samills610

Hello all

Currently preparing my CR1 documentation to send off in a couple of months after my marriage, and I need to obtain 3 x Police clearance certificates, 1 of which is India where I spent 13 months living and working a few years ago and I cannot find much information of online.

I am trying to understand estimated timelines as well as wondering if I need to hand my passport over? From reading VFS Global (Can't post URLs unfortunately) I read that

This worries me that I therefore may need to hand over my passport? I was wondering if anybody has first hand experience? All I can find on this forum and others appears to relate to Indian Citizens and not Foreign Nationals who have spent some time in India.

Thank you

Former Lancastrian

One might assume that they need your passport to put the appropriate visa counterfoil into and can then return it to you.

S Folinsky

I find your post confusing.

Are you an Indian national? If not, are you currently residing outside of India? If you are living in India, why would your case be in London?

Clarification might be in order for someone to give you a clear answer.

BritInParis

This seems to address everything you need to do: India Visa Information - UK - Counsular Services - Police Clearance Certificate (PCC)

You will need to submit your original passport as well as self-attested photocopies of your bio-data page and your Indian visa and proof of residence in the UK. Your passport will be returned to you. The quoted processing time is 7-8 working days.

The application being made is for an Indian police clearance certificate in order to support a US CR1 visa application.

OP is a British citizen resident in the UK applying for a CR1 visa. He spent 13 months in India at some point in the past and therefore requires an Indian police clearance certificate.

Former Lancastrian

I know and once they have the Indian PCC don't they send off the passport to have the CR1 visa inserted?

BritInParis

The OP will need to submit his passport as part of his CR1 application but that's not the question being asked.

Twinkle0927

As per the NVC reciprocity table, if you are not an Indian National and no longer in India then a police certificate from India is not required.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...try/India.html

Indian police certificates are not available for foreign (non-Indian) nationals applying outside India.

samills610

Yep - for clarification I am a UKC about to marry a USC and start my CR1 process, I have a few weeks until our wedding and so am trying to prepare as much documentation as possible, including police certificates from a couple of countries, one of which is India where I spent time working in the past.

Thank you for the advice all - the Visa Reciprocity & Civil Documents does appear to suggest that police certificates are not available for non Indians who do not currently reside in India, though this is different from the document requirements at travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/collect-and-submit-forms-and-documents-to-the-nvc/step-5-collect-supporting-documents.html that states:

Though the following is also mentioned:

It is because it appears ot fall in to this grey-area that I was wondering if anybody has been in the same situation and can offer first hand experience.

In regards to the passport - I would have expected never to require handing my passport over to obtain a police certificate but the previously quoted requirements on VFS had text which would suggest you do need to hand it over.

Thank you all so far, this may require written confirmation from the US Consular office to maybe get a definitive answer and avoid any delays in obtaining my CR1 visa

Rete

Correct, BIP

He will take his passport with him to the CR-1 interview at the US Consulate which is the very last step in the CR-1 visa process. It is at this point that they retain his passport and will at some point within a week insert the IR visa and it will be returned to him via courier which he will prepay before the interview.

Before he even gets to the interview portion, he needs all his police clearance certificates so that he can give them to the Knightsbridge doctors for his visa medical. He cannot have the medical without the police certificates.

Rete

I would suggest that to save your sanity that you stop reading at:

It does not suggest ... it states. The paragraph you listed further on refers to what happens if a document is not obtained that is obtainable. Your Indian Police Compliance Certificate is not obtainable.

You have not asked for advice on the spousal visa. Are you currently working with an attorney? Are you doing this yourself? Is your fiancée, the USC, residing in the US while you are residing in the UK? If the first scenario, it is going to be a lengthy process. At this moment, approval of the I-130 stateside is taking from 9 to 12 months before it gets approved and then it needs to get to the US Consulate in London. I don't believe the police certificates can be more than a year old.

So you might want to do a little more research on timelines before applying for items that will be invalid by the time they are needed.

Even if you have retained an attorney, please feel free to ask questions here. I am going to have your thread moved to the marriage-based visa forum as that forum deals only with marriage based visas.

BTW welcome to BE and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

S Folinsky

Reread your link about general documentation. It specifically addresses when FAM says document unavailable. It is quite clear. Hence my confusion regarding your post.

The real bitch is when the FAM is out of date and says an unavailable document is available.

Twinkle0927

OP, I was in a similar situation, having lived and worked in India but not an Indian national. I can assure that it is not a gray area. The police certificates are unavailable for people in our situation. There are several countries for which they are not available. It's just the way other countries work.

I also want to make a correction to something else that was mentioned earlier. Police certificates from countries where you no longer live do not expire. So no problem with gathering police certificates from former countries at this stage. One of the police certificates that I submitted was 10 years old (I had obtained it 10 years previously as part of the application and vetting process to be a foster parent in the U.K.). The main thing is that you haven't lived in that country after the police certificate was issued. Here's the info from the NVC for reassurance:

Important: Police certificates expire after one year, unless the certificate was issued from your country of previous residence and you have not returned there since the police certificate was issued.

samills610

That is great, thank you. I initially hadn't found the section to say that it's an unavailable document, but happy to hear it isn't not require - that's 1 thing less to worry about, and I really did want to avoid any dealings where possible with the Indian bureaucratic system!

Thank you for the welcome and for moving the post. I have spent the last few weeks silently browsing BE to try and build up my knowledge as much as possible ahead of submission later this year. I am not using an attorney - my partner resides with me in the UK and therefore we will be going via the DCF route. I am also aware of the timelines and am only starting the preparation now to ensure (fingers crossed) a smooth application as possible.

That's a new acronym I hadn't come across (but assume it's the required documentation) - FAM?

Thanks all

S Folinsky

FAM = Foreign Affairs Manual

Although it is an acronym, it is used in the system of legal citation used in the United States.

S Folinsky

For those who might research in the FAM, volume 9 covers visas. Do note that the FAM was reorganized not so long ago with a new numbering system. So, the on-line version has a "cross-walk" to advise where old citations may be found in the current version.