CANADA: Police Clearance Certificates & Criminal Record Checks

Jun 9, 2020 | Global

Canadian immigration matters often require a police clearance certificate and/or RCMP criminal record check.  WR provides the following overview to familiarize clients with Global Affairs Canada’s request for these documents as well as necessary document procurement procedures.

Police clearance certificates are issued in Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal police service, and are commonly referred to as “RCMP criminal record checks.” Applications for RCMP checks for immigration purposes require fingerprints to be taken by a local police station in Canada, or by an accredited fingerprinting company inside or outside Canada. A list of accredited companies can be requested at CCRTIS-SCICTR@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. The fingerprints are then submitted to the RCMP’s Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services (CCRTIS) for searches of the National Repository of Criminal Records, and the RCMP issues a one-page criminal record check displaying the fingerprints, the person’s picture, the content of the repository, and the official RCMP dry seal.

The RCMP criminal record check may be submitted to Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, referred to as “Global Affairs Canada,” for authentication. Authentication is the certification of the genuineness of the RCMP’s seal so that the issued document may be recognized in another jurisdiction. Documents brought in person to Global Affairs Canada’s Authentication Office in Ottawa are processed on the spot, but may also be mailed in, or mailed to one of the Canadian consulates or embassies abroad that offer authentication services. In Canada this service is free of charge, but Canadian representations abroad may charge a fee. Because the government of Canada is not party to the Hague Apostille Convention, authentication by Global Affairs Canada is usually required before a foreign or Canadian document can be legalized by a foreign consulate or embassy.

A detailed process outline tailored to the type of document that requires authentication is on Global Affairs Canada’s website at https://bit.ly/2Qg5doc. As of this writing, the website includes a notice stating, “Due to the evolving situation regarding COVID-19, authentication services will be closed to the public until further notice. Our mail-in service will continue. Usual mail-in service standards may not apply.”

Related Posts:

CANADA: Parent/Grandparent Sponsorship Program

The number of overall planned permanent admissions to Canada for 2020 is 340,000 people (just under one percent of the population of Canada). Of the 340,000 Canada is planning to admit, 21,000 are in the parent and grandparent sponsorship category. On December 30, 2019, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that the parent/grandparent sponsorship program would not be opening in January 2020: “To ensure that [IRCC] has sufficient time to complete the development of a new intake process for the 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program, the reopening of the program will be postponed until Ministerial Instructions are issued.” It was also announced that the expression of interest to sponsor a parent/grandparent that will be launched in 2020 will give a fair chance to all interested sponsors. In 2019, IRCC was criticized as the expression of interest to sponsor filled up within seven minutes of its January 28, 2019, opening. It is anticipated that the 2020 expression of interest to sponsor a parent/grandparent will be on a lottery basis (with possible weight/advantage given to those who have previously attempted to sponsor a parent/grandparent). Until the new intake management process is implemented, IRCC will not accept any new applications. This will […]

TURKEY: Police Clearance Updates

Turkey In Turkey, police clearances (criminal background checks/records, Adli Sicil Kaydi) are issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office within the Ministry of Justice. This may be requested by the individual in person at the Prosecutor’s Office and is produced on demand immediately and affixed with a red seal for veracity. A police clearance is also available via an individual’s electronic government account, called an E-devlet account. The individual logs into the account with a personal passcode and can print this and other personal government documents such as birth certificates and address registration documents. Veracity of the online document is confirmed by a unique bar code at the bottom of the document. This bar code can then be confirmed online for legitimacy. The document can be generated in English as well. As Turkey is a signatory of the Apostille Convention, it will issue an apostille for this police clearance as long as it is destined for another apostille country. In January 2019, Turkey initiated an online apostille process for a few specific personal civil documents. Currently the process is applicable only to Turkish citizens and only for police clearances and court orders. The plan is to expand this to other documents, […]