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Do police certificates need to be obtained in the last six months?

josh000

Registered Users (C)
I thought I recalled reading this on one of the official pages but can't seem to find it now.

Is this correct? That a police certificate obtained say 7 months before an interview is not valid? Even if you haven't been back to the country you obtained it from since obtaining it?
 
I thought I recalled reading this on one of the official pages but can't seem to find it now.

Is this correct? That a police certificate obtained say 7 months before an interview is not valid? Even if you haven't been back to the country you obtained it from since obtaining it?

I believe it must have been within 6 months before interview.

I have also read that it must be valid when entering the States. So, if you get it right before your interview, and you have tgo enter the US within 6 months, it would be best to get one just before interview.

Tight timelines.

Hopefully someone can clarify this.

Cheers

Q
 
You need to get the Police certificates about a month from your interview date. That way when you go for ur interview and get the visa you can still wait in your home country and travel after 4months and your Police Certificate will still be valid for travelling to the U.S.
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But if you get the Police certificate 5months before the interview date. That will mean you have to travel immediately once you get the Visa otherwise you may have to get another Police certificate if you wanna travel later.
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To get an idea just have a look at the older threads from 2009, 2010, 2011 and look at the signatures of those who went for interviews. Take note of the time they got their Police certificates before their interview dates and you will have a better understanding. And its not just Police certificates, also check out when they had their Medicals done and you will be on the safe side.
Goodluck!
 
I'm not worried about waiting as I am in Canada at the moment and will move to the US about a month after getting my visa.

It's just that I can't find information anywhere on the websites saying how current the police checks have to be?
 
I'm not worried about waiting as I am in Canada at the moment and will move to the US about a month after getting my visa.

It's just that I can't find information anywhere on the websites saying how current the police checks have to be?
I can confirm that a consular officer of the US Embassy in Brussels has told me during my interview that the police certificate cannot be older than 6 months (at the time of the interview). You are right that this is not mentioned on the website.
 
I can confirm that a consular officer of the US Embassy in Brussels has told me during my interview that the police certificate cannot be older than 6 months (at the time of the interview). You are right that this is not mentioned on the website.

I checked with the Sydney consulate on this, as I obtained my UK police report in August. My interview is in June! They clarified that as long as I had not been living back in the UK since the report was issued, it was fine. I double checked, told them I had been back and forth to the UK for a few days before leaving for good and heading for Australia. They confirmed again it should be fine.

I would check with the consulate where you are interviewing
 
So according to the embassy, my police checks obtained in August of last year are fine for my interview in June, as long as I have not been back to the countries the police checks were for, for a period longer than six months.

This is for the Montreal embassy, just posting in case it helps someone.
 
So according to the embassy, my police checks obtained in August of last year are fine for my interview in June, as long as I have not been back to the countries the police checks were for, for a period longer than six months.

This is for the Montreal embassy, just posting in case it helps someone.


Thanks for posting this Josh - that means my hubby (who is Canadian) won't have to get a new check; he hasn't lived in Canada for over 14 years now.

Q
 
Thanks for posting this Josh - that means my hubby (who is Canadian) won't have to get a new check; he hasn't lived in Canada for over 14 years now.

Q

Hey Qwerty, no problem, although I would advise still checking with the embassy in Aus in case they have different guidelines.
 
So according to the embassy, my police checks obtained in August of last year are fine for my interview in June, as long as I have not been back to the countries the police checks were for, for a period longer than six months.

This is for the Montreal embassy, just posting in case it helps someone.

Josh,

This means your DV visa entry period cannot go beyond August - 3 months at most instead of usual 6 months. I know because we got our police records in August as well and recently had interview and they would only give us visa valid until August because of the police records.
 
Josh,

This means your DV visa entry period cannot go beyond August - 3 months at most instead of usual 6 months. I know because we got our police records in August as well and recently had interview and they would only give us visa valid until August because of the police records.

Hmm, that is not a concern as I will be going in July at the latest.

All good :)
 
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