[Howie]

We have submitted our ITA but are just waiting for our criminal record check to come back from Canada. We sent it in about 6 weeks ago, so we just called to see where it's at. The message on their machine says it's currently taking 150 days to process checks. If we receive job offers, we were hoping to move in February. But it sounds like we won't get our RCMP check back until April!!!! Are we hooped??

[Rob K]

Hi Howie,

We've been through the exact same thing as you, during this past year. You need help, and I'll try to provide some here.

We moved from Canada a year ago. I got my RCMP check done in Canada, which took only about 10 days, no problem. My wife, however, didn't need one right away so she didn't request hers until we were here in NZ.

Like you, we were told that this would take a minimum of 150 days, and it held up our entire Residency application for months.

Basically, there is no good reason for this. A criminal record check takes a few seconds to produce (at least if you're not a criminal), and perhaps a few minutes to pop into the mail. However, the RCMP will likely tell you (as they told me) that they are so overworked, backlogged, etc, that as a result they must take 150+ days to process your simple request.

(By the way, my wife also needed to get a police check from France at the same time. She was able to request it online, it was free, and she received it 1 week later.)

So, what you must do, I'm afraid, is take matters into your own hands.

The simplest thing for you to do might be to make a little road trip to the nearest RCMP/Police station in Canada. While this might cost you a day or 2 of your time, it could save months down the road.

Otherwise, you could do what I did, which was to call the RCMP and be very, very assertive about the situation. Basically, you may need to keep asking for higher and higher-up supervisors, until finally someone will break down and just process your bloody file on the spot, because they realize how ridiculous their reasons for the delay are.

Whatever you do, don't do nothing, because that will only guarantee that the RCMP will do likewise. If you need this police check asap, then you've got to work for it...

Good luck, and pm me if you need any help or moral support.

Cheers,

Rob

[Wooba]

I'm curious, do you have to get your record check through the RCMP? I did it once through a regional police force and it didn't take more than a few days..

[Rob K]

Hi Wooba,

I got my police check by going into the Nelson City Police station, in Nelson, BC. It's not an RCMP station. Perhaps that's what made the process much shorter.

However, when you apply from outside Canada, I recall that the NZIS forms ask specifically for a check to be done by the RCMP. I don't know if there's any way to get a local, non-RCMP police station to do a criminal check for you when you're outside the country.

Cheers,

Rob

[Howie]

THanks so much for the advice. My sister actually has lot of friends who are police officers in Canada (but none RCMP). She said they could do a check for me easy, but it's just a name check, not a fingerprint check. I'm only about 6 hours from the Canadian border, so if I can get it done from the RCMP in person, maybe that's my best option.
Thanks again,
I'll let you know how things work out.
Susan