I hate this!!! Police clearances requested! Pls. tell me next steps!

C

CrossHairs

Registered Users (C)
My wife had an interview date in Seattle for June 16th. She still (I think) has the same Interview date.

We received a letter for her from the USCIS office in SEATTLE (local DO letter), saying that:

USCIS seattle letter: Your fingerprints have been rejected two times by FBI. Pls. obtain police clearances from all jurisdictions where you lived for past 5 years. Submit within 30 days from date listed or your application will be denied for lack of prosecution
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First and second FP was done several, several months back and these people were sitting on it for a long, long time, and now close to her interview date, they sent this letter to her.

Ok, action items:
1. She needs clearance from California where she lived before, and also from our local place now (seattle suburbs).

2. For California, how do we go about getting the police clearance? (we dont reside in CA obviously, in seattle now!)

Please provide any suggestions or tips.

Also, I'm worried about the "Submit within 30 days from date listed or your application will be denied for lack of prosecution"

Will Police departments respond quickly? If not, should she send a letter to USCIS that she is working on obtaining this? Will Infopass help?
 
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I can see how annoying this can be, especially since it opens up a whole new front in her journey: now you guys have to deal with not one but two police departments, in addition to USCIS!

However, this is standard procedure if someone's FP gets rejected twice. Look at it this way: she's lucky to have got this letter in advance of her interview. I have read of a case where a person was told to get police clearance by the IO during his naturalization interview! That must have been a shock.

Get a police clearance ASAP from where you currently live. Show them the USCIS letter. I think it's going to be a short, standard format letter that the police will issue saying that your wife does not figure in any police/criminal records, or something to that effect. In parallel, contact the police dept of the place where she lived in CA. This may need some web searches and phone calls to that police dept. See if you have any friends in CA who could help out. I would think 10-12 business days would suffice to get the clearance, including mailing time for the CA one.

Please check out the below link (San Jose, CA PD):
http://www.sjpd.org/images/Police Clearance Letter Enlish.pdf

I'm curious why you say you 'think' that your wife still has the same interview date. If it changed she would have certainly got a letter with the new date.

I think she'll be just fine. Let us know how the police clearances go. Good luck with the next steps.

Regards.

Sammy
 
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thanks i'll take a look.


I said I 'think' she has same interview date, since right now its the same interview date, and nothing has changed, but I was concerned if she may get "descheduled" between now and June 16 in light of this new police clearance requirement.

I hope it does not happen, and she finishes interview on June 16.
 
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Has anyone relocated like this and obtained clearances from previous state/city?

Looks like usually they (police departments) ask you to come in-person! I dont know for sure?, I'll try to call the police department of the county she lived in CA, and ask them about the procedure since we reside in different state now.
 
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I did some research and some Police departments like SAN FRANCISCO have this:

To get a clearance report from the San Francisco Police Department, you must show up in person at the below address with valid identification. If you no longer live in or around the area of San Francisco, you can send in a notarized request to the below address.
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That gives me some hope, however each police department operates differently, and I'll have to find out about the specific county for us. It would suck if you have to buy airtickets and make a trip for this purpose!
 
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Ok, apparently we can send the request in by mail. Hopefully they respond in time (they said by 10 days!). Keeping our fingers crossed.

I (or rather my wife) could have done without this FP / police clearance issue! It is more time and effort spent researching the topic, and being anxious now.
 
can you please tell me which department did you send your request to?

I am in similar position where i got a traffice ticket in san francisco back in 2003 and need to get a record.

thanks

-krish
 
krajan,
Ours is not traffic ticket case. Ours is just "general clearance letter" - no traffic tickets.
For tickets, I believe you need to contact the COURT that you dealt with for the ticket.

Take a look at which court based on your ticket, and google it to find the address.

For my case, for general clearance letter, you have to contact the County Sheriff of the county (San Francisco or San Jose or San Mateo or Santa Clara etc as the case maybe)
 
CrossHairs said:
krajan,
Ours is not traffic ticket case. Ours is just "general clearance letter" - no traffic tickets.
For tickets, I believe you need to contact the COURT that you dealt with for the ticket.

Take a look at which court based on your ticket, and google it to find the address.

For my case, for general clearance letter, you have to contact the County Sheriff of the county (San Francisco or San Jose or San Mateo or Santa Clara etc as the case maybe)
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Nothing to do with ticket or court... this has happened to many and usually ladies as their fingerprints are not clear often than men... I guess they abuse their fingers... hmmm wonder what they do with fingers that we men do not??? actually cleaning lots of dishes everyday can do that!!!!
 
GhantaBro said:
Nothing to do with ticket or court... this has happened to many and usually ladies as their fingerprints are not clear often than men... I guess they abuse their fingers... hmmm wonder what they do with fingers that we men do not??? actually cleaning lots of dishes everyday can do that!!!!
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is that a hint? :)
 
Update:

Wife passed the interview at Seattle DO. But slightly sad part is that as I expected, "decision cannot be made" on N-652.
She is waiting for police clearance letter to arrive from California, and they need that.

Other than that she passed the interview, and they said thats the only thing she needs to mail to USCIS. After they receive it, they will send Oath letter (hopefully they wont take too long).

One funny incident:
It seems there is a FORM N-14 - what is this form? The IO tried hard but could not find this form N-14 on her PC to say she needs to submit police clearance. Instead she could not find N-14 on her computer, so IO typed a letter and gave it to my wife.
 
CrossHairs said:
It seems there is a FORM N-14 - what is this form? The IO tried hard but could not find this form N-14 on her PC to say she needs to submit police clearance. Instead she could not find N-14 on her computer, so IO typed a letter and gave it to my wife.
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The N-14 is a form letter used by USCIS for deficient applications. It will state what information is missing (criminal history record) to adjudicate your case.
 
samosa1 said:
I have read of a case where a person was told to get police clearance by the IO during his naturalization interview! That must have been a shock.
Click to expand...

This happened to me yesterday at my interview! Everything went really smoothly, and when I was signing the oath I thought to myself, "This is it!" And then, bang! The IO informed me about the fingerprints issue and asked me to mail in the clearances from every city I had lived in during the last 5 years.

I currently reside in CA, but I briefly lived in MI within that period, so on Monday, I will be contacting the local office in MI to see what they have to say. I hope I won't have to fly up there! :(

I am really worried because I only have 30 days (14 business days) to do that. I think it is very unjust. It's not my fault that my FPs didn't go through, and it's not going to be my fault either if the local office in MI won't respond in time.

Anyways, these are the cards I got, so I will try to play them. CrossHairs, good luck to your wife! I will keep you guys informed on progress of my case.
 
Rattus, actually getting a Police Clearance is not really a big deal. The main issue is that you should not have any serious charges in the past lile criminal history, DUI etc because they could become the grounds for bad moral character. Well if you have serious charges then it is advisible to have a lawyer present for your case anyway.

Assuming that its just simple screw-up in the FP, just call the appropriate municipal courts and ask them the contact details of the depaertment that deals with records. You just ask then for a recond. Normally it shoiuld takle about a week to get it. if you have lived in multiple states just do the same for all the states.

I had a traffic ticket in San Francisco back in 2003. I had to go to the court to pay the fine as i was not carrying my insurance card. Since there was a court procesing i was asked by the IO to get a certificed court disposition. When i called for the first time the SF municicapal court i some how ended up contacting the criminal records division and they ended up sending me a "no record found" certified letter.

I got my citizenship a month later.

hope that helps.

-Krish
 
Getting police clearances - you can do it within 30 days.

The pain is my wife's case is now off the "conveyor belt" processing. So, she has completed the interview and it has been NEARLY 2 months now!!! After Interview successfully done, she has not yet gotten OATH letter!!!

2 Infopass done, they are still "processing" it! We'll see. If 120 days pass, then I have to do one final push at them, and then consider other options.
 
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