marcsred

Since I'm a new member, I'm not allowed to PM users, but a user named Campbell made a post years ago regarding this topic. My fiance is from Dundee, but currently lives in Perth, Western Australia. We need a copy of this certificate since we are applying for a K-1 Fiance Visa to be married in the States. Does anyone know how we can obtain one? Does he have to obtain it in person (which is impossible, since he does not live in Scotland anymore)? We need these certificates for all places he has lived since he was 16, so obviously Scotland is a major one. Finally, does this report cover his history in all areas of Scotland, or does he have to obtain one for each area/town that he lived in? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Pollyana

Are you talking about a police clearance certificate from Scotland or from Western Australia?
If its from Scotland, he needs to contact the Scottish Force area in which he last lived, and obtain a check under the Data Protection Act.
http://www.tayside.police.uk/foi_dataprot.php
For Australia he will need to contact the Australian Federal Police
http://www.afp.gov.au/business/national_police_checks

As he is applying for a visa to enter the USA I'll move this to the US forum, as there may be specific requirements for the FBI which Aus forum posters won't know about

marcsred

This definitely does not have anything to do with the FBI, so it need not be moved to the US forum (probably the worst place for it), but I also didn't think it really fit in Australia. Is there a Scotland forum?

I know how to get the one for Western Australia (which lists anything - or in his case, nothing - from all states of Australia, but I need to know how to get one from Scotland, which lists anything from ALL of Scotland. If this is not possible, I need to know how to go about getting one from each area of Scotland he has lived in.

Thanks for your response. I just don't know where this post should go. Perhaps people on here in the US forum will have dealt with this? I'm not sure, just need whatever help I can get.

Thanks again!

Pollyana

Its for a K-1, which is a visa for the US. Posters in the Aus forum will not know about the requirements for a K-1 (as indeed I don't).
If you follow the link I gave to the Tayside Police - who cover Dundee - then that will take you to the Data Protection form which you need for a Scottish Police check
It wasn't really clear from your original post which check you wanted, Scotland or Australia, hence I gave you the links for both.

AlanR

Eventually the FBI will be involved though! When you arrive in the US on your K-1, then after marriage you'll need to apply for AOS (adjustment of status) At this point the FBI name check will kick in! But as, has been hinted, the police certificate(s) are required for every country one has lived in (more than 12 months? Someone will correct me if I'm wrong!) from the age of 16. In England (yes, it's not Scotland I know!), I was able to do everything via the net and mail; took around 4 - 6 weeks. However, this was a long time back and things may have changed.

Pollyana

Should be possible to do the UK checks by email and snail-mail. If applying to Scotland, they can action the check for England and Wales at the same time, which can be very useful.

lofty79

You need a certificate that covers the whole of the UK, not just Scotland. Subject Access Statement is the name for what you're looking for.

All the info. you need is a available at http://www.met.police.uk/dataprotection/forms.htm#b

marcsred

I actually just need one for Scotland, since he never lived anywhere else in the UK for more than 3 months (or any period at all). Scotland gives you the option of ordering one that covers England and Wales, but as he never lived there, it is not necessary.

I'd visited that site earlier today, but was dissuaded by this:
Which is why I've been looking elsewhere and posting on this site.

Pollyana

Snag is that the Met form, to which that link leads, is only for former London residents, and covers England/Wales. If you have lived in Scotland, you need to get the Scottish police check - as on the Tayside police liknk in my first post. The Scottish form has an option you can tick whereby they not only produce your Scottish report, but they forward the request on to the Met to check the England/Wales records. So effectively you end up with two checks for the price of one

Polly
(former police record checker)

lofty79

Yeah sorry, you're correct. However I believe that the PNC check covers the whole of the Britain (but not NI) so only that box needs checking on the form. Although I guess there's no harm in getting both checks done if it costs the same.

I too live in Scotland and only needed the PNC certificate when applying for a tourist visa.

Pollyana

Technically, they should have asked you for the Scottish one as well, as not all Scottish offences are on the PNC - they rely on SCRO to report the offences to NSY in London, they cannot input directly. Some Scottish offences are on there, but its not ciomprehensive, unfortunately. Sounds like you got lucky

meauxna

We did this from outside the UK; start early since you'll be adding a little extra time for all the mailing back and forth.

These are the instructions regarding Scotland:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/recipro...dom.htm#Police

POLICE RECORD
Available. Immigrant visa applicants who have resided in the United Kingdom for six months or more since the age of sixteen are required to obtain a statement from the National Identification Service, Subject Access Office, Room 331, New Scotland Yard, Broadway, London SW1 OBG.

This statement will serve to advise the consular office whether or not any criminal conviction is held against the applicant. The National Identification Service does not accept applications from individual applicants; the request must be made through local police. By law, it can take up to 40 days to receive a response. The fee for this service is 10 British Pounds Sterling.

Persons resident outside the United Kingdom should write to the Data Processing Officer of the police authority where they last resided in the United Kingdom to obtain the appropriate application form. Residents of the United Kingdom should apply to their local police station where they may obtain the application form. When completing the application form, the applicable category is “Prosecution/Conviction History”. The local police (or data protection officer), will submit the application to the National Identification Service and the response to the application will be sent directly to the applicant.

Applicants are legally entitled to gain access to the information about themselves under Section 7 of the British Data Protection Act, 1998

-----

You may find instructions online, or need to call and ask them to email or fax you a form. You can make special arrangements regarding ID at that time too.


PS: Australia instructions also available from the link above (backtrack a bit) and here: http://canberra.usembassy.gov/consul.../iv/faq.html#i

What sort of police check do I need? Do I have to apply in each state?

The Australian police check must be done on the basis of a fingerprint check.

You do not have to apply from each state you’ve lived in unless you were born before 1941. In that case only, you will need to apply in each state where you have lived.

Application forms for police checks are available from your local police station.

ian-mstm

Why impossible? Inconvenient perhaps, to fly to Scotland to get one - which he probably doesn't need to do - but certainly *not* impossible.

Ian

Pollyana

Thanks for that. I had a feeling there would be extra bits for the US, and was almost sure fingerprints would be needed, which is why I moved it in here - something the OP seems to have disagreed with.

marcsred

Well, I'm 21, he's 26, and between all of this immigration stuff and looking at a transcontinental move, it would be impossible to swing the cost. We're a young couple just starting out, and almost died when we realized how much this immigration stuff will cost over the next few years. I know it's a small price to pay to get to be together, but when the funds aren't exactly rolling in, every extra expense seems like another blow.

You are very lucky to be in a position where jetting off to Scotland to obtain a document, then turning right back around to Australia wouldn't require months of saving.