't ask for fingerprints.

That said, if they do it's potentially a big delay, so if you want to avoid that possibility, you can go ahead and get the RCMP check done, and send it off to Buffalo when it arrives. If they don't need it, it won't hurt that you sent it anyway.

It's this process:

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/crimrec/finger2_e.htm

Mine took a while to come back - 14 weeks.

http://www.roadtocanada.com/forums/showt...php?t=3001

Matthew

Matthew,

So getting fingerprints done electronically for the check (and having them come back in a few weeks) isn't the same thing as Blues asked? I'm sorry, just a bit confused, and would appreciate any info, because I am sort of in the same situation -- wondering if Buffalo will ask me for an RCMP check since before I applied, I visited Canada over the past year for more than six months.

Thanks!

matthewc Wrote:If I had to guess I'd say they probably won't ask for fingerprints.

Errg, I dono Matthew. My hubster was here 146 days. It was a 9 days shy of six months.

In the guide for OUTLAND applications, it says:

"Certain police authorities have special procedures for obtaining police certificates/clearances. They are the RCMP and the Royal Hong Kong Police. Do not request a police certificate from Hong Kong or Canada until you are requested to do so by a visa office. Further intructions on obtaining a police certificate of no record from these authorities will be sent to you along with an assessment letter from the Regional Program Centre (Buffalo)"

So here I am kind of answering my own question. I'd like to know more about those electronic fingerprinting places. What's the deal with that?

[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica]I posted this in another immigration FAQ thread, but it seems relevant to this thread. It took less than 2 weeks for the clearance to be mailed from the RCMP in Ottawa to Buffalo. So, within 3 weeks from submitting the fingerprints electronically, the clearance arrived in Buffalo[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica] (Oct 23rd according to CAIPS)[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica]. It was actually my husband's clearance that they needed. He has a very common name, and a criminal record showed when they conducted our name checks. The clearance verified the record was not his.

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Asked to submit the RCMP clearance (PCC for Canada)?

The RCMP accepts digital prints, so the response time has been greatly reduced. The turnaround time for our case was 1 week. Their goal is 72 hours. (Unfortunately, the FBI cannot accept digital prints at this time.)

These are providers of digital fingerprinting in Canada:

1) International Fingerprinting Services http://www.policecheck.com
Their locations which offer digital fingerprinting: http://www.l1id.com/index.php?option=com...Itemid=353

2) Commissionaires http://www.commissionaires.ca/services/f...nting.html

- Bring photo ID and letter requesting RCMP check (to have your immigration file number with you and to stop them from asking if you need more prints taken - “No, we don’t need the FBI or state checks.”)

- Your fingerprints will be captured electronically and immediately submitted to RCMP. No need for you to mail them.

- Your picture will be taken and included with your ten-print.

- You get a copy of your prints and picture as a receipt. Verify all your information is correct.

- We were told we would be notified by email when it’s mailed, but we weren’t.

- The turnaround time is anywhere from a few days to 3 weeks, according to the technician.

On Oct 3, we submitted fingerprints through International Fingerprinting Services in Montreal. They charge $35, no appointment necessary. After 2 weeks of no notification, I sent an email to the RCMP RTID Project asking for their current response time and gave our details. On Oct 21, I received an email that the clearance was mailed on Oct 10 to the Buffalo CIC.

From the RCMP email:
“Submissions that are sent that do not result in a hit to a criminal
file are processed in 72 hours (in the mail within 72 hours). Those that
result in a hit to a criminal file whether submitted electronically or
on paper are processed as best effort.

The RCMP is currently working on stabilizing the civil environment and
as such, we are not meeting our turnaround time of 72 hours for "no
hits" in all cases.”[/FONT]

Hmm that sounds like a good deal! Is there anywhere to get electronic prints done in the US?

Unfortunately you can't submit digital prints from the US. The scanners used have to be certified by the RCMP, and they've only done that within Canada.

SerenityNow2008 Wrote:Unfortunately you can't submit digital prints from the US. The scanners used have to be certified by the RCMP, and they've only done that within Canada.

Doosh. Well, paper for us...

Thanks everyone for your input!

OH! I just thought of something! You know how people are encouraged to put a "due date" on their FBI check requests? Has anyone tried that for requesting an RCMP check???

Lovesick Blues Wrote:Doosh. Well, paper for us...

Thanks everyone for your input!

OH! I just thought of something! You know how people are encouraged to put a "due date" on their FBI check requests? Has anyone tried that for requesting an RCMP check???

Sort of. We put "NEEDED ASAP FOR IMMIGRATION PURPOSES" on our request (this was a few months before they started offering checks electronically) and Buffalo received them about 2 months after we sent them, if I recall correctly (check my signature for exact dates).

I had been in Canada for well over a year and filed with Buffalo - they did an RCMP name check and it came back negative. I have heard of people who've been asked to do a fingerprint check, but it seems that's after a name check comes back with a potential match (i.e. a common name, etc.) If you want to be prepared, send a request for an RCMP check (they're free, you only pay for the local fingerprinting service) and have them return the results to you. Then, if CIC requests the clearance, you'll have it ready to send to them.

I got my RCMP fingerprint checks done along with the Police CLearance, both from Commissionaires. I figured rather than CIC asking for them later on, save them the trouble and time and include them myself. But i had them mailed to me and included them with the application package.
Took a few weeks to get them by mail.

My husband does have a common first and last name. However, he does also have a middle name. When CIC does their name checks, does anyone know if they check only first and last names, or do they include a middle name? I'm hoping if they search for all P. A. W.'s instead of just the P.W.'s so there's less of a chance they'll hit on a bad guy with the exact same name as my husband and we won't have to go through the arse pain of getting prints done.

Also, if there is a match to a criminal record in their files, wouldn't it make sense to compare the ages, ethnicity, and physical features of the criminal on file and the potential immigrant before immediately asking us to submit fingerprints? Criminal databases surely do not consist only of names of people. There must be more information such as what I suggested on the file, too (a mug shot? HELLO?). I just can't believe they'd raise alarm bells for my husband just because a 67 year old black guy born in B.C. who was arrested once in Nunavut has the same name. They're pretty obviously not the same person. A mere "name hit" seems like the most arbitrary thing to have us delay our processing by getting prints done for them, just so they're absolutely suuuure that 67 yr old black P.W. and 27 yr old white P.W. aren't the same guy.


Aside: Don't pay your taxes, though, and they know EXACTLY who you are then, huh? No need for fingerprints there...

its the government, never assume they know what they're doing ;)