Background Check Blues

Criminal Background Check

This part was our biggest FAILURE.  For application item #10 the consulate requires you to provide:

10. Criminal History Information/Police Background Check (Programs over 180 days). Must be verified by fingerprints. It cannot be older than 3 months from the application date. The certificate must be issued from either:

a) State Department of Justice. Original Conviction Information Request Form (from all the States where applicant has lived during the past 5 years). Legalized with the Apostille of the Hague Convention by the corresponding Secretary of the State.

b) FBI Records, issued by the US Department of Justice – F.B.I. Legalized with the Apostille of the Hague Convention by the US Department of State in Washington DC. Local Police background check will not be accepted. You must also get a police record from the countries where you have lived during the last 5 years.

March 3rd  We decided to go the federal route because it would be the most thorough and complete. When researching the process I learned it would take 30-60 days to get this back from the FBI. Because we were planning to travel to Mexico soon and had a short time frame before our scheduled Chicago consulate appointment (May 20th), we had to rush and get our fingerprints done to submit the form.

Fingerprint “Fun”  That night at 7pm we drove downtown Minneapolis with our kids to get fingerprinted only to find out that the machine was down and would be indefinitely.  UGH!  OK.  Next. Then the search for another digital fingerprinting service began and it it turns out they are extremely elusive. Fortunately we found one in St. Paul and pulled the kids from school early to drive over. All of the staff thought it was strange that we were requesting prints for the kids, but luckily the officer on duty was extremely friendly and patient while he tried over and over to get the machine to read each of the kids’ tiny prints.

April 27th  Almost 2 months later, and with no FBI records returned, I thought I’d better call the FBI and find out the status. Finding the right number was a challenge. It felt downright weird to be calling the FBI - the phone selections actually gave me the option to report suspicious activity. I finally spoke to a real person and he said he couldn’t tell me the status of our applications because they were just opening the applications from February 4th.  He was honest enough to admit that were a “liiiitttlle” behind schedule. CRAP.  

Panic Mode  At that moment we realized we wouldn’t get our forms back, sent of to get the Apostille of the Hague from D.C, and translated in time. We irrationally started trying to figure out ways to get it the whole process expedited. We thought we were going to have to use MyFBIreport.com (which expedites), then have courier service expedite the Apostille of the Hague certification in D.C., then expedite to a translator (which we still didn’t have at that time). We did the math and this was going to cost us about $460 not including the cost of translation, or the $64 we had just spent on getting fingerprinted. Again.

That’s it?!  Somehow I regained lucidity and re-read the visa requirements (which I’ve read through over 50 times) and realized that we could actually get by with a Criminal Background issued by the State.  All this entailed was showing up at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with ID and $8 per person. They give it to you after 5 minutes, and then you drive over to the Secretary of the State Apostille and within another 10 minute ($5/document) you have it DONE!

All the drama was unnecessary (we hope) but it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the various requirements in this Visa process. You are investing SO much time and money applying for the visa that it seems worth your while to go above and beyond the requirements in order make sure they don’t reject your application (which they can without reason)!

What did I learn from all this?   When you go to all these bureaucratic institutions make sure be prepared:

• Bring cash and check because some accept one but not the other (and it’s always the one you don’t have - don't trust their website)
• Bring a notarized signature if anyone in your party can’t be there in person
• Have marriage and birth certificates for kids
• Fingerprint Cost: $15/fingerprint +$1per card done at city jail
• Apostille of the Hague Certificates --- $5 per certificate done at Secretary of State department