Police Clearance or Police Certificates are one of the most important documents that you need to submit with your application. This provides a record of any criminal charges that have been laid against you in any country where you have previously lived.
Who should be getting them
You will need to get police certificates for yourself and your dependents (spouse and children who are 18 or above) from whichever country you have lived in for the last 10 years for at least 6 months in a row. Let’s say, you lived outside your country for 2 years continuously but in 8 different countries and all of those stays were under 6 months, then you don’t have to provide police certificates from those countries.
You don’t have to provide police certificates for the time when you were under 18. That means, for example, if you are 25, then you only have to provide certificates for the last 7 years. You also don’t have to provide police certificates for the time you spend in Canada.
How to get the police certificate
Each country has their own procedure for issuing police certificates and they may even have a different name for that. Check this page to find out how to get a certificate issued from your home country or wherever else you have lived.
Some countries issue police certificates only when they have a request letter from IRCC. In that case, while submitting your application, upload a document in the police certificate field in the document checklist that says: “I am applying from a country that requires an official request letter from IRCC to get a police certificate”. They will then review your application and send you more information on getting the police certificate.
When to get the police certificate
Ideally this should be your first priority when you get your ITA. Apply for it as soon as you can because the time it would take is not in your control. Check in advance how long does your local police or any other relevant authority take to issue the certificate. If they normally provide it in a week or two, then you can relax but if they take a month or more, then you must get going for it right away.
Some countries take very long to issue these certificates and there is a risk of not getting it before your application deadline. For example, we often hear of the FBI taking more than 4 months. That’s well past the application deadline. In such cases, it is advisable to apply even before you get your ITA.
There are certain differences between getting it from the country where you live currently vs a country where you lived in the past.
For the country where you currently live:
The police certificate must not be expired (if it has an expiry date) on the date you submit your application. Also, it should not be more than 6 months old when you submit your application.
If you feel that your CRS score is good and you will get an ITA soon and if your country takes very long to issue these certificates, then it’s good to get them in advance. Even if you get an ITA more than 6 months after the police certificate, that’s not a problem, just get another one issued.
For the country where you have lived in the past:
For those countries, the police certificate should be issued once you left the country after living for 6 months or longer in a row.
Let’s say you have been living in New Zealand for the last 2 years and before that you studied in France for 3 years. In that case, you can get a police certificate issued when you left France after finishing your studies. If you visited France again in these last 2 years but your stay was shorter than 6 months, then you don’t need a new police certificate from France.
If your police certificate has expired, even then it is okay to submit as long as it was issued after you left the country after staying for more than 6 months. So your 2 years old police certificate from France in the above example will still be valid. This rule, however, does not apply for the country where you are living currently. Your certificate from New Zealand should not be more than 6 months old and should not have expired.
What if you couldn’t get the police certificate on time
Sometimes things don’t always pan out the way we want them to be. You expected your police certificate to arrive in 3 weeks but now it’s 2 months already and you are still waiting for it with the application deadline looming over your head. If you happen to be in that fix, then you have two options:
Option 1 – Decline your ITA
If you decline it, you will still be considered for all upcoming draws and hopefully by the next draw, you would have the police certificate with you. But let me warn you in advance. Doing this has its own risks. The cut offs keep changing with every draw and if you are already on the edge, you may not get an ITA if the cut off scores increase in future draws. If your next birthday is coming soon, you will lose points on age if you are already 29 or older. You can take that risk if your CRS score is way above the recent cut off scores, but if it’s not, then go with the second option.
Option 2 – Provide proof that you applied for the police certificate
While submitting your application, write a letter of explanation mentioning why you couldn’t provide the police certificate. Also, include proofs that show that you made your best effort in getting the police certificate. For example, you can share a confirmation receipt or a tracking number, etc.
There is no guarantee that your application will be accepted but you still have a chance if the immigration officer is satisfied that you did what you could and it’s not your fault. If they are not satisfied, then your application can still be rejected. For example, if you submitted a proof that shows you applied for a police certificate just 5 days before your application deadline, then it means you did not do your best to get it on time.
So, once again, don’t end up in this situation and apply for all the police certificates as soon as you can or even before you get the ITA if your country takes a long time to provide them.