dmacdona820

Hi there

I am a USC living in London with my British husband. I have lived and worked in the UK for 3 years now and as a result we have filed our green card application through the embassy in London.

We received notification from the USCIS that my I-130 petition on my husband's behalf was approved as of 18 August. After calling the embassy this morning, I was informed that our DS forms, etc. should be with us any day from the US Consulate.

We consulted an immigration attorney at the beginning of this process just to go through some of the questions we had. After completing a similar process for my spousal visa and later my indefinite leave to remain in the UK, we felt pretty confident that we could complete this paperwork on our own for the most part.

My husband has been living back in the UK for 3 1/2 years now, but prior to that he lived in the US for nearly 8 years on multiple visas (J1, H1B, F1). One of the questions we had for the attorney was whether police certificates would be necessary for him from both the UK and the US. He told us that we would need them from the UK only which is inconsistent with some of the posts I've seen on this website.

Can anyone who has had a similiar situation to ours advise whether we should obtain police certificates from the US as well? Because we know our next packet is on the way we don't want to hold anything up from our end. We have been so proactive with all of this and got his UK police certificates weeks ago, so it will be a bit frustrating to hold up submitting our next forms while we wait for a US police certificate, since the only reason we didn't get it was because of legal advice that we paid for from an immigration attorney!

Thanks in advance for any insight/help.

YouWantFriesWithThat

Hi,

Read here about police certificates. http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new.../iv_15.html#pc

It says: "Present and former residents of the United States should NOT obtain any police certificates covering their residence in the U.S".

Note it says residents and not USCs - so I would say that he doesn't need one. Probably on the basis that the US authorities will conduct their own checks that would have been done for a police certificate i.e. it's their own information. They need police certs for other countries because the US can't always do the checks necessary with access to a foreign government's police data.

That's my take on it - you'll have to have it confirmed but it looks like a not needed to me.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

No, you do not need police clearances from the US. It is possible to obtain a rap sheet from the FBI. However, this information is readily available to all agencies of the United States Government which need the information. The Department of State is part of the United States Government last time I looked. However, Congress has set forth priorities, and weapons purchasers come ahead of non-citizens wanting to come to the United States.

lella

No he doesn't need one from the U.S. I was in the states for a year and am now applying for the CR1 in London.
I called the embassy and they told me that I do not need one from the states only the U.K .

dmacdona820

Thanks everyone! Was having a momentary panic, but what would this whole fun-filled process be like without those!

jeffreyhy

dmd,

Point of clarification - you have not filed a "green card application", although if the process that you have embarked on comes to a successful conclusion your husband will be sent a green card.

Regards, JEff