I am starting this thread because I can't seem to find anywhere information relevant to my situation. In advance, please do not post a reply referring me to the DOS reciprocity web site, fingerscan.ca, or any other site that gives general information about how to obtain police certificates; I've exhausted these resources.
I met my wife in Istanbul, where we lived together for a year and a half. She is Italian, and is now in Italy while we await our NOA2 documents. Of course, she will need a Turkish police certificate. However, there doesn't seem to be a consensus regarding what kind of police certificate is appropriate for our application. In regards to those filing for a Turkish spouse, people---and the DOS reciprocity web page---will say that the police certificate must say "archive" (arsiv) on it. Web sites -- including official ones providing information about how to get a police certificate for US, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian visas -- instruct you to write to the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Judicial Records and Statistics in Ankara. Still, and further complicating the matter, other web sites/forum threads make a distinction between a police certificate from the Emniyet and one from the Ministry of Justice records.
Now because my wife didn't want to have to go back to Turkey, she had an official proxy made up in Italy, and had a contact in Turkey go to Ankara to the Ministry of Justice to get the document. What she received was a notarized document signed by a judge with her name, birthdate, place of birth, and statement that claims, "We certify that the named person Anna xxx has no criminal records." The document is in Turkish, French, English, and German. It does not say "arsiv kayitli adli sicil kaydi" as the DOS reciprocity website claims is required.
My question is this: has anyone had experience obtaining a police certificate for a non-national in Turkey, and if so, what did the document look like? I understand the DOS wants an archived record, but I feel that a notarized record from the ministry of justice signed by a judge is more than enough to certify lack of criminal record. But, I'd hate to be wrong and have this be a setback to our application.
Thanks in advance, hope you can help me.
I met my wife in Istanbul, where we lived together for a year and a half. She is Italian, and is now in Italy while we await our NOA2 documents. Of course, she will need a Turkish police certificate. However, there doesn't seem to be a consensus regarding what kind of police certificate is appropriate for our application. In regards to those filing for a Turkish spouse, people---and the DOS reciprocity web page---will say that the police certificate must say "archive" (arsiv) on it. Web sites -- including official ones providing information about how to get a police certificate for US, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian visas -- instruct you to write to the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Judicial Records and Statistics in Ankara. Still, and further complicating the matter, other web sites/forum threads make a distinction between a police certificate from the Emniyet and one from the Ministry of Justice records.
Now because my wife didn't want to have to go back to Turkey, she had an official proxy made up in Italy, and had a contact in Turkey go to Ankara to the Ministry of Justice to get the document. What she received was a notarized document signed by a judge with her name, birthdate, place of birth, and statement that claims, "We certify that the named person Anna xxx has no criminal records." The document is in Turkish, French, English, and German. It does not say "arsiv kayitli adli sicil kaydi" as the DOS reciprocity website claims is required.
My question is this: has anyone had experience obtaining a police certificate for a non-national in Turkey, and if so, what did the document look like? I understand the DOS wants an archived record, but I feel that a notarized record from the ministry of justice signed by a judge is more than enough to certify lack of criminal record. But, I'd hate to be wrong and have this be a setback to our application.
Thanks in advance, hope you can help me.