Fingerprints/Criminal Record Check (Canadian Teachers)

They were actually trying that out when I was applying, but the problem is that RCMP don't do that kind of criminal records check.  Whoever got it in six weeks was lucky, they told me six months.  But the thing that the people asking for it don't realize is that if you go to your city or provincial police for a criminal record check, they are accessing the exact same database as the RCMP do to perform this check.  If you already have a job offer, tell your school that city, provincial, and federal police forces (RCMP) in Canada use the same national database to confirm lack of criminal background in Canada.

They were actually trying that out when I was applying, but the problem is that RCMP don't do that kind of criminal records check.  Whoever got it in six weeks was lucky, they told me six months.  But the thing that the people asking for it don't realize is that if you go to your city or provincial police for a criminal record check, they are accessing the exact same database as the RCMP do to perform this check.  If you already have a job offer, tell your school that city, provincial, and federal police forces (RCMP) in Canada use the same national database to confirm lack of criminal background in Canada.

This is true, but sadly irrelevant. It's not your school that decides if your check is acceptable, it's immigration.  And when I went to immigration in Korea, they didn't care.  It literally did not matter to them that they checked the same database, nor did it matter that the check said it was national-level right on the paper, nor did it matter that the consulate in Canada stamped it and stated that it was an officially OK national level check.  The check needs to be RCMP, or immigration will probably reject it once you get here.  And you'll be out of luck, and out of pocket for airline money.

My situation turned out ok in the end, as many situations do here if you have sufficiently high status or otherwise important people helping/arguing for you, but I could easily have been totally screwed.  Don't be like me, get RCMP.

Wow, Davox, it must be great to be such a VIP.  Nevertheless, all I am saying is that I was told the RCMP does not actually do these kind of criminal background checks, so asking for them is irrelevant.  Also, there is no point trying to get it until you have a job offer, because the RCMP checks are sent directly to the party requesting them, not the person being checked, and you must provide the address of the recipient.  Korean immigration obviously did not bother to see what kind of documents were available from the RCMP before requiring a document that is almost impossible to get.  Your best bet is really to call your nearest Korean consulate and get the info directly from them.  They are the ones approving the documents to send to Korean immigration, so whatever they say should be what you do.   

Wow, Davox, it must be great to be such a VIP.  Nevertheless, all I am saying is that I was told the RCMP does not actually do these kind of criminal background checks, so asking for them is irrelevant.  Also, there is no point trying to get it until you have a job offer, because the RCMP checks are sent directly to the party requesting them, not the person being checked, and you must provide the address of the recipient.  Korean immigration obviously did not bother to see what kind of documents were available from the RCMP before requiring a document that is almost impossible to get.  Your best bet is really to call your nearest Korean consulate and get the info directly from them.  They are the ones approving the documents to send to Korean immigration, so whatever they say should be what you do.   

I'm not a VIP, I just happen, by the luck of the draw, to work at a "model" school with people that were willing and able to contact the guy and yell at him for a LONG while.  I was very lucky, as that doesn't always work.  And yeah, my whole point was that immigration has no idea what is and is not an appropriate national level check for Canada.  And they ARE the ones who make the final decision.  Not the consulate in Canada.  Like I said, my non-RCMP check was fully approved, stamped and OK'ed by the consulate and my school and got rejected by immigration over here.  Like I said before, the law changed likely just after you passed your perfectly fine national level check in.  They no longer accept those, even if the consulate approves them.  It has to be RCMP, without the vulnerable sector.   Even though that makes no sense.  And no amount of whining on OUR part is going to change that. 

Wow, Davox, it must be great to be such a VIP.  Nevertheless, all I am saying is that I was told the RCMP does not actually do these kind of criminal background checks, so asking for them is irrelevant.  Also, there is no point trying to get it until you have a job offer, because the RCMP checks are sent directly to the party requesting them, not the person being checked, and you must provide the address of the recipient.  Korean immigration obviously did not bother to see what kind of documents were available from the RCMP before requiring a document that is almost impossible to get.  Your best bet is really to call your nearest Korean consulate and get the info directly from them.  They are the ones approving the documents to send to Korean immigration, so whatever they say should be what you do.   

This is true... it's always best to contact the consulate in Canada before you get any of your documents. However, I'm not sure people should hold off requesting a CRC until they have a job offer; this document can take a stupidly long time to get, and if you wait, there's a very good chance your job offer will have been retracted by the time you finally get your RCMP CRC. Also, this page on the RCMP website would seem to suggest that you do not, in fact, have to have your check sent to your place of employment in Korea. (It seems like, if you go through this process, you CAN have it sent to yourself since having the CRC sent to a third party is being described as an option, but having no personal experience with that, I can't say for sure.)
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/info-rens-eng.htm

Also, the rules re: RCMP checks depends a lot on where you live. If you're from a city/province with no local police force, the RCMP does all of the policework in your region by default. As a resident of PEI, I just walked into my local RCMP office, requested a CRC, and picked it up the very next day, free of charge. If you live in a place with municipal or provincial police, you'll probably have to follow the process outlined on this website:
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/fing-empr2-eng.htm

Finally, well I do think it can't hurt to get both a CRC from your local police force AND the RCMP, I think it's a bit unwise to just get a check from the local police, because last I checked with immigration in-country (this was mid-March, 2011), official policy is to reject anything that doesn't say RCMP on it. They were pretty adamant about that. Of course, this is Korea, and you may get lucky with a locally-provided CRC, but I wouldn't count on it.

It sucks, but what can you do? Unsurprisingly, the politicians who influence Korean Immigration policy care more about how their constituents will see their actions than how possible it is for us waygooks to jump through the latest hoop.

Sorry to the original poster - this must be a bit confusing.  I would agree with everything that Mr. Tyrant said, but obviously there are some regional differences about how these matters are handled.  In Winnipeg, where I got mine done, at that time the RCMP did not do this kind of simple background check, but sent me to the city police to have it done.  They said the only ones they do are high level clearance for government jobs and that sort of thing.   Obviously in some areas where there is no city or provincial police the RCMP do them.  I am sure that the Korean immigration department is probably unaware of this little wrinkle, and it is probably causing no end of headaches for those applying now.  I was also told that the check they do requires you to give the name and address for the receiver, but of course rules change over time.  I guess the best thing for the OP to do is get every piece of paper he can and hope for the best.  Even getting a straight answer from the consulate is a real pain about these matters. 

Sorry if this has been addressed already, but I'm still not sure of the answer. I've got my degrees notarized, and I'm off to the Korean consulate tomorrow to get them apostilled. But I'm still awaiting my criminal background check. Will I need to have that apostilled as well.

Thank you for any information.

Horus

new zealand yes

I'm from Canada. Thing is, I'll probably be back in Korea before my CBC is completed. Can a friend take it to be notarized by a notary public in Canada then mail it to me, and I'll get it apostilled at the Canadian embassy? Or does he have to take it to the Korean consulate in Toronto to be apostilled?

I hate all of this stuff. I've been working in Korea for years. How many more times do I really need to show that I'm not a criminal.

I have had zero luck getting a vulnerable sector check done. NObody will do it. I have just gone ahead and got a regular CBC check done through the Commissionaires. Hopefully it will be fine. After all, if I have an criminal record it will say so on the regular CBC. The problem is I'm not sure if it will have the magic letters 'RCMP' on it -even though it will be from the exact same criminal data base used by the RCMP.

Stressful and confusing days!

You can't do an apostille in Canada. 

I'm from Canada. Thing is, I'll probably be back in Korea before my CBC is completed. Can a friend take it to be notarized by a notary public in Canada then mail it to me, and I'll get it apostilled at the Canadian embassy? Or does he have to take it to the Korean consulate in Toronto to be apostilled?

I hate all of this stuff. I've been working in Korea for years. How many more times do I really need to show that I'm not a criminal.

Unless they've changed, your friend will have to take/mail it to the Korean consulate in Toronto to get it stamped.  The Canadian Embassy in Korea has nothing to do with it, because Canada doesn't do apostile.

In the States I had to have my documents notarized before I could get them apostilled.

I'm from Canada. Thing is, I'll probably be back in Korea before my CBC is completed. Can a friend take it to be notarized by a notary public in Canada then mail it to me, and I'll get it apostilled at the Canadian embassy? Or does he have to take it to the Korean consulate in Toronto to be apostilled?

I hate all of this stuff. I've been working in Korea for years. How many more times do I really need to show that I'm not a criminal.

Unless they've changed, your friend will have to take/mail it to the Korean consulate in Toronto to get it stamped.  The Canadian Embassy in Korea has nothing to do with it, because Canada doesn't do apostile.

Sorry to correct you there. The Canadian Consulate in Korea will verify your CRC. You need to bring your criminal record check in and they will verify it for immigration (apostile stamp) The notarized degree copies, however, they do not offer that notarizing service any longer. Those need to be notarized in Canada then brought to the Korean embassy in Canada to stamp. This is all straight from the mouth of the Canadian Embassy in Seoul when I called last week.

To recap:

1. CRC needs to be brought to Canadian Embassy in Seoul

2. Notarized copies of degree (notarized by a lawyer or civil service office) need to be brought to Korean Embassy in Canada.

^
I truly wish Korean officials could learn to give a clear, straighforward answer to a clear straightforward question. Yesterday I was at the Korean embassy in Toronto and was given a different answer from the above poster. I'm returning to Korea in a week and my CBC may not be in my hands by then. I asked if, after I received it in the post in Korea, I could get it apostilled at the Canadian embassy in Seoul. She said 'No'. It must be apostilled at a Korean consulate.

Grrr!

The way I had it explained to me by my lawyer is that the CRC is already notarized by the RCMP (it has their embossed stamp), so it just needs to be confirmed and stamped by the Korean Embassy. It is impossible to get it apostilled because apostilles do not exist in Canada.

So I got my 'regular' CBC done here in Canada. I then took it to the Korean embassy to have it apostilled (no notarization required). So it's got all the embassy stamps on it. I hope it's okay, because I simply could not get a 'vulnerable sector' check done at any police station. They said they coul;d do it for jobs within Canada, but not for overseas work.

Hope kimmi accepts it. After all, I simply can't produce what the RCMP won't prvide. I just hope the ajoshii at immigration isn't too hung over when I get there, and capable of getting his mind around that reality.

It shouldn't even be required. After all, any offences of a sexual nature are going to show up on a regular criminal check.

Your check MUST be from the RCMP.  You DO NOT need to have VSS.  A regular check is all that is required.

I have a friend in Canada, how much does it cost?

I had to send mine through the Ottawa branch to get the national check and it took three months or so to get it back.

My regular CBC is from the RCMP. I did it through the Commissionaires in Ontario, where I got my past 'vulnerable sector' checks from. It doesn't say RCMP on the letterhead. It reads at top: Canada Police Certificate: For Employment, Visa Applicants, Foreign Travel Work Permits. It was, however, completed by the Charlottetown Police Services (which is in fact RCMP). It also states, concerning me, that " a search of National Criminal Records repository maintained by the RCMP did not identify any record...."

I have used CBC's provided by the Commissionaires in the past. Is there any reason to fear that it won't be accepted this time because it says "Canada Police Certificate" on the letterhead rather than "RCMP"?