Thread: Police Clearance from overseas

Hi all,

Renewing my license and have hit the snag of being over in Laos for over 6months back in 2017. Due to their third world system and required paperwork haven't been able to get a Police Clearance Certificate. Joys of working Fifo in SE Asia, I guess.

Have checked called TTP and have an email lodge with them/licensing regarding this. Also been in touch with Colfo.

I suppose what I am wanting to know is has there been any others in similar circumstances?

If so, are we able to have a chat on how you got it sorted.

Cheers
Paddy

There was this. For clarity, not me. If needed, I can pm you the link of where it came from, but google should easily get you there too.

You wouldn’t have wanted to spend more than 6 months in Australia, with their record

I am wondering if a statement of record from your employer at the time who was running the FIFO site would assist? They would be able to attest to what you were doing at the time and to be fair, if there is no record of interaction with the local constabulary in Laos there won't be anything to report from them anyway. If the employer can vouch for your work time on site e.g. worked this many days with this many break days on these dates, it should (well in my view anyway) satisfy the checkers that you weren't over in a petting zoo getting indoctrinated into some weird belief...

So I’m due to replace my license end of this year. I too have been working on the countries I have lived in more than 6 months in the last 10 years.
To date I have a Police criminal clearance from China, Australia and Singapore. Apart from Australia ( which is simple) the other two have taken considerable time and effort. I had to involve a lawyer in China to work on my behalf to get it. ( and then I had to get a certified translation). Singapore just many hoops to go through like ID and fingerprinting. Best of luck!! You are not alone.

Going through the same BS with mine after spending 5 years living in Canada. It's a long slow process ,, but working with a croud called "Worldwide Forensics",, hope you all get there in the end.

Originally Posted by Black Bear

Going through the same BS with mine after spending 5 years living in Canada. It's a long slow process ,, but working with a croud called "Worldwide Forensics",, hope you all get there in the end.

I left Canada at the end of 2015 so fortunately I don’t have to get clearance there. ( just falls outside the 10 years when my license is due).

Oh. I had to get police checks from the UK for a short period right at the tail end of the 10 year period (I almost got away with not needing one). I thought it was a ballache and expensive to get that. I feel for lads and won't whinge about my experience any more...

Originally Posted by physeptone

Oh. I had to get police checks from the UK for a short period right at the tail end of the 10 year period (I almost got away with not needing one). I thought it was a ballache and expensive to get that. I feel for lads and won't whinge about my experience any more...

The UK - potentially could give me a headache due to the cumulative totalling up - fortunately covid and the compulsory lockup we suffered saved me a lot of headache, for the last renewal.

BUT - the wording is for "each" country - and my time is between Scotland, England and a little bit of Wales and Ireland - and there are no boarder controls within the British Isles, so you may in fact have been all good.

I have had a few conversations with FSA and some email correspondence as well. They requested that I document my inability to obtain the Laos PCC and submit that instead. If you are experiencing similar issues, I suggest giving FSA a call—they have been quite reasonable about it. However, I have not yet received an official response confirming that my application has been accepted.