Permie

Does anyone know if I can use a UK police check ACPO certificate (as required by the US for a Visa/Work Permit Application) as a document showing good character for a Temporary Resident Visa in Argentina? Or will the consular demand a standard Subject Access Request (PNC Check).

Thx...

MichelleAlison

I got the regular PNC checks done via the post, whilst I was already in Argentina, but after all the work of getting the police checks done and translated here etc. I was informed that British people do not need police checks as we do not have Federal law!!!!

Permie

Thanks Michelle! Maybe I'll chance my arm with the APCO certifcate then :-D

elhombresinnombre

As Michelle has already said, you don't need any police check at all. Don't waste your money on getting unnecessary paperwork. If, as I am presuming, as well as living in the UK, you are also a British citizen you don't need it.

Permie

Yes, I am in the UK and soon to be in Buenos Aires! I had also emailed the Consulate before Michelle's response and this they confirmed the great advice:

"UK police records are no longer required for visa applications.

Kind regards,

Argentine Consulate General in London"


Thak you both!

geoffreybrooks

I am presently applying for residence based on having Argentine family. Under Argentine Law find it is necessary for an applicant to produce a document of police antecedents beyond Argentine borders if one has not been permanently present in Argentina for the last five years. Why there should be a distinction between an applicant for a visa and residence I do not understasnd.

MichelleAlison

British Citizens "DO NOT NEED" police checks to apply for residency in Argentina regardless of length of time in Argentina. Britain does not have a federal police state, which is why we don't need police checks.

British citizens do not need to apply for a visa, as one is automatically obtained on arrival at the airport in Buenos Aires.

I hope this clarifies the issues raised.

Happy Christmas from a sunny Argentina

Michelle

Geoffrey, it just crossed my mind, are you British or American? If you are American, the above does not apply to you, as Americans do need police checks from the state they are living in, or the last state they lived in.

geoffreybrooks

Dear Michelle

I am British. The Immigration authorities advised me that one is excused from supplying the European police antecedent requirement on applying for residence if one has not left Argentina during the last five years.

MichelleAlison

Hi Geofffrey and a very Merry Christmas!

Well, I do know when I attended at the Argentine Consulate in London some four years ago, they gave us wrong information. In the end, my family just arrived in Argentine on tourist visas and did all the paperwork here. I have to say, it was simple as I am married to an Argentine and quick, but it was quick because I don't live in Buenos Aires, hence there were no queues.

Regards

Michelle

Moonwitch

This is what I have done, arrived in Argentina on a tourist visa and I'm now in the process of applying for a work visa. So British citizens don't need a criminal record certificate? This is what the Argentina embassy in London told me but the migraciones department are telling me that I need one. Not really sure what to do as I'm unsure of what the criminal record certificate is even supposed to be.

elhombresinnombre

There are a number of things you can do, given that you are right and the person you spoke to is wrong.

Turn up again and see someone else. As in Britain, some officials understand what they are doing better than others.

Show them the information on the London Embassy website http://www.argentine-embassy-uk.org/...rkingvisa.html (unfortunately this section is not available in castellano)

Ask your sponsoring employer to assist you.

Ask a porteño friend to accompany you: your castellano may be brilliant but being local often helps.

Use an immigration lawyer. If your time is more valuable than your money they can be a big help but they won't do anything you can't do yourself if you have the patience and determination.

Moonwitch

Thanks for the response. Well apparently the lawyer of my sponsoring employer said I needed the criminal record certificate. I guess I will just have to get it.

geoffreybrooks

If the document of police antecedents from the country where you spent the last five years is Great Britain, you should go to the British Embassy and request it. There is a fee for this service. It takes from a week to a fortnight to obtain it. The document is a single sheet of paper saying "nothing known" unless of course something is known. You then have to have this document translated and legalized.

The document is required on the official pro-forma of requirements. Even if you convince an official that you do not need it for the technical reasons stated, the bureaucracy down the line may realize that it is absent and set you back a stage or two while you get it. In my opinion, best to obtain it now.

Moonwitch

Thanks for the reply. That is interesting because when I went to the British embassy they said they couldn´t (more like wouldn´t) help.

geoffreybrooks

Oh Gawd. When I asked in September, a consular official said the service was operating. However, not being British, she might not have quite understood what I was asking. She gave me an official brochure with useful addresses. The last of these was a website one can contact. Because Britain is not federal the idea is to sweep through the constabularies. This is obviously an expensive project and all the paperwork it engenders will be expensive to translate and legalize. I may have thrown the brochure away in disgust, but if not I will post the website here tomorrow.