gdas

My wife is an Indian and currently lives in India. However, she lived in the UK for about 8 months in the past. For an immigration visa, does she need to submit a Police Certificate from UK ?

According to the following US Embassy site for New Delhi, she is not required to submit a police certificate from UK. It states that a person must live 12 months or more in a country and then he/she is required to submit a police certificate from that country. This statement is on the 5th row in the box.

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/wwwhconsuivv.html


However, according to the following State Deaprtment site, she is required to submit it. Scroll down to "Police Record" on that page.

http://travel.state.gov/reciprocity/...ed_Kingdom.htm

Given these two contradictory information, what should she do ?

My second question is - if she has to submit a police certificate from UK, how does she go about obtaining one from UK ? She lives in India and it is not feasible for her to visit UK for this purpose. Has anyone living outside of UK obtained a police certificate from there ? If yes, what is the procedure ?

Thanks in Advance.

mpd131

This link might have some useful information for you:

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web...faq_pc.htm#two

I am sure that you do not have to present in the UK in order to obtain a police certificate. But I am not sure whether or not your wife needs one.

sibsie

I lived outside the UK when I was going through the K1. You can download the form from the Met Police site (google for it) and then send it in.

The annoying thing is that they will only accept a sterling cheque and are very stringent on the ID required.

gdas

Thanks Mala and Sibsie for your response.

OK - I got a copy of the form from Met Police site. Couple of other questions -

1. How do I pay them in Sterling pounds ? I can possibly get a cashier's check from USA for the equivalent amount. But that does not seem to be acceptable to them. I do not know anyone in UK who can write a check for me. So, what are the options I have ?

2. My wife's name changed after marriage and she just got her renewed passport with the changed name. But she lived in the UK before her name changed. So, obviously Met police may not accept her passport as an ID because it has a different name. However, her bank statements still have her original name. Can she send her bank statement as an ID ?

3. Doesn't the applicant need to provide the address in UK where she lived - on the application form ? Surprisingly, I did not see that anywhere on the form.

Following is the link for the application form for UK police certificate. I got it from the Met police site and am assuming that this is the right form.

http://www.met.police.uk/dataprotection/forms/3019b.pdf

sibsie

It does have to be Sterling not the foreign currency equivilant. Maybe your bank can work something out? Perhaps they have a banking arrangement with a bank in the UK and do something.

She needs to supply ID for whatever name she currently uses, then just put her maiden name down on the relevant part of the form.

Yes they do ask for it. It's in bold and asks for all addresses in the last 10 years to be listed on a separate sheet.

CaliforniaBride

I used the Met forms. I went to a currency exchange bureau. They issued a cheque for the amount in sterling drawn, I think, from HSBC bank. They charged me something like $20 for the cheque. Expensive but easy.

CalgaryAMC

I applied for one from Canada. I called Greater Manchester Police on the phone and they emailed the form to me. I was absolutely amazed at how obliging they were.

I went to my bank in Canada and they were able to give me a UK certified cheque. It is actually an American Express cheque of some sort and along with whatever the £10.00 cost in Canadian dollars, they also charged a $5.00 fee.

The ID requirements were onerous and did involve me having to pay my lawyer to notarize some documents along with getting my doctor to confirm that he had known me for the required time.

cindyabs

Think you could get an American Express Traveler's cheque -they do sterling ones.