Have any Canadians gone through the APRC application process recently? I’m disheartened to read that it takes 120 days for the RCMP to process the criminal background check, and then they will only send it back via snail mail on top of that 
Get someone to do it for you in Canada. I had my brother mail it within Canada, in total it took about a month.
I don’t see how that would change anything because I’d still have to mail my fingerprints and it’s the paperbased finger prints they say take 120 days to process:
[quote]Paper-based fingerprint submissions:
Paper-based fingerprint submissions require a great deal of manual processing and it is not uncommon for a criminal record verification to take an average of 120 days to complete for individuals who don’t have a criminal record and have never been fingerprinted for a criminal offence in Canada. If a criminal record is encountered during the verification process, the turnaround time could exceed 120 days.[/quote]
so many crimes to list, I’m sure that’s all it is. You know les Canadiens!
and they call us convicts. Sheesh.
I did the paper based finger printing. I did it at the immigration office in Panchiao. I then express mailed it to my family in Canada who took it directly to the RCMP and had them pick it up once it was ready. From the day my brother dropped it off at the RCMP it took exactly 30 days for them to have it done. At which point my brother took it to the Teco office in Toronto and had them do sameday notarization (which cost $20CDN more). Then he express mailed it back to me. Total time from start to finish 40 days. They say 120 days, but it doesn’t really take that long (at least for me it didn’t). The difficult (and money and time wasting) part is waiting for them to mail it back to you and you having to mail it back to Teco in Canada. What I’m saying is if you have family in Canada who can get the criminal clearance certificate for you and take it to Teco directly you will save about a month of waiting time, and over $100CDN in postage fees.
Ah ok, I got it now, thanks!
Will just any ol’ police station do your prints in Taipei or is there a specific one I should go to?
Only the immigration offices can do the rolled paper based fingerprinting needed by the RCMP. The police offices only do local criminal clearance fingerprinting. In Taipei you can go to the immigration office by the Xiaonanmen MRT station, or the one in Banchaio in Taipei County. The cost is $200nt when I did it. Make sure you tell them what’s it for, cause they have different forms for different applications.
About to go thru the process. According to Constable Debbie at YVR Mountie Detachment Ident Services department, the most expedient way this can be done is to bring her your fingertips in person so she can scan them and shuffle them off to Ottawa. She says this is a two week turn around and will be in the mailbox of your choice by then.
Paper prints can take longer.
So as expediency suddenly seems to be an issue in my case, I have a couple of questions: If I were to fly my fingertips to Constable Debbie this weekend, could I fly them right back to type on this keyboard? Someone mentioned getting the sought after document notarized at a TECO. Could I not achieve that same end here, in country? Or do I need to stick around for 2 weeks to get it stamped in Canada?
What about all this translation stuff I hear? Do I need to get the RCMP Check translated?
Finally, once you finally got all your paperwork together and had your sit-down with Mr. Hsu, what was the time frame to getting your actual APRC?
Thanks for any forthcoming help.
Hi Shini, my situation is similar to yours. I’m getting ready for the police record check. Did you eventually mail a copy of your fingerprints to the RCMP? Have you received your record check yet? If not, how long have you been waiting?
Hi Jiannadaren,
I’ve been so busy, just renewed my passport, getting paperwork together to get married to a Taiwanese guy, 9 months pregnant and trying to get my daughter-to-be’s Canadian citizenship stuff sorted… that the APRC stuff is where I’ve been slacking a little. When I went in to pick up my shiny new passport on Tuesday though I asked them about it and they gave me the fingerprint form to take to the NIA as well as a list of instructions.
It was a little bit more complicated than I originally thought since once you get your fingerprints it seems like you have to send them back to TECO in Canada to have them authenticated and sent back to Taiwan. I’ll scan in the documents they sent me if that helps but if you live in Taipei I recommend going to the Canadian trade office and talking to them (the woman at the registration desk can tell you everything you need, you don’t even have to take a number). They were SO helpful and SO nice.
Anyway this is the thing I’m jumping on next so I’ll post here on my success or lack thereof. From what the RCMP site says you can’t just mail your paperprints to a family member and have them bring them in to a local office:
[quote]Mailing addresses:
Forward your request with all relevant documents by mail or courier.
[color=#FF0000]Note: Hand-delivered fingerprint submissions will not be accepted by local RCMP offices.[/color]
By mail:
The Director
Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services
RCMP, NPS Bldg.
1200 Vanier Parkway
Ottawa ON K1A 0R2
By courier:
The Director
Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services
RCMP, NPS Bldg., Loading Dock #1
1200 Vanier Parkway
Ottawa ON K1A 0R2
Although fingerprint submission are accepted by courier, civil product results will not be returned by courier. The results are always returned by regular mail.[/quote]
So I’m scared to try MotorcycleRider’s methods and have to either redo everything or have things take even longer.
Hi Shini, congratulations x 2. I was under the impression that I could just roll into the police department by ximending, get my prints done, and then mail them to the address listed here: rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/fing-empr2-eng.htm The RCMP website doesn’t indicate that they need to be verified by TECO before processing the criminal record check. I thought only the completed record check needed to be mailed to TECO. I’ll phone the trade office tomorrow. Grrr.
Thanks for your information!
It’s understandable … they are still riding horses, depends on how far they have to ride to deliver the papers … it can take up to 120 days … :ohreally:
@JNDR Thank you! Yes, that’s what I meant. Sorry if I confused you. Once the record check is completed it needs to be sent to TECO for authentication. It seems like if you’re lucky to have a family member in Ottawa, Vancouver or Toronto you could have the completed police check mailed to them and have them bring it into the TECO office but the trade office told me to call the TECO office to see how to authorize someone to do this on your behalf and what their rules are.
@Belgian Pie: that took me a minute, but that’s the best laugh I’ve had all day 
thank you.
Pffft, shows how much you know about Canada. There’s still snow on the ground, so we’re using dogsleds. 
Thanks Shini, that makes sense now. I’m still trying to absorb all the information.
Update: Went to the NIA to get fingerprinted, they told me that a special form was required. This fingerprint form must be obtained from the Canadian Trade Office. They don’t offer it for download, it must be picked up in person or they will mail it out if you provide a stamped envelope.
You Canadian lot do seem to be under rather extra scrutiny to prove your worthiness to serve in the ROC.
[quote=“shini”]Have any Canadians gone through the APRC application process recently? I’m disheartened to read that it takes 120 days for the RCMP to process the criminal background check, and then they will only send it back via snail mail on top of that
rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/fing-empr2-eng.htm[/quote]
I’m surprised they say it’ll take that long. But, if it does, look on the bright side; At least they’re honest.
The longest anyone said it would take to get a Police Clearance certificate from South Africa was 27 working days. In the end it took me 180 days last year. 
After I got an agent in South Africa to find out what was going on and to get the damn thing it took less than a month. So that is probably the best solution. An American friend of mine got his from the US in less than a month.
Got mine from the US FBI in <(means less than) 30 days.
I think they say 120 days just to keep people’s expectations low.
From what I’ve read, the Canadian record check isn’t much more difficult than other countries. They just don’t make the form available for download.
ahhhh sorry, I thought I’d mentioned that part. When I went in to get my shiny new passport they gave me a couple copies of that form (fingerprint form). I’d noticed on the RCMP site that you have to e-mail them and ask them to mail it to you but thankfully the trade office has them. They’re awesome and will give you a bunch of other info as well.
But I think they only have service from 9:00 - 11:30 so get your butt in there early. You’ll only have to talk to the woman at the info/registration desk (to your right when you walk in the office) you won’t have to worry about the security guard & taking a number.