conflicting info on police cert-6 mos or 1 year
 

I read this, pasted below, which implies that a person does not need a police certificate for every country they have lived in for more than six months since age 16 but rather for those lived in for more than one year....(the six months are for different areas of your country of nationality). And, is 'different country' meaning 'different than your nationality'. Does "different locality" mean a different city etc? My husband lived in SO many places we are trying to narrow it down by being sure about the 6 mos vs 1 year...this was pasted from the state.travel.gov site. We are going to do DCF (through Sweden).

Police certificates
Police certificates are required for each visa applicant aged 16 years or older. The table below shows how many police certificates are required based on where each applicant lives and has lived previously. Present and former residents of the United States should NOT obtain any police certificates covering their residence in the U.S.

IF the applicant is living in their country of nationality at their current residence for more than 6 months
AND is 16 years old or older
THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

IF the applicant lived in a different part of their country of nationality for more than 6 months
AND was 16 years or older at that time
THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

IF the applicant lived in a different country for more than 12 months
AND was 16 years or older at that time
THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

IF the applicant was arrested for any reason, regardless of how long they lived there
AND was any age at that time
THEN the applicant needs a police certificate from the police authorities of that locality.

The police certificate must:

* Cover the entire period of the applicant’s residence in that area, and
* State what the appropriate police authorities records show concerning each applicant, including all arrests, the reason for the arrest(s), and the disposition of each case of which there is a record.

Note: Police certificates from certain countries are unavailable. More specific information is available from NVC or the nearest United States immigrant visa processing post.

Re: conflicting info on police cert-6 mos or 1 year
 

I remember these police certificate days, having lived in many different countries. The way I took it to mean - and it worked fine for us at my DCF interview was:

In your own national country, you need a police certificate for every individual locality that you have lived in for over 6 months. BIG HOWEVER HERE though, the UK only dishes out one police certificate for the whole country, so thats all you need. I believe, but Im not 100 percent sure, that all other European countries work this way.

Other countries outside your own national country - if you've lived there 12 months or more, you need a certificate. Best way to get them is through the local Embassy or Consulate of the countries you have lived in.

Best thing to do to be on the safe side is Email the US Embassy - although some of the staff there will probably be none too sure either!!! Good luck

Re: conflicting info on police cert-6 mos or 1 year
 

Do you know if this 12 month period has to be all together or in parts is also combined? My wife lived in Canada twice for 7 months each with a gap in he middle of 8 months or so, is that considered over 1 year (12 months?) or does it have to be a stay of 1 year together?

thanks

Re: conflicting info on police cert-6 mos or 1 year
 

It should be any country on the list that you have lived in (regardless of your nationality) if a police certificate can be obtained from them that you have resided in for one year or longer.

In the case of your wife, it wouldn't hurt to call the RCMP and get hers done just for prudence sake.

Re: conflicting info on police cert-6 mos or 1 year
 

The problem is that they are taking a really long time to do this, if its being done from a foreign consulate like 150 days!!! so I wanted to know if it could be avoided.

Re: conflicting info on police cert-6 mos or 1 year
 

The best thing to do, in my opinion, would be to order the police certificate now. If your interview comes up before you get the police certificate, and the officer asks for it, show proof that it's been ordered but is taking this amount of time. Either the officer will say OK never mind we don't need it, or he'll say OK, I'll give it time to appear and then return for the rest of your interview. But if you *don't* order it now, and it IS needed, you'll have lost all this time when you could have had it on order. :)

Rene