Police certificates
Do I need a police certificate for the Working Holiday application?
Yes, for the International Experience Program, which includes the Working Holiday Canada, you need a police certificate
- from your home country (or the country where you are currently living)
- from all countries where you have spent more than 6 months in a row since the age of 18.
The total stay counts and it does not matter if you were there as a visitor, worker or student.
Do I need a police certificate from Canada?
Even if you spent more than 6 months in a row in Canada, you do not need a police certificate. IRCC does the Canadian checks themselves.
However, they might request a police certificate, then you need to provide it. This request will come after you provided the biometrics and you will receive a letter into your GCKey account. For a Canadian police certificate you can go to an RCMP location to request it. If you live outside of Canada, you have to follow > this < instruction.
Where can I apply for a police certificate?
Always follow the requirements from the official website of the Canadian government. To do this, click >>here<< and select the country in the drop-down list and follow the instructions.
Please read the special instructions for police certificates from those countries:
How long is the police certificate valid?
- The police certificate from the home country cannot be older than 6 months at the time of the Working Holiday application.
- If you applied for the police certificate after you left the country and have not been back anymore (not even 1-2 days to visit), it is valid indefinitely and can be used for further future applications.
Does the police certificate need to be translated?
Yes, the police certificate must be translated by a certified translator if it is not in English or French.
You have to upload the original + translation.
You only have one upload spot for the police certificate. If you have multiple police certificates, i.e. from different countries, you have to merge them all into one file. You can do that with Merge PDF.
Help; my PDF is too large to upload
Unfortunately, you only have one spot to upload. If the document file gets too big and is not accepted by the system because of the size, you have to compress the file. You can do this with Compress PDF
I have a police certificate that I used for a Working Holiday application, can I use it again?
Most likely not. Because chances are, at the time of your Working Holiday application, you were still in your home country or visited your family and friends back home.
The police certificate rule is:
- A police certificate cannot be older than 6 months.
- You can use a police certificate for future applications, only if it was issued after you left the country and you have not been back there. If you returned to that country (even for only 1-2 days to visit), you need a new one.
What if I do not receive the police certificate in time before the deadline?
Do not wait until the last day to submit the application just because a document is missing. Wait until day 18 of 20 latest.
If you have applied for the police certificate but have not yet received it by day 18 of the 20 day-deadline, you can upload a receipt instead of the police certificate that proves that you have requested it. (An e-mail or proof of payment from the place where it was requested).
In the optional documents, please upload a letter (informal two sentences) explaining that you have requested the police certificate and need more time. Because there is only one spot, you must merge everything into one PDF. There are online PDF Merge Apps, like ‘Merge PDF‘.
Then upload all other required documents and submit the application. After you gave your biometrics, a processing officer will look at your application, and they will open up a new spot and five 30 days to submit the missing police certificate.
I received the missing police certificate; where do I upload it?
Option 1 – Webform
After you received the police certificate, you can try to submit it via the webform > here <. There is a good chance, the processing officer finds the document there.
However, the processing officer might miss the webform and still request the police certificate via your GCKey account. Then you must upload it there too AND submit it. Follow the instructions below to submit.
Option 2 – GCKey account
IRCC will send you a letter with the request for the police certificate. They will open up an upload spot in the GCKey account where you can upload it.
- for the “Document Number,” enter “000000”
- for the “Expiry Date,” select a date that’s one year later than the date of issue
After uploading, you must also submit the document.
To do this, you have to continue with NEXT and click through all the steps until the status of the document is set to “replacement provided. Only then the document is completely submitted. Unfortunately, many applicants make this mistake to forget to submit, and receive a refusal because they missed the deadline.
Here is how you can find the upload spot and upload it (quoted from the Canadian government website here ):
- Sign in to your account.
- Look for your application under View the applications you submitted.
- Under the Action column, click Check full application status.
- At the top of the page, click View submitted application or upload documents.
- Scroll down the page and click Continue.
- Under Documents submitted by the client, you can find
- Document Name: the document we need
- Instructions: more information on the type of document and how to get it
- Required by: the latest date by when we need to receive the document
- Click Upload file and follow the steps to upload your document to your account.
- If you need to submit more than 1 document, read what to do if you have multiple documents before uploading any documents.
- Make sure that your documents are under the file size limit for the online application you’re using.
- Make sure the Details column shows the message Uploaded – not submitted to IRCC.
- Click Next.
- Provide your Signature by entering your Given name(s) and Last name(s).
- Answer the Security Question.
- Click Sign.
- Click Transmit.
- The following message should appear on your screen: “Congratulations! You have successfully submitted your application or profile. You have successfully transmitted your additional or replacement document(s).”
- After you see the message, you’ll receive an email confirming you’ve added a new document.
Can I apply for the police certificate before applying to the pool?
You can apply for all the foreign police certificates you need, as they take much longer.
You should wait with the police certificate from your home country. Because it cannot be older than 6 months, and you don’t know when you get invited, you risk having to request it again.
What if I simply omit a police certificate?
- Firstly, in the application you have to provide complete, month to month information without any gaps. For example, if you leave a gap of 6 months somewhere, you will be asked for a police certificate. This will delay the application unnecessarily.
- Secondly, you will have to scan all pages of the passport that contain a visa or stamp on it. It is therefore not recommended to omit data or documents in the application. You risk a refusal.
- And lastly, many countries share immigration data and Canada will find out if you spent a longer time in another country.
Did you know that five countries share immigration data under the Five Eyes Alliance?
Those are: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Those countries know exactly where you were and how long you spent time in a country.
Also, as soon as you check in for a flight, your passport is scanned. As soon as you enter a country, (any country not just the ones mentioned), your passport is scanned. Just because there are no stamps, it doesn’t mean there is no immigration data (entry and exit).
Do I need a police certificate from my birth country even though I never lived there?
There are scenarios where applicants have two citizenships and want to use the passport to apply for another Working Holiday with the other citizenship passport. But they have never lived in that country. (Yes, this is possible and there is more info here)
In this case there is a tiny system glitch in the application, that generates a police certificate request, because you entered the birth country of that second citizenship.
Here is what you should do:
IRCC will send you a letter with the request for the police certificate. They will open up an upload spot where you can upload it. Instead of the police certificate, upload a short explanation, that you never lived in that country.
In the system, an expiration date and document number are required.
- as expiration date, select a day that is at least 1 year later.
- as document number, enter N/A in the field. Or try all as zero. 000000
! After uploading, you must also submit the document.
To do this, you have to continue with NEXT and click through all the steps until the status of the document is set to “replacement provided”. Only then the document is completely submitted.
When I activate the work permit at the border, do I need a current police certificate?
No, when you activate the work permit at the border, you can take the old police certificate that you uploaded into the application. Even if it is already over 6 months old at the time of entry.