One question that often comes up is whether you need police or background checks only from your home country, or also from other countries where you previously lived, such as while studying or working abroad.
“They should, according to any place where they resided more than one year. We had some Americans that were residing in the UK and they presented both criminal records, from the UK and the US.”
— Sandra Gomes Pinto
In other words, if you have lived in another country for more than a year, you should expect to provide a criminal record check from that country as well.
For some applicants, this will be straightforward because they have only lived in one place. For others, it can mean gathering documents from several different countries, which can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially when some background checks have limited validity periods.
Even so, it is usually better to assume they will be required and prepare them in advance rather than risk delays later in the application process.
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