With an increase in US immigration and US visa applications, we are often asked what a criminal background check under the ‘Privacy Act – RCMP National Repository Entire Holdings’ is. This is a type of Canadian criminal background check certificate required for some applicants, applying to immigrate to the USA.
The RCMP National Repository holdings is required by the USCIS (Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). You can visit the USCIS website to confirm whether you would require the background check under the Privacy Act: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Canada.html
The Privacy Act is based on a fingerprint search and will contain a copy of the data in National Repository of Criminal Records, if applicable. A copy of your fingerprints would not appear on the front page of the report. The report may contain criminal record information that would not normally be disclosed during a regular criminal record check. Some examples of the record that will be disclosed are criminal convictions that were made during youth (12 – 18 years of age) or records that have been pardoned by the Parole Board of Canada.
The procedure for applying for the privacy act certificate is the same as for a regular certificate. The service fee will remain the same as the other Canadian criminal background check and the processing time with the RCMP is approximately the same as well. however, due to the security reasons and RCMP regulations, the RCMP must ship the report directly to the applicant’s mailing address by regular mail with Canada Post. There is no tracking information, therefore, we kindly ask the clients to provide us with a Canadian or US mailing address to prevent delays or losses.
As we are not aware of your application status and requirements with the USA, we kindly ask that the applicants confirm whether you require the criminal background check under the Privacy Act or not.