Work Visa Question

[JesseJames]

Hi guys,

There is a chance that my employer may ask me to move down to BsAs to work in the office there. I got into some trouble a long time ago and nothing shows up on state or country background checks since this all happened over 8 years ago. However an FBI background check will almost definitely show everything.

So far, I hear some people saying that police reports from the last 3 years from places you have lived is sufficient. Others state that these reports will be denied by the Argentine embassy and FBI is the way to go. Is it embassy specific?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Million thanks!

Jesse

 

[davonz]

I dont know if this is the case for you, but when i applied for rentista visa (temp residency) again last year i had to provide a police report for all countries i had lived in for more than 6 months in the last 5 years. Even though i have not lived in NZ for many years i also had to provide a police for there too.

However this could be a NZ Arg embassy requirement, as the doc's required by immigration in arg were way more than require for arg embassy in NZ for same thing - hence getting it renewed in NZ, alot less hassle..

 

[ElQueso]

From the States, you will need an FBI report. Local police reports are not accepted for residency -at least, they weren't when I went through the process.

I had an incident a bit over 30 years ago (drunken college idiocy with some friends in Austin, Texas - we stole a street sign with "Longhorn Boulevard" on it and got stopped by the cops later for a broken tail light and they arrested us for possession of the sign!). It was actually recorded as a felony (state level, 3rd degree). I was given deferred adjudication at the time, which I completed successfully and the incident was wiped off my record - I thought. It was certainly wiped off my county and state records because I'd had various background checks for employment over the years.

When I applied for residency here, I had to get the FBI background check. According to what my lawyer told me when we went through the process, immigrations here is only supposed to look at the last 5 years of criminal background.

I was extremely surprised to see the incident show up on my FBI report. It was something I didn't even think about any more (although I never stole another street sign ) and had all but forgotten.

My lawyer continued thinking that it wouldn't be any problem. But shortly after my residency was in the process, I got word from my lawyer that Immigrations was going to pass my request through to judicial review because of the incident.

In fact, I was told to prepare to buy something like a Falabella gift certificate, probably valued at around $1000 pesos, to make whichever judge would review my case "more lenient" to my cause. He wasn't sure if it would come to that, but he'd seen it before.

It never came to that and I got my residency just fine.

I also know someone who actually served time for a drug-related offense a couple of decades ago in the States. He ended up having no problems getting residency here either, didn't even go to judicial review.

I mention this just because you might be prepared for it. It freaked me out when I saw my FBI report and heard what my lawyer had to say, but it turned out alright in the end.

 

[MB Beagle]

Because the FBI manages and maintains the most comprehensive criminal history database in America, this is the preferred method for screening potential employees and foreign visa applicants for most institutes. Drug, firearm, and sexual convictions will red flag you regardless of how much time has passed. You might wish to decline a transfer and forgo an investigation in to your criminal background if an embarrassing or undesirable revelation to your employer could cause friction. And maybe think about changing your name from ‘Jesse James’ to something that does not imply a murderous, gun toting, bank robbing cowboy.

 

[sleslie23]

When I went through the visa process in 2007, all that was required was a local (San Francisco) police report. That was all that was they asked for at the Argentine consulate in Los Angeles.

Is the FBI check a new thing?

 

[stl999]

I went through the process 6 months ago and the FBI background check was required along with a police clearance from every country where I had resided for longer than one year and from my country of citizenship. Good luck!

 

[JesseJames]

Wow, thanks for all the information guys. I don't have any drug, violent or sex offenses on my record. But a lot of other stupid drunken stuff. I'm going to run an FBI report on myself and see how it looks just to be prepared.

Because the FBI manages and maintains the most comprehensive criminal history database in America, this is the preferred method for screening potential employees and foreign visa applicants for most institutes. Drug, firearm, and sexual convictions will red flag you regardless of how much time has passed. You might wish to decline a transfer and forgo an investigation in to your criminal background if an embarrassing or undesirable revelation to your employer could cause friction. And maybe think about changing your name from ‘Jesse James’ to something that does not imply a murderous, gun toting, bank robbing cowboy.

This name was given to me at birth, so I probably won't be changing it anytime soon. Most employers get out kick out of it, who knows what Argentinians think about it though.