The term police certificate means a statement which will advise the consular officer whether or not any criminal convictions are held in your name.

See the Department of State’s website. Find the country and look under ”Police, Court, Prison Records”. If it is your place of birth, or current residence you will require a police certificate if you have resided in that country for at least six months since your sixteenth birthday. The period of residence is twelve months, for any other country.

With the exception of the U.K. police certificate which is considered valid for 12 months from the date of issuance, a police certificate is valid indefinitely, provided you do not return to the country and reside for six months or more, if it’s your country of birth or current residence. The period is twelve months for any other country.

You should contact the ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO). Further information is available from their website at http://www.acpo.police.uk

If your ACRO states “No Trace”or “No Live Trace”, you are required to obtain a Memorandum of Conviction from the Court.  Another way in which you can furnish this information is by the presentation of a Subject Access Statement.

If you have a conviction in the United States you are required to obtain court records relating to all of the charges against you. You should contact the court where you were convicted. If you do not know the address of the court, the information is available from the internet at: http://www.refdesk.com/.

Yes, you are required to obtain a police certificate for every country where you have resided for 12 months or more.

Yes, your spouse will be required to obtain a police certificate to cover a period of residence of 12 months or more, or 6 months if country of birth.

You are required to enter the details of every child under the age of 21, including step-children from a marriage that was entered into while the child was under the age of 18.  You are not required to enter the details of children who are U.S. citizens.

If you have made an error when completing the DS-260 you are required to correct the error and re-transmit it if the error concerns the Background and Security questions or passport number.  Please contact us through our website as we will be required to unlock your case before you can amend the information.  If the error is in the biographic details, you may notify the consular officer on the day of your interview and take no further action.

If the Immigrant Visa Unit at the Embassy in London is processing your immigrant visa application, you should enter your case number (normally beginning with LND) and, in place of the invoice number, your date of birth (in the format YYYYMMDD). If you have further questions about completing the DS-260, see the Department of State’s website for further information.

The visa in your passport will fit up to 20 characters for both surname and first name (s), including spaces. If your name is longer than that, the whole name will not appear.  This will not affect the validty of your visa.  Please note that the visa cannot include any special characters, including hyphens.