Apostille Korea obtains FBI Check and other overseas criminal record certificates People leaving a country where they lived for years are increasingly asked for a criminal record certificate issued there.

Apostille Korea said it obtains and legalises criminal record certificates that can only be issued abroad. The service covers documents such as the US FBI Check, which require the applicant to go through local procedures.

The certificate demanded during a return to Korea

A man in his late fifties who had been living in the United States decided to spend his later years in Korea, settled what he could abroad and then flew home ahead of the rest. At the immigration office he was told to submit an overseas criminal record certificate, and in his case that meant the US FBI Check. Although he had lived in the United States for a long time, he had never applied for one and knew nobody who had, which made the procedure hard to work out. Cases like his are not unusual: people with a history of residence abroad are routinely asked for a local criminal record certificate when they return or relocate. The gap between the moment the document becomes necessary and the moment the procedure is understood is what makes the situation difficult.

Why these background checks are hard to obtain

These certificates, also referred to as background checks, include the US FBI Check, the Canadian RCMP record, the NBI Clearance, the COC and the Chinese criminal record certificate. They are requested from anyone who lived in a country for a period on a residence visa and then applies elsewhere for a visa, permanent residency, emigration, employment or study. Because each document is issued only in the country that produces it, applicants run first into differing processing times, requirements and rules. The first step abroad is completing the fingerprint forms and application used to verify identity, a stage that also requires certification from the relevant national authority. Some documents need additional confirmation from an administrative body, and international use requires notarisation followed by foreign ministry and consular legalisation. If any required paper is missing or does not match the stated purpose, the application is refused, the documents already submitted are destroyed, and everything must be prepared again from the start.

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Source: NextDaily · 2017-07-04