EssexNobby

Arrrgh !, excuse me while I vent my frustration

I have just been told by my agent that 9 months after lodging with DIMIA, we have received a request for FBI/US Police Checks.

Apparently requesting this check is par for the course for anyone who has worked/lived in the US for more than 1 year during the past 10 years.

I worked in the US on a 1 year contract (exactly 1 year - the type of visa that I was on would only allow me to be there for a single year) back in 1994/95 - 9 years ago.

I now need to prove that I was only there for 1 year so that I don't have the extra cost and length delay of applying to the FBI for a police check.

The problem now is that my passport has a stamp in in that shows the date that I arrived in the US (it's stamped at US immigration) but doesn't have a stamp in it that shows when I returned to the UK because passports don't get stamped at UK immigration for UK residents.

How on earth can I prove that I returned to the UK exactly 1 year after I left for the US ?

I'm scratching my head furiously here !

and while I'm on my soapbox..., we lodged back in October of 2003. Why has it taken 9 months before we have been asked for this ?. What has been going on for the past 9 months ?. It's even more worrying as we only have 6 months left before our police checks and medicals become 1 year old and therefore expire :scared:

Help !, has anyone had this problem before ?

mlbonner

Sorry if this doesnt help a lot, but is it not just easier to get the check done?? A lot of people were asked for OZ checks after being there for 11 months on a WHV. Seems to be inconsistent as to who does/who doesn't get asked.
I was in OZ for just over a year and didnt get asked, got my check done anyway though... it arrived yesterday... I got my visa 3 weeks ago!!

JackTheLad

The US police check isn't that complicated and it takes about 5-6 weeks. Here's a related thread:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=236088

Good luck!

Mrs JTL

JackTheLad

Just another thought. Did you frontload your police and medical checks on the advice of your agent? If so, I think it's your agent's at fault to not have asked you to get US police check at the same time you were getting police checks for UK and other places you have entered on your application form.

The DIMIA guideline regarding character checks is:
(http://www.immi.gov.au/faq/general/general04.htm)

"In order for the Australian government to determine whether you are of good character, you may be asked to provide penal clearance certificates for each country you have resided in for 12 months or more over the last 10 years."

Note it's not more than 12 months as you might have assumed/been told.

The request from DIMIA is standard procedure. We didn't frontload our police and medical checks, and only got requested by DIMIA 8-9 months after our application was first lodged. The timing of your final approval isn't going to be affected much anyway.

Hope that clarifies things a bit for you. Sorry I can't be more helpful in easing your frustration - but do take your frustration out at your agent, not DIMIA.

Cheers,
Mrs JTL

Peter

My wife's US PCC took 7 weeks exactly to get back and we live in the US.

saraliz

This page: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.html details how to get the FBI checks. Mine took just under 7 weeks (from the date of posting in the UK) to arrive, back in April.

Incidently, I only had my police reports & medicals requested 10 months after submitting my application - the time it takes can vary tremendously!

EssexNobby

Thanks everyone, there's some good advice been given. I think that I will kick-start the FBI checks now anyway, especially as they are only $18 each. I can get a head-start ont he 7/8 week turnaround time then.

Thanks for the links too, they've been a great help.

Once again this forum has helped me out of a hole !

Now if only my agent could be as useful as the people on this forum

Wol

Looks like another case where an agent has made life difficult. If you'd been doing it yourself you would no doubt, like most of the others here, have crosschecked and double checked every last detail in good time.

EssexNobby

Hi again, I'm hoping that someone can help me with this, kinda hoping that Rog Williams is around as I know that he's been through this already.

I've just spent a few hours at my local police station and finally managed to get a set of fingerprints done on the official FBI fingerprint form and certified by the fingerprint officer.

I'm now ready to send these to the FBI in West Viriginia but have a couple of problems :-

1. Where can I get a money order made payable to the "Treasury of the US" for $18 to include as the processing fee ?. Can a bank do this for me ?

2. What type of service can I use that would allow me to courier the documents to the FBI office and include a paid return envelope so that they can send them back to me via courier ?. I've look on the UPS and FedEx sites but can't see this service mentioned anywhere ?

Can anyone help ?

Thanks....

JackTheLad

Yes, you can get a bankdraft/money order from your bank. The charges vary a lot (£7-20) and you'll find that the service charge you're paying the bank might be higher than the value of bankdraft. Here's a thread with information on the topic:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=237830

I used Royal Mail's recorded delivery to send my fingerprints, etc, to the FBI without a paid return envelope, and received the rap sheet 6 weeks after I sent the request. Paid return envelope is not required and I haven't heard anyone from the forum having their rap sheet lost in the mail. If you really want to track the mail sent from the FBI, you would probably have to ask if they could arrange it for extra charge. You can send them questions at "[email protected]". (see http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/faqs.html)

Even if you were able to set up an account with UPS/FedEx to repay for the return envelope, the FBI may or may not be able to accomodate your request as they probably process too many rap sheet requests everyday to justify making exception for you.

Good luck with everything.

Cheers,
Mrs JTL

Wol

Yes, I'm here!

The bank draft is probably the best way to go if you haven't a US bank account.

We used UPS quite a lot to send all the docs around the planet - they were quite reliable. I can't remember about the requirement or otherwise for return postage since we did the dabs in Brighton just before leaving for the States, and gave our Florida address as the return address. The results (or otherwise....!) arrived there in a yellow envelope with a stern instruction NOT to use the envelope for anything else on pain of death.

Might be worth phoning Clarksburg and asking, though. The Americans are pretty hazy on balance about the existence of the rest of the world and do tend to stick domestic postage on the envelopes - probably on the grounds that if it's not in the US of A it doesn't really count anyway. And the US post office often, helpfully, just bins underpaid mail.

roiboit

Hey let's not exagerate!!!!
I just received our FBI checks yesterday (7 1/2 weeks including post to europe) and yes they had the correct postage. In fact I had even gone to the trouble of having someone in the states send me the correct stamps so I could send a self-addressed envelope and they did not even use it (sent it back with the one of the checks, which by the way were sent in separate envelopes).

Also, on the information sheet the FBI sent when I originally requested fingerprint cards it states:

"If you would like your response returned to you by a special courier (FEDEX etc.) you must contact the courier, prepay for delivery, and when necessar, provide the account number to us."

so it seems this should not cause a big problem if you really want to go the courrier route.

good luck!
roiboit

EssexNobby

Once again , thanks everyone for the advice.

I've just contacted Lloyds Bank and they are going to charge a £10 processing fee for an $18 International Draft and they will take 3 days to get it ready. I will need one of these each for me and the missus so that's £10 + £10 + $18 + $18 = approx £45, ouch...!

I've also contacted FedEx and they are going to charge £29.71 for 3 day delivery to the FBI office in West Virginia.

Getting these fingerprints sorted out is proving to be a bit expensive. At least the local police station didn't charge me yesterday for getting the actual prints taken

roiboit

Wait!!!!
Before you pay to have 2 separate drafts - you do not need to!

I sent my and my husband's request and fingerprint cards together with one check for $US36.00 and everything was fine!

They send them back to you separatly but you can request and pay for them together!

roiboit

EssexNobby

Damn, I've just got back from Lloyds Bank and managed to fill out the two forms for international draft's !

Thanks anyway Roboit, would have saved me quite a few pennies I imagine

and now the wait starts. 1 week for the international draft and then enother 7-8 weeks for the FBI results.

The whole migration process certainly gives you plenty of experience in waiting !