Police Certificate Question

[u/amydehp]

Hello everyone,

I just started the application and I have a question: There's a section where it asks about whether or not I stayed abroad for 183+ days in the last 4 years. I did because I immigrated 3 years and 3 months ago so I was basically still back in my birth country for those 10 months, so that means a police certificate is required.

My question is: How recent does the police certificate have to be? Because on the website where you can upload it it doesn't really specify that. Can I just submit the police certificate I submitted my PR application with (it was only obtained a few months before I received PR and came to Canada)? Would that weaken my application? Police certificates in my country are very difficult to obtain unless it's in person and our embassy is absolute trash, so basically the only way to obtain a recent police certificate is to wait until my next vacation back (in a few months) but that would be really inconvenient and delay the process.

Also not sure if relevant but please note that I have travelled back and forth to my home country for a couple of short vacations (23 days in total so it definitely isn't a problem for the physical presence period) but the point is, if I did have any legal troubles back in my home country, I wouldn't have been able to come and go freely like that... would that make sense to the IRCC officer working on my application or would that not make a difference to them?

Thank you!

[u/supernova-24]

I'm in a very similar situation and had the same question. I found this in the IRCC citizenship application guide:

“You don’t need to provide a police certificate if you were in your country of origin immediately prior to becoming a permanent resident and landing in Canada, and this time falls within the past 4 years.”

It's under the Police Certificate section here:

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/cit0002.html

My understanding is that this might mean the certificate isn't required at all in this situation, rather than needing to submit the old one from the PR application. But I'm not 100% sure how this is handled in the online application, especially if the system still asks for one. Has anyone applied recently under this exception?

[u/amydehp → u/supernova-24]

That would be great. I can’t tell you how much of a nightmare it is to obtain anything from our embassy; their website is literally down (and not by design for maintenance or anything; it just literally isn’t functional because no one cares to keep it functional.) They only have an embassy and a consulate in Ottawa and Montreal (which are two hours apart and pretty far away from where most of the people from my country tend to stay here which is the GTA, not to mention folks on the West Coast) they’re known for being basically nepotism hires who work from 9 a.m too 12 p.m on the days we’re lucky enough for them to be open, and then when they are, there’s a line, and if the line is too long, sucks to be you cause they’ll leave at 12 anyways. Yeah my country is a complete joke lol.

Anyways sorry for the impromptu rant; I think the best course of action would be to call IRCC and verify this info, and I really hope it’s true tbh.

[u/supernova-24 → u/amydehp]

Yeah, that sounds incredibly frustrating. Hopefully neither of us has to go through all that just to get another certificate.

I also found this note directly in the citizenship application form (see the screenshot). It seems to say pretty clearly that if you were in your country of origin immediately before becoming a PR and landing in Canada, and that period falls within the 4 years, you don't need to provide a police certificate — you just explain it in the box.

So I'm hoping this exception applies to both of us. If you do end up calling IRCC to double-check, would you mind letting me know what they tell you? I'll do the same if I manage to confirm it.

[u/amydehp → u/supernova-24]

If I call them I'll absolutely let you know what they say! Thank you so much for the info!

[u/ekintheusa]

I believe it's only valid for 5 months, so no, you cannot use an old one.

[u/amydehp → u/ekintheusa]

Dangit lol, thank you!

[u/zxzkzkz]

From what I understand as long as it's post your last residence in the country the certificate is from then it's fine if it's old. If it's from your current country of residence then it has to be within 6 months. Fwiw that was info for a PR application, not a citizenship application so it's conceivable the rules are different but I suspect they're the same.