[peebles16]

HI folks
trying to get all our info together for ITA when it appears. I can't remember if I have asked this question before but..

We spent some time in Africa nearly 10 years ago (1995-1998) and have applied for police checks but in all fairness doubt they will appear. We have asked employers at the time for letter of good conduct and have kept all info we sent to the embassy in question. Will that be enough if the police checks don't come through?? Our UK ones are fine.
Thanks

[IanW99]

Yep, you asked this question previously, see this thread:- http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12730

So does that thread answer your question?

Ian

[Mickstim]

If it was S Africa you lived in I can help as I used a courier company based in London who had someone personally wait for my clearance in Pretoria dn courier it back. Cost me about £160 but was very speedy and worth the money. I don't think they do anywhere else in Africa, but it may be worth asking.

Barb

[peebles16]

Thanks folks yes did post question before glad someone's on the ball Ian. What with full-time job, house on the market, immigrations stuff and oh yes 6yr old and 3 yr old to entertain this is getting too much for my weee brain to handle. Anyhow think we have all bases covered if they don't come through in time.

[suebeenz]

I had difficulty in obtaining a police report from Africa. I was given the run around on the required procedure to obtain one, getting a different answer each time called. I kept detailed report of my efforts, and photocopies of the bank drafts (i attempted to twice to get a report). I never did receive it, but submitted proof of my efforts, and they seemed to think it was fine.

I eventually did get an answer back from a police station, and turns out that they required that I send cash, instead of a money-order/bank draft. I doubt if that would have worked because the money would certainly have disappeared somewhere along the way. Every African country handles it quite differently I'm sure.

When it comes time for you to file, I'd recommend just calling your officer and explaining the situation.

Good luck!

[Greenday]

Hi there,

We have just been through the same thing, and got approval in principal last week!

It's simple. You MUST either have a police certificate for every country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the last 10 years, OR a statuary sworne declaration WITH evidence that you tried to get a certificate.

My wife had to get one from Malawi, UK and Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe one never came. So we contacted a Justice of the Peace. He came to us and gave us a template declaration. We changed the details to suite us and signed it. The Justice of The Peace man signed it, and stamped it. We sent it off, and 3 weeks later, no questions asked, we got approval in principal.

Hope that help? All the best.

[peebles16]

So bizarre it's Malawi that's holding us up but if your wife got it through maybe I'm just being paranoid - there's hope yet thanks greenday:)

[Greenday]

That is bizarre! Most people dont even know where Malawi is. I think the Malawi one was the quickest, and free. And what is also bizarre, is that the Zimbabwe one came through yesterday! We thought for sure that Mugabe would pocket that cash and we'd never see anything for it.

PM me if you need any other help or advice on the Malawi certificate or anything else.

[peebles16]

See now the free thing is worrying me cos your man in the malawi high commission in london said it was 50 US dollars but for both me and OH. Maybe worrying too much cos has only been a couple of weeks - fingers crossed just seems such a wee thing cos we came back in 1998!

[Greenday]

My OH had a family member who sorted it out in Malawi, so there may have been a cost, but we never saw it.

My advice is to not worry, and if you are looking at getting your visas soon, send off your application now, with a letter explaining you are waiting for a police certificate. They can be doing the initial checks and processing, and then most likely you get a letter asking for the police certificate, if it hasnt come by then just get a JP to sign and stamp a sworne declaration. Sweet as :nice1

[peebles16]

Just to update folks we got police checks from Malawi through today and had applied in August! At least they came but if anyone else is in similar situation I'd apply to get police checks from any 'unusual' destinations as soon as possible. Didn't hold up our application much but was a bit of a worry

Karen

[BkyMonster]

Just had a thought.
Does anyone know if police checks are necessary for countries that were visited as a member of another countries armed forces?
My husband spent about a year (just over or just under, I forget) in Korea while he was enlisted. I should get working on that now if he does need a police check. (Though he never had any type of visa or a passport or anything, just military ID...)
...regardless I'm thinking it was over 10 years ago so may not be an issue in any case.

[peebles16]

If it was over 10 years ago then I think you should be fine Becky

Cheers
Karen