How to get a police clearance in the USA?

[happysanook]

What's the easiest way to go about this? My brother may be coming over to teach and wondering what the quickest, easiest way to get an adequate clearance is.

[Scott]

I am not 100% sure, but if he calls the local police in his area, they can provide him with the information. He should, however, wait until close to the time when he is coming as a police clearance that is out of date might raise some questions.

As of right now, I understand it is still considered to be a requirement, but a lot of people aren't getting one and aren't being asked for one. If he can get one, it's a good idea, because you never know when they will decide to start following their own rules or when the next John Mark Karr wannabe will surface.

[happysanook]

I am not 100% sure, but if he calls the local police in his area, they can provide him with the information. He should, however, wait until close to the time when he is coming as a police clearance that is out of date might raise some questions.

As of right now, I understand it is still considered to be a requirement, but a lot of people aren't getting one and aren't being asked for one. If he can get one, it's a good idea, because you never know when they will decide to start following their own rules or when the next John Mark Karr wannabe will surface.

Okay, I figured the same regarding it most likely not being needed, but good to have.

So my main question here, is that he can get this from the local police station? Just go there and say he needs a 'police clearance'? Thanks much.

[new2here]

Be cautious and be sure you ask what kind of or what "level" you need...

The reason I say this is because it is common that if you get a clearance from the city/county or even state level, it will only show records at these levels-- not crimes that are either federal in nature or occurred in other states..

I needed one and thankfully my school explicitly said that as a US national, the clearance had to be from the FBI's record keeping unit - not a city/county or state level agency.

[zeichen]

He would be better off getting it from the state police. Typically easier to get done and has higher likelyhood of being accepted. FBI check is more expensive and time consuming but also is more accepted and required for some countries like Korea.

[Scott]

Thailand was pretty good about taking even a local police check, but I was recommending only that the OP start by contacting the local police to find out how to get what he needs.

[jayceenik]

I was once asked to provide a Police Record to get a Papua New Guinea work visa.

I happened to go on a trip to LAX right at the time and went to the LAPD to get one.

I was not a resident of LA but after I told them why I needed a certificate of good behavior they checked their records and just kindly made me a short officially signed note to the effect that I was clean as far as the LAPD was concerned.

That was good enough for the Papuans ...

[wayned]

Here's the website on how to obtain an FBI criminal back ground check. I used it years ago when I was teaching and got back the report in about 5-6 weeks. They never did debit my credit card with the $18. The report was nothing more than a stamp on the original fingerprint card that I printed out via the net and had the prints done at the local police station. By the time that I got it the requirement went away and I have never used it! http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/criminal-history-summary-checks/submitting-a-criminal-history-summary-request-to-the-fbi